David J Wilson suggests that most of the 7,000 signatures collected on the petition to save St Peter's Church were not from local people (Letters, May 8).

I was one of those who collected the signatures, petitioning most Saturdays last year in the London Road area, including in the Open Market. We also petitioned in Forfars bakery, the Co-op and other local stores. This shopping area does not attract tourists.

People in London Road, and therefore those who signed the petition, are Brighton men and women, girls and boys. Many told us stories of family members who were baptised or married in St Peter's and others told, with tears in their eyes, of loved ones whose funerals took place there.

The good news is that partly in response to the petition, which the church commissioners say is the largest they have seen, the Bishop of Chichester has been asked to review the decision to close St Peter's and explore other options.

While a few people may want to see St Peter's closed, there are far more who want this centrepiece of Christianity in Brighton to survive, to grow and to flourish.

  • Name and address withheld