SIR – The Elgar Foundation’s argument that the Elgar Archive should move to London because very few people have bothered to view it at his birthplace ignores the fact that they hardly promoted its existence in the first place.

Since the National Trust took over in September there have been 17,000-plus visitors because the NT have bothered to promote the place.

In the past there were about 4,000 visitors a year.

So you can’t claim that people weren’t interested if they never knew the place existed in the first place.

They also claim that the archive will be better displayed at the British Library. How can this be?

The BL display area is full of remarkable treasures including some of the most valuable manuscripts in the world. Are they going to clear away all these

treasures to make way for a permanent Elgar display?

You would have to be beyond naive to think so.

Richard Westcott

Ashford Bowdler, Shropshire