BUT for the sweat and vision of a small band of volunteers, Highgate Cemetery would be a dilapidated and desecrated site, disowned by its own local council (which it still is). Volunteers and staff put the privacy and dignity of graveowners, regardless

BUT for the sweat and vision of a small band of volunteers, Highgate Cemetery would be a dilapidated and desecrated site, disowned by its own local council (which it still is).

Volunteers and staff put the privacy and dignity of graveowners, regardless of religion, ethnicity or nationality, above all else .

This 'pomposity', as Miss Bright prefers to call it (Cemetery bites the hand that feeds it, H&H letters January 18), is appreciated worldwide by supporters and graveowners: it is to them we owe our first duty, because we are still a working cemetery, and not simply ''a tourist attraction''.

Income from our activities helps maintain the cemetery for public benefit, not profit or gain, a substantial cost met by thousands of donors.

Many of these are indeed tourists, and we are very grateful for their support, with which we will continue to preserve our national heritage, despite misdirected local criticism.

Cllr John Oakes

Trustee, Friends of Highgate Cemetery