Sir, I was interested to read Pete Hughes’s piece about St Mary’s Convent in Wantage (Herald, July 29) although I struggled to find any reference in it to what the 14 resident sisters actually do which is useful to the community.
His article describes how they remain silent, pray at least five times a day and prepare and eat meals. For such a large and beautiful complex to be used in this way is surely a scandalous and selfish waste of space, especially when we are told that up to 400 people occupied St Mary’s a hundred years ago.
By coincidence, your front page told us that we might lose the little row of Victorian cottages in Grove Street which the local council have been using as emergency accommodation for homeless people. Surely some joined-up thinking is required here. St Mary’s could provide a large amount of accommodation and perhaps some TLC for Oxfordshire’s homeless people. This would be a truly Christian endeavour and a real contribution to our society.
Guy Fletcher
Chairman
Commercial Arts Ltd
Grove Technology Park
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