The crisis with the cathedral’s music continues, apparently without resolution, and I should like to draw attention to another issue and one which may lie at the heart of the matter. My earlier letter suggested economies were the cause (Chronicle, Letters, June 6). While music of world-class standing, for which the cathedral is renowned, demands a huge budget and may have provoked thoughts of cuts and saving, issues of diversity and inclusion have also been mentioned.

Every such move, for some, is bad, but it has to be acknowledged that one excellent change in this direction has been the establishment of the girls’ choir which is, even now, celebrating its first 25 years. There is, then, a place for issues of this kind but they should not be allowed, in a rush for fashionability, to trample over a thousand years of history and destroy, at a stroke, an irreplaceable heritage of glorious achievements - wondrous evensongs among them - which give pleasure and have meaning even in today’s more secular outlook.

It would now be wise for the Dean and Chapter to ‘come clean’ and put an end to the speculation. Better, surely, to be open with all who love the cathedral and, best of all, to offer clear explanations and full justifications for the direction they are proposing to take with the cathedral’s music.

Dr Andrew Thomson,

The Firs,

Fuflood,

Winchester