Sir – The effect of publishing my letter about the threat to the Hive Archive last week was to increase the number of people signing the petition relating to reducing or closing the archive and archaeology service at the Hive.

There are now over 280 signatures on that petition and many of them comment on the quality of these two services and deplore the possibility that the intended financial cuts are likely to prevent historical research using this archive.

This would clearly have an impact on all users of the archive.

However, it would also lead to a reduction in the University of Worcester’s research output. In turn this would damage the work of the university.

This is an eventuality that must be avoided and we hope that the county council will reconsider their intended cuts in support for the Hive; the joint library they created with the university.

Dr Frank Crompton

Rushwick