IT is unlikely that the the Dean of York envisaged the huge outcry her actions regarding the Minster bellringers would invoke.

She probably thought her dispute with the bellringers was just a little local difficulty.

But by failing to understand the high esteem in which both the Minster bells and its ringers are held in the Minster community as well as in the City, she and the Chapter have touched a very raw nerve.

But she is not the first dean in recent history to misread the feelings of the community she is meant to serve.

The late Dean Raymond Furnell made the same mistake in 2003 with his plan to close the Minster’s medieval library and sell off its books.

It took questions in Parliament and the intervention of the then Archbishop of York to put a stop to that.

I call upon Dean Faull to remember past history, to think about the community she is here to serve, to rethink her decision, and to reinstate this skilled and dedicated band of men and women.

Lesley Woodfield, Railway Terrace, York