WITH regard to Richard Bradbury’s letter (Helping city of culture bid, January 15), I regret that he rather misses the point about being a City of Culture. The aim is to enable the winning city to use the accolade for the spiritual and economic benefit of its people through its arts and culture.

Hull is one of the most deprived cities in the UK and, as Herefordshire has the lowest wage economy in the country, we are also in a position to use the accolade to our benefit.

We already appreciate the economic benefit of the arts to the community – a study by the University of Sheffield in 2006 showed that The Courtyard contributed £6million per annum to the Herefordshire economy. Roll that forward to the current day and that number could be double that. Just think what a contribution a City of Culture could bring!

The working groups on the various strands of the bid have now started and if Mr Bradbury would like to join the Visual Arts team (led by Hereford College of Arts principal Richard Heatly), I’m sure that they would be delighted.

If he or any other Herefordshire resident would like to join a working group, they can contact me at chairman@courtyard.org.uk.

Our website will launch shortly to provide the latest news of the bid.

Lastly, if Mr Bradbury would like to contact me, I’d be delighted to work with him towards exhibiting his maquette at The Courtyard.

ROGER MORGAN Chairman, Hereford City of Culture Bid Consortium