Sir, - Claiming, as I do, a minimum of 50 per cent Irish genes (with thanks to a family called McIlrath who farmed near Portglenone among the Antrim hills until, I suspect, this enterprise was no longer able to support the family) I feel qualified to make a suggestion to the wealthier members of the extended expatriate Irish community.
It is a simple one. Could a fund not be started to finance the reroofing of the architecturally and spiritually important church on the Rock of Cashel? It saddened me to be in this beautiful roofless place, and to witness the slow but sure destructive process of Nature herself, a process which, I would not be surprised to learn, may have been started many years ago by some idiot like Oliver Cromwell and his un-merry men, or if not, perhaps as a direct result of the progressive impoverishment of the people of Cashel through causes not of their own making.
Finally, may I say how much I enjoyed my two weeks stay in Ireland this September? I take this opportunity to thank all of you for your warm-hearted hospitality, and for the fresh insights brought to me about many aspects of life through conversations I had with many of your paper's readers. - Yours, etc.,
Patrick Henderson, Cape Town, South Africa.