Baptising bats

Reading in your Letters (September issue) of a church being infested with mice made me think this was one of the easier problems from which to escape. Of far more difficulty is an infestation of bats, due to modern, protective legislation. I have experience of the owner of a large commercial development suddenly being affected by acute deafness when a casual acquaintance drew to his attention that he had seen a bat flitting over the plot to feed a few nights previously. As most church wardens know, such a problem is extremely serious for them, as there is only one way in which one may legally say goodbye to such creatures. This is by carefully and harmlessly capturing two parent bats and causing them to be Christened. The certainty is said to be that neither parents nor offspring will ever be seen inside a church again.

Raymond Barry, Laytham, York