I REFER to the letter from Uttambhai Mistry.

I am neither an ardent royalist nor a rabid republican. The affairs of the Queen Mother, and indeed all of the Royal Family, have had little effect on my life, nor I assume has mine on theirs.

March 30 was a significant day in my life. It was the 14th anniversary of my husband's death and was particularly poignant as he died during Easter week in 1988. On that day I was rehearsing for a performance of the Messiah at a church in Didsbury in which we were singing the same evening. I had decided, privately, to dedicate my singing to my husband's memory.

After the rehearsal, and before the performance, we found out that the Queen Mother had died. At the beginning of the performance the vicar did an instant 15-minute eulogy and stated that the event be dedicated to her memory.

I may have been the only person in the choir, or indeed in the audience, not to totally acquiesce with that. My singing remained dedicated to someone I had been married to and loved for 27 years, someone who was probably a better councillor than I could ever be and who served the people of Tonge Ward up to a fortnight before his death, despite having had a stroke and a serious speech defect following. I do not feel that I was lacking in loyalty or humility to relate to someone personally, rather than mourn for someone who was only a nebulous figure in the far background of my consciousness.

Incidentally, councillors, when elected, do not sign an oath of allegiance to the Crown -- they sign a statement to abide by the Local Government Code of Conduct

Margaret Clare

Silchester Way

Bolton