SIR - I have often felt that too much adverse criticism is levelled at Elgar school in Bilford Road, Worcester.

I know of students at this school whose attendance there is a success story to be proud of. They are a credit to the establishment, their teachers and, most of all, to themselves.

There has been petty sniping at the school. For instance one lady (Letters, March 12) criticised the students for cramming crisps into their mouths while walking home. Whatever is so wrong about that? Eating crisps or anything else in public is not a crime. As for the nutritional aspect, I say that eating a little of what you fancy does you good. This healthy eating campaign has become a futile fetish.

Of course, I acknowledge that there is much about modern life which is appalling - ever rising crime rates, drug addiction, alcohol bingeing, general indiscipline. We seem to swing, like a pendulum, from one extreme to another.

However let us be thankful for small mercies. Once upon a time students at the old time City Of Worcester Grammar School For Girls were forbidden to eat in the street. Thanks goodness such nonsensical restrictions are no longer applied anywhere.

Those girls were denied something I personally enjoyed - walking along eating fish and chips or beefburgers on my way home. The contents always seemed to taste better when wrapped in old copies of the Evening News or some other newspaper.

D E MARGRETT, Worcester.