Letter: In Brief

Sir: The Rev Peter Mullen's Religious Notes (16 February) and John Ashwell's letter (19 February), reminded me of the words of a grandfather attending the baptism of his grandchild in a Somerset village: "Us doesn't come to church, Vicar, but us likes to know you'm yer." That is the "pearl of great price", the fact that anyone, churchgoer or not, has the right to expect his parish priest to officiate at important events in the life of the family - baptism, marriage, funerals. It would be wrong for the Church of England to be disestablished and these rights lost.

JOHN FISHER

Wells, Somerset