Rather than just consign their Old Master painting to storage (Gazette, July 23, ‘Old Master is a £100k dilemma’), Tunstall Church should deposit it on a permanent loan (ie it remains theirs) in a local art gallery or museum, and take a good colour photograph of it, have it enlarged, and frame it to put it where the original was.

Nobody would want to steal the copy, except perhaps for the frame.

A note should be put near it that it is a copy. Then the parish can still enjoy it, as can those visiting the gallery where the original is shown.

The gallery sees the right kind of storage and security.

Jeremy Godwin

Penrith