AS you may tell from our title, we are a society specialising in the care and promotion of the town's heritage and the general health of our thriving (at present) market town.

The complex of buildings that comprise St Katherine's consists of a medieval (with additions from the last six centuries) hall-house, formerly the residence of the master of the hospital, a chapel, a hall (formerly the accommodation for the inmates), a barn and a two-storey row of almshouses.

The Master's House is nearing completion after a comprehensive restoration, funded by a £2.9million grant form HLF and the remainder by Herefordshire Council. The work has been undertaken by Speller Metcalf and their attention to detail and use of traditional craftsmanship has been superb.

My reason for writing is to ask for your support in safeguarding the remaining building in the complex. This is the barn, used for storing the produce from the hospital's farm. For many years, our Society hired the building from HC and used it to run our paper-salvage scheme. The funds from this enabled us to restore some of the town's other period buildings. With the introduction of the collection service via wheelie-bins, our project folded and since then the barn has become derelict - again - with its roof supported by acro-props. While we used it, we paid for re-roofing and other necessary work. We fought a losing battle with the electricity board, who installed a sub-station adjacent top the barn, raising the ground level to save having to bury the cables underground. This action resulted in the rotting-away of the entire length of the sole-plate on that side of the barn. In spite of several site-meetings with the board concerned, no solution was offered. Now, HC is marketing the building and we are concerned that any purchaser takes responsibility for restoring the building and ensuring its safe future.

We would appreciate your support in this matter: after all, it is the only site of its kind in the country.

I don't know if you are aware of the project, but a group has been set up to take over the town's stock of heritage buildings, in order to create a safe future for them. The Ledbury Places scheme looks to find a sustainable future for the Heritage Centre, The Barrett-Browning Institute, the Market House, the offices of Ledbury Town Council (which includes the Painted Room), the Butcher Row Museum, and the Burgage Hall. Three of these buildings are currently in the care of our Society.

I didn't intend to write such a screed, but found I needed to do so in order to present a complete picture. I do hope you will be able to help us to keep our town's precious historic buildings.

MARY WINFIELD