I SEE YOUR SOUTH LONDON, AND I RAISE YOU...

Alex Brummer is right to bemoan the retreat of institutional AngloJewry ( North London’s security wall, August 2) to the ‘Gilded Ghetto of Golders Green’ (to misquote the late JC columnist Chaim Bermant).

However, I would take, and have taken, his argument much further than south London - or even his birthplace Brighton - to Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and Glasgow.

Jewish Heritage UK, based in central Manchester, has a truly national remit. We help historic synagogues to survive and try to rescue abandoned cemeteries from dereliction all over the country, often where local communities are struggling financially or have ceased to exist altogether.

If we were able to raise a fraction of the £50 million reportedly being spent on a new Jewish Community Centre of questionable sustainability for the benefit of affluent north west London, then we would be able to protect British Jewry’s precious architectural heritage in its entirety - from Penzance and Cardiff to Grimsby and Yarmouth, from Aberdeen and Sunderland to Portsmouth and Southampton - all for the benefit of future generations. Dr Sharman Kadish Director, Jewish Heritage UK, Manchester director@jewish-heritage-uk.org

Well done to Alex Brummer for highlighting both the geographical and social divide of London Jewry, but I fear he is a lone voice.

Where once the United Synagogue’s office was in Woburn Place in central London, and the JC in Furnival Street in the City, they are now both ensconced in north and north-west London suburbia.

Do the Jews in east, south and west London not count? Are only the opinions of those who live in Edgware, Hendon and Borehamwood , to name just three, count?

At one time, the largest Jewish community in Western Europe was in, wait for it north-west London, Ilford! Not only do we have six United Synagogues in the area, we also have a Masorti community, a Reform and two Progressive communities. I do not know how many other communities there are in south-west, south-east and west London but I am sure there are many reading this now and nodding in agreement.

Perhaps we should start a revolution and demonstrate that the journey around the North Circular to Ilford is not that bad and that passports are not required for travelling south of the Thames. Hilary Segall Fernhall Drive, Redbridge, llford, IG4

I understand the frustration at the impression that Sarf London is Judenfrei, fostered by Rabbi Mirvis’ decision to live in Norf London.

Of course if Mirvis wants to live where the most Jews are he needs to move out to Watling Street, Hertfordshire, where the census showed a Jewish population of 32 per cent. Where the Romans once marched he will find Radlett United, Radlett & Bushey Reform, the Liberal Synagogue Elstree and – a recent arrival in a former pub – the Elstree Shtiebel. Barry Hyman Bushey Heath, Herts