SIR - I was horrified to hear of the proposal to change the structure of The Tower Arts Centre.

My relationship with the Tower goes back to 1979, when as a student at Montgomery School, we were allowed to visit at lunchtimes.

After leaving school I worked there for a year on a Youth Opportunity Scheme, this lead directly to getting into drama school and eventually studying at the Royal Welsh College for three years.

I am now a TV producer and have worked for the BBC for over 10 years. Without John Tellett and the Tower this would not have been possible.

My family and I moved back to Winchester in 1997 and we now live next door to the Tower in Monarch Way.

My wife has taught music to pre-school children there, my children attend a Saturday drama club at the Tower, and we have often enjoyed many kinds of different shows, from music to comedy.

The uniqueness of the Tower is its atmosphere, an atmosphere that is singularly conducive to the arts.

We don't want a sterile new space' in the library, what kind of band, comedian or cutting edge theatre company will want to perform there? We have the Theatre Royal for larger more mainstream theatre.

The Tower has always been a great alternative venue, in every sense of the word.

To hand the running of the Tower to Kings' School is in effect sanctioning its slow demise.

Kings' School is an excellent educational establishment. My eldest child is a student there so I know this first hand.

However, it is a school, and couldn't possibly be expected to run the Tower to the same degree of artistic and eclectic excellence as its present management.

John Golley, Monarch Way, Winchester.