Why is the Trust so scared of criticism?

Dear Editor,

Over a decade ago my husband and I visited Sutton Hoo and were entranced by the reconstruction of the burial, complete with "body" and replicas of the grave goods, in the visitor centre. This year I visited with my nephew, anxious to show him the reconstruction. It had gone and in its place was a tiled floor with the outline of the burial marked out in contrasting tiles. When I asked the volunteers why, they said the "powers that be" decided the reconstruction was "old and tired" (admittedly looking rather shame-faced as they did so). Well, it wasn't old and tired to those who had never seen it. I was furious that my nephew had been denied the experience that my husband and I had so enjoyed. The following day we went to Colchester Museum where there is a reconstruction of the Doctor's Grave and my nephew had some idea of what he had missed at Sutton Hoo.

Twice I have sent a polite letter to the Trust's magazine asking for an explanation as to why the Sutton Hoo reconstruction had been removed. No reply, and of course my letter was not published. However a letter saying how nice it was to make one of the recipes printed in the magazine was deemed worthy of publication.

I therefore heartily agree with Charles Moore's comments about the NT suppressing criticism. The magazine never prints anything which can be construed as criticism, only letters saying how wonderful the NT is. Why is the Trust so scared of criticism?

June Green
Bagshot, Surrey