Sir - At least someone is speaking up for Ruskin College in Walton Street (Letters, February 8).

I am sure I speak for many Ruskin students who were lucky enough to be given a second chance of an education.

It was a privilege, especially for older people like me who had never had the opportunity of further education to study the many and varied subjects that the college provided.

And the Ransackers course, directed specifically at older people, was a great boost to one's confidence.

The courses also brought the generations together, which benefited old and young alike. We older students were never made to feel past it'; indeed we were told by one young student that we were bloody marvellous'! Like John and Vi Hughes, I too am dismayed at the library being moved from its present central location.

And may we have an assurance that the Pete Seager archives, which were so generously donated by his widow, will be preserved?

Ruskin is unique; those of us who were lucky enough to enter its doors will remember the feeling of excitement and anticipation that at last we had a chance to prove to ourselves that we were capable of better things; many of us discovered talents we didn't know we possessed.

I know history isn't fashionable, but the ethos of Ruskin must not disappear. Once something is destroyed, it can never be regained.

Ann Cole (Mrs), Oxford