LETTER: Can't afford a church wedding

From Mrs M Harris

Sir: I have been reading reports from the General Synod of the Church or England regarding marriage and deploring the drop in the number of church marriages, but nowhere have I seen any reference to the high cost of getting married in a state church today.

For young unemployed couples, living on state benefit and trying to get a home together, this might be partly the answer. Without help from parents who might also be on a low income, it might seem impossible.

Maybe the Church should take a tip from the main street banks, which offer university students interest-free loans in the hope that when circumstances improve they will retain the students' custom. Has the Church not heard of the widow's mite?

Yours faithfully,

M. Harris

Coleford,

Gloucestershire

6 December