11 SEPTEMBER 1993, Page 24

Spreading the word

Sir: As the recently retired headmaster of Ampleforth, I am indignant that Martin Vander Weyer (`Marketing the old school tie', 4 September) should refer to my suc- cessor's interest in Europe as a 'marketing weapon'. He clearly does not know that Fr Leo Chamberlain's work in Europe pre- dates his appointment as headmaster by a quarter of a century, and that it has been largely directed towards relieving spiritual and physical desolation in Eastern Europe. Driving lorryloads of medicines to Poland and supporting the persecuted throughout the region has nothing whatever to do with `marketing' anything. Mr Vander Weyer's cynicism is wholly inappropriate.

Dominic Milroy OSB

Ampleforth Abbey, York