Dear David,

I feel very uneasy about any document going to a national funding  
body on behalf of a group of people, many of whom have not been  
consulted because of the short time scale. We have created a very  
congenial forum, with many ideal participants (as you have pointed  
out in the letter), and it would be disastrous for all sorts of  
reasons to lose someone from that group because they felt a minority  
had moved without consulting them properly.

I think what you have written is good, but actually I think it would  
be far better placed *outside* the context of this round of bids, and  
with the full agreement of everyone concerned, and preferably  
representing a wider and more inclusive group of participants, to  
give it greater weight. There should, for instance, be  
representatives from ALL the copyright repositories in the UK, and  
any other major manuscript collections which are likely to be  
affected by our activities.

The obvious course, it would seem to me, would be to organise a  
specific seminar/workshop to discuss a proposal (as we agreed at the  
first seminar), and re-draft your letter as an invitation to the AHRC  
to participate, pointing out (as you have done in this draft) the  
strategic importance of funders being involved in this process from  
the earliest stages of planning.

Since this is not an application for funds there is no rush to get it  
in by Thursday, and we can take the time to ensure everyone has seen  
it and agreed to the principles it embodies.

All best,
Julia