SIR - I am writing to you to tell your readers that the Swan Theatre is trying to raise £40,000 to install air-conditioning.

If you have been to the Swan Theatre at any time when it is full, you will know how hot it can get. If you have attended an event on a hot summer's evening, you will know that it is often unbearable.

Now that the Swan is safe and bringing back large audiences, we need to address the problem. Whatever you may have heard, the Swan will be the only professional commercial and community theatre in Worcester for the foreseeable future. We have to make sure that audiences can visit in comfort and that the theatre can properly fulfil its role as a thriving arts venue in a rapidly-expanding city.

So, we are now determined to raise £40,000 to finally make the theatre comfortable for patrons at all times of year. We are going to hold a bucket collection at every event at the Swan during the summer, and many of the amateur companies who use the theatre on a regular basis will contribute to the fund. Please, can you help? Any size of donation will help us, and hugely improve the quality of experience we can offer at the Swan Theatre. If you have ever visited the theatre and sweltered, please enable us to make theatre-going in Worcester a more bearable summer experience.

CHRIS JAEGER,

Director.