I HAD the pleasure, along with 600 others, to be in the company of your diarist Tom Shields - or as he prefers, more grandly, to be known, Pepys the Elder. Tom used the occasion (the celebration of 40 years of Bellarmine Secondary which has now been re-named pending relocation) to be a main diary feature (October 3).

He identified three former pupils as ''famous'' due to their involvement in light entertainment. The room on Saturday evening was packed with Bellarmine former pupils who have contributed successfully in all walks of life - politics, law, medicine, education, commerce, journalism, of course, and many more. Their pride in being associated with Bellarmine could not have been more evident. Being ''famous'' and being successful do not necessarily sit comfortably together.

Tom kindly included me in his column. He referred to my attendance at St Mungo's Academy when I was brought up in the Bellarmine catchment area. Perhaps it was the hotel lighting or simply good living but on that point Tom has misjudged my age! Bellarmine Secondary was not opened until I was entering my fourth year of secondary schooling.

I'm sure, as a journalist, Tom would prefer the record is straight on that small point.

Rod O'Donnell,

Headteacher, St Paul's RC High School,

42 Cowglen Road, Glasgow. October 5.