I WRITE in response to WRVS volunteer KP (A disgrace not to have told us, Letters, December 17) and KP's claims that he/she knew nothing about the new, improved community meals contract until they read it in the Bury Times.

Of course KP will know that in the council's bid to modernise and improve the services it provides to the borough's older people, the community meals service has been under review for some time.

We are certainly sorry if we have offended anyone in the WRVS but KP will also know that the WRVS was one of the organisations to submit a tender for the new contract. We wrote to the WRVS as soon as we could to inform them that we had awarded the contract to another tenderer - always a possibility and hardly a bolt from the blue.

I have already paid public tribute to the work of the WRVS over the years in helping to provide a meals-on-wheels service in the borough. We are very grateful for their contribution which has kept this service going for so long but services for older people in the borough are entering a new era and the support at home which older people are now demanding means we could not continue to rely on volunteers, supported by our own staff, to provide an expanded meals service.

The contract we have secured with Wharfdale will enable us to deliver up to 2,500 meals every week to vulnerable people - twice the number provided currently and with a greater geographical spread. The new arrangements will ensure that, from April, every part of the borough is able to access a hot meal, deliverable seven days a week to those unable to manage for themselves. And it is further planned that from next summer a teatime service will also be available to supplement the traditional lunchtime delivery

COUNCILLOR

TIM CHAMBERLAIN,

Executive member for

health and social services.