LIKE my fellow parishioners at St Vincent's in Altrincham, I found a Catholic Parents' Action Group leaflet on the bonnet of my car after Mass recently.

I rang the telephone contact numbers given 'for further information'.

The result was that the first contact had little knowledge of the figures and passed me on to another member, who said she had received the figures from 'somebody at St Bede's' and promised to call me back. But she she never did.

The next contact was Peter Monaghan - the member whose letter SAM printed on May 20 - and he, too, was unable to give any details about the figures.

But it did emerge that the group has no official standing in the church and consists almost entirely of people who want to put their children in St Bede's but have others pay the fees through taxation.

Peter also admitted that his figures came from sources in the Conservative Party and that he had a political aim in wanting people to vote Conservative in the hope that a Tory Council would realise this aim.

I am as concerned as Peter about the provision of a Catholic education for all our children, but he does the Catholic community in Trafford a great disservice in seeking to blacken the names of Labour Party activists in the eyes of their fellow parishioners and in seeking to equate the Church with the fortunes of a public school and a political party.

St Bede's does have a roll - but it is for parents who value and can afford a private education and it is not realistic to expect taxpayers to foot the bill.

In addition, the Catholic community should support their primary schools and get the diocese to provide more secondary places in the longer term. Will Peter now join me in pressing David Blunkett and the DES in these matters?

Colin Graham, Altrincham.

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