IT seems incomprehensible that the council could imagine taking the archives, which are so valuable for researchers in York and beyond, out of the city and up to Heslington.

Apart from the distance, the university library is geared towards its students and staff and is far more impersonal.

I also write as an active member of York Oral History Society, an organisation founded in 1983 and dedicated to researching and preserving the history 'in their own words' of York people.

We have a collection of well over 1,000 photographs, plus tapes and transcripts recording the memories of many of York's citizens.

The memories we have collected are from people who trust us to look after them properly so that future generations can access an important part of their heritage.

This collection (as well as our equipment - such as tape recorders, slide projectors etc) is presently housed within the City Archive, where it is available for any member of the public to see.

Indeed, the Castle Museum recently delved into our archive and used some of our material in its exhibition 'From The Cradle To The Grave'. The fact that this collection is central means that a number of organisations can easily access it; and our exhibitions, also kept in the archive, can be viewed by a large number of people.

We have recently been awarded a lottery grant to enable us to capture the oral history of York's popular music from 1930-1970. This will mean that our collection will greatly increase - we are in the process of interviewing approximately 125 people who were actively involved in music in the city and who helped to shape a significant aspect of the cultural heritage of York. One of the purposes of the project was to allow the public greater access to our collection, but without the archive it will be difficult to keep our whole collection together. I urge the council to rethink your idea of removing the city archives to a building some miles away.

Ms Van Wilson,

Grange Garth,

York.