The decision by Kendal Parish Church to merge its choirs and thus abandon its traditional all-male choir is greatly to be regretted.

Traditional all-male parish church and cathedral choirs are one of our greatest spiritual and cultural assets and they deserve cherishing and safeguarding.

In addition, overwhelming evidence shows that when boy choristers and girl choristers are mixed into one choir the boy choristers quickly begin to leave the choir.

Furthermore, the boys frequently stop attending church altogether and it is widely understood that the loss of our all-male choirs is a contributory factor in the low numbers of boys and men who now attend church.

Of course, supporting the survival of the all-male choir does not mean that women and girls should not be allowed to sing in churches but rather that the choirs should be run separately.

Churches who do mix their choirs, however worthy their intentions are deemed to have been, usually quickly find that their new mixed choir turns out to be far removed from the 'all inclusive' choir that they had hoped for.

We very much hope that, even at this late hour, Kendal Parish Church will reconsider its decision to abandon its traditional all-male choir.

Miss Lynda Collins Committee member of the Campaign for the Traditional Cathedral Choir Oakington, Cambridge