THE consequences of school underfunding('Schools Face £17.5M Of Cuts : November 9) across Oxfordshire have a long history.

Niall McWilliams, headteacher of The Oxford Academy, and Lynn Knapp, headteacher of Windmill Primary, share with their fellow heads a very real fear of how cuts in budgets will further fracture the range of what schools are able to offer.

All the more reason why taxpayers’ money currently earmarked by the Education Funding Agency for the construction of the proposed Swan Free School should be redirected to existing schools and children’s services.

Perhaps Oxford East MP Andrew Smith could raise this with the schools minister as a matter of urgency.

BRUCE ROSS-SMITH

Bowness Avenue, Headington

OUR city is extraordinarily rich in literary giants, among them Lewis Carroll, Tolkien. Pullman and C.S.Lewis – who once wrote ‘Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.’

One of these fairy tales is The Magician’s Nephew – a chronicle of Narnia – and those of us lucky enough to live in Oxford can walk into ‘The Wood between the Worlds’ which, for children and adults, is a real place as well as an imagined one.

Lewis describes it as a wood ‘as rich as plum cake’, as a place ‘that isn’t in any of the worlds, but once you’ve found that place, you can get into them all.’ It is now a nature reserve, still with the wooded silent ponds and unearthly atmosphere which inspired Lewis.

The Wood between the Worlds is now under threat. A planning application has been lodged for a large block of flats with 22 car spaces and an access route along the side of the reserve.

C.S. Lewis describes the Wood like this ‘as if one had always been in that place and never been bored although nothing had ever happened.’

We are stewards of this city for generations of children to come. The Wood between the Worlds should be part of our legacy to them.

LIZ WADE

Lib Dem City Councillor for St Margaret's Ward

Polstead Road, Oxford

I CANNOT believe that Oxford City Council members have seriously considered 'putting measures in place to prevent vehicles from being swept beyond the boundary' by flood water in Seacourt Park-and-Ride. (4th November)

Do they send people on courses, to think outside the box, and award prizes to the most bizarre suggestions? if so, this must surely take top spot.

What next? It wouldn't surprise me if someone suggested building a bus network beneath the streets of Oxford. Now this really would take top honours.

No, my only logical conclusion is that this was a draft article for 1st April edition next year, but slipped through the net and was printed in error. I sincerely hope I'm not proved wrong.

CHRIS BROGDEN

Mill Road, Abingdon

EVERY year, PDSA provides a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of sick and injured pets whose owners have fallen on hard times and are unable to provide veterinary care through no fault of their own. But we depend on your support to continue.

Most of our funding comes from pet lovers who leave a gift in their will. So, for a limited time, we’re offering over 50s in Oxfordshire £100 off the cost of having a will written by participating local solicitors, in the hope you’ll be inspired to help us continue our vital work.

There’s no obligation to leave a gift in your will to PDSA. But we hope you’ll consider one to help us fund the £60 million needed every year to provide emergency – often lifesaving – treatment across the UK.

For more information, call 0808 168 1587 or visit www.pdsa.org.uk/will100.

NICOLA MARTIN

PDSA Head of Pet Health