Sir, When I was at school with Margaret Thatcher at Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School, the school motto was “ Veras hinc ducere voces”. This was translated by our fearsome headmistress, Miss D. J. C. Gillies MA (Edin), as: “From this source, draw true inspiration”. She was hot on Latin, since her father was a professor in the subject.
I know that Latin mottoes are capable of elastic translation, but your version (report, June 27), “Inspire, challenge, achieve”, seems to push the mild injunction of my day to a more aggressive level.
JOAN BRIDGMAN, Grantham, Lincs