I HAVE just read your article in the Evening News reporting Councillor Inman's views on the "costly shackles" of the Swan Theatre. I could not believe what I read.

I would like to challenge Councillor Inman to answer these questions:

Has he ever visited the Swan Theatre? Has he seen first hand the work they do, not just on stage but with theatre groups, writing groups and in education?

Does he have any knowledge of what it means to produce work in the community?

Has he ever been to any theatre, watched a television drama, listened to a radio play or read a piece of fiction and enjoyed it or been moved by it or laughed at it?

And has he ever stopped to think where the creativity to entertain or enlighten him has come from?

That creativity comes from original work produced in the community, not shipped in from outside.

It comes from places like the Swan Theatre, and Worcester should be proud of it.

I am proud of it and I am proud of what the eight full-time members of staff and the part-time staff do on what is already one of the lowest budgets in the country. If we lose it, we lose at our spiritual and economic cost.

SHEILA FARRELL, Worcester.