I THINK Councillor Colin Froggatt needs a little bit of local history guidance before he starts dictating which high school parents should send their children to.

Sir Thomas Boteler CE High School and St Elphin's Parish Church have been interlinked since it was built as a grammar school.

In fact, if my memory serves me well, the tomb of Sir Thomas Boteler is in the parish church.

As a former pupil of the then grammar school, I attended the annual founders day service at the church. The religious instruction at the school was given by clergy from the church. The school Christmas carol service was also held at the church.

The link between St Elphin's CE Primary School and the church is self-explanatory. Both schools are partly funded by the Church of England and the original grammar school was only 200 yards from the present primary school, until the council decided to demolish it.

How it could demolish a building like that, with historical and architectural appeal, and yet allow that monstrosity at the junction of Bridge Street and Mersey Street to remain visible to everyone crossing the main entrance to the town, is beyond me. Money, of course.

Also, it should not go unnoticed that the pupils of Boteler and St Elphin's walk with St Elphin's Parish Church on Walking Day.

Many parents want their children to attend St Elphin's because it is a CE school and a very successful one at that, and it is a natural progression that they want them to attend a CE high school, for the same reason that Catholic pupils are bussed in from all over Warrington to attend the nearby Cardinal Newman High School.

Surely it's a case of discrimination that the Boteler pupils have to make their own way to school?

Geographical location has no bearing on this matter, councillor Froggatt. No other school in Warrington has closer links to Boteler than St Elphin's CE Primary.

RON HIBBERT Latchford