Letter: With an open mind

Sir: I was heartened to read Angela Hillyard's account of having observed a group of mentally and physically handicapped young people at a performance of Shakespeare ('I saw an actor, they saw Romeo', 20 August).

Some elderly, similarly handicapped people from this residential home recently attended their first-ever classical concert. Their over-enthusiastic applause in the wrong places and their inability to keep completely quiet and still were not appreciated by some members of the audience.

So it was great to receive a card a few days later from two members of the string quartet who had given the concert. They thanked the residents warmly for coming, and were 'so sorry that some stuffy audience upset you'.

We shall go on encouraging our residents to enjoy the 'normal' activities that the rest of us take for granted and hope that by so doing we will also help to educate more people to be as open-

minded as Angela Hillyard proved to be.

Yours sincerely,

B. M. HOOPER

Manager, Libury Hall

Great Munden, Hertfordshire