I WAS delighted to read John Terry's letter praising the Imagine York project www.imagineyork.co.uk, which makes images of York available on the web (July 21).

I have been involved with this from the outset and I am proud of what we have achieved and the response it has had from people in York and all around the world.

I would just like to set the record straight regarding the funding. It has always been an externally funded project, with a grant of £129,000 from the National Lottery's New Opportunities Fund.

This comes to an end, as planned, in September. We are bidding to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a new project to encourage more local people to engage with the history of York.

If this is successful, it will include a project officer who will also look after the Imagine York site.

If the bid fails the web site won't close, but work on it will certainly slow down and we will continue to look for other opportunities to keep it going.

Janet Thompson,

Libraries manager,

City of York Council,

York Central Library,

Museum Street, York.

...MAY I most strenuously support the plea from your correspondent John Terry regarding the vital work being done by the staff of the Imagine York project.

I am certain that the resources and costs employed in establishing and running this Internet-based archive is minimal compared to the ongoing benefits, both to York citizens and to exiles and historians around the world.

Of prime importance is that the website, along with the publicity in your newspaper, has generated a focus for future donations of similar material which, as John Terry states, would otherwise be lost for ever.

York has been involved in a groundbreaking project of which we should all be proud. It would be so sad to see it fade away.

Clifford Elmer,

Cheadle Hulme,

Cheshire.

Updated: 10:08 Tuesday, July 27, 2004