I WAS deeply upset to read about the closure of an old people's home in a nearby town just before Christmas.

These people were friends - at least one was 100 years old - and they were separated and sent to different homes. It was very, very cruel.

Now I read that the Asian community in Bury want to build a leisure and community centre with some of the money coming from Bury Council and the National Lottery. But there is already a leisure centre in Bury and anyway, why do they ask the Lottery for money when their religion forbids gambling? This sort of facility for Asians discriminates against white residents.

And what about these so-called asylum-seekers. They are given homes and money yet our old people - who have given so much for this country - are treated very badly.

The Government is falling over backwards for these scroungers, so much so that there is nothing much left for the pensioners.

EILEEN WILLIAMS,

Alma Street,

Radcliffe.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.