I FULLY agree with VJ Connor (HAS, Nov 4) that O Level woodwork was not a subject for cheats and duffers.

It was the only craft subject taught at the narrowly academic grammar school that I attended and it is the subject I enjoyed the most, despite the strict and exacting teaching of it.

I gained a sense of achievement and capability not found in the declension of Latin verbs or in wrestling with logarithms. I learnt skills that have been useful all my life and above all I learnt the meaning of craftsmanship and the joy of making things.

I am told that craft subjects such as woodwork and metalwork have little place in modern school teaching.

This is sad, because they offer so much more in personal fulfilment than does forever tapping on a computer keyboard. Perhaps young people will discover this in the newly established apprenticeships.

The little mahogany table that was my GCE test piece is still with me, almost 60 years after I made it - the one proud achievement of my schooldays.

Colin Foster, Scarborough.