IN DEFENCE of plans to close Blackburn Museum every morning because of spending cuts, Coun Jack Fairless (LET, February 28) states that it is Labour policy to look after local people who are less fortunate in terms of employment and income.

Who does he think the main users of Blackburn Museum are?

The museum contains treasures which belong to everyone in Blackburn and, when I worked there eight years ago, the main people who came to look at them were under 16s, over 65s and the unemployed.

Many of the children who used the museum walked there - from the less affluent areas in Blackburn. The museum has a special Asian collection - probably one of the only ones like it in the country - an Asian curator, and good links with the local community.

If the museum has recently been "less used" than other services perhaps that is because of the stringent cuts it has already suffered to its important education and exhibition programmes.

Blackburn Museum contains fine and decorative art collections of national importance. One of its paintings is at an exhibition at the Royal Academy at the moment.

If the council intends to look after people in the borough who are less fortunate in terms of employment and income, especially local children from deprived areas, then it should consider the importance of keeping its museum as it is now - free and open.

CAROLINE GATRELL, Moorfield, Whalley.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.