I WAS lucky enough on August 5 to be one of the gathering at the church of St Cosmas and St Damian which you featured in County Times (July 28).

We were celebrating the church’s opening after its recent restoration.

This delightful little church is at Stretford near Ivington.

Those who smiled at the reference to Dorstone thinking it was meant to be Dilwyn were in fact wrong – there is a Dorstone close by, not to be confused with the one in the Golden Valley.

This event, capably organised by Mrs June Chase, began with a speaker who gave us good background to these twin saints.

It seems this church is only one of five in the country with this unusual dedication.

Possibly the church existed at a crossroads of Roman roads.

Later it may have been important for its healing spring nearby.

As the Eardisland Village Band struck up and candles were lit – there is no electricity – before refreshments were brought around, I was not the only one to think that Thomas Hardy would have been at home here.

The church has a service once a year but is open at all times. I recommend Hereford Times readers visit if in the Leominster area.

WENDY SLADEN, Ivington, Leominster.