PENDLE MP Gordon Prentice is rightly concerned about thefts from national museums (LET, July 8). Those of us who are responsible for preserving the nation's heritage know that one loss is one too many.

That is why we spend so much time and public money on security. However and inevitably, sometimes, things go wrong.

Mr Prentice takes the Royal Armouries to task for what we have lost over the last 10 years -- two percussion pistols stolen from an open wall display in our new museum in Leeds before it opened to the public and while it was still a building site.

We would have much preferred an unblemished record, we very much regret the loss, but we do not believe our record is bad.

Mr Prentice rather spoils his argument by overstating his case, saying: "It beggars belief the Royal Armouries, for example, should lose no fewer than 12 19th century cavalry lances." These, plus two bayonets, are the only items that have gone missing over the past 10 years while on loan to others. They were lent to military units that have since moved and amalgamated and may yet turn up unharmed. Over the last 10 years, we have had on average each year almost 3,000 objects from our reserve collection on loan to others and, thus, able to be seen by many more people.

Some might think that a 0.5 per cent failure rate over this period was not a bad record. If the alternative is that we cannot dare lend for fear of criticism, are we then succeeding or failing as a museum?

Our job is surely to minimise the risks of giving the public the greatest possible access to our collections. But to say this is to accept that risks exist and that sometimes things will go wrong. Perhaps Mr Prentice might like to take a more balanced and constructive approach.

G M WILSON, Master of the Armouries, Royal Armouries, Armouries Drive, Leeds.