REGARDING Sam Spence's call for the setting up of a residents' committee in the Bank Top area of Blackburn (Letters, June 22) with a view to gaining funding for amenities such as play areas and football grounds and the maintenance of already-established community gardens, he appears to be badly uninformed on such matters.

For there is, in fact, a well-established Bank Top Community Association which operates from the Community Centre on Oakenhurst Road.

This association and its members, in co-operation with our three local councillors, Kate Hollern, Don Rishton and Mohamed Khan, have strived for some time now to bring all these facilities to the Bank Top area and are, in fact, well down the road to gaining funding for football and play amenities.

Mr Spence criticises our three ward councillors with monotonous regularity in this newspaper. If he had come to our annual meeting last week he would have been able to meet us and our councillors face to face and put forward his views and complaints.

He would also have been given a copy of the Community Association's report for last year, which indicates, just how much we, with our councillors' help, have managed to do for the Bank Top community.

For example, the Gala last year attracted more than 3,000 people, mostly from Bank Top. More than 700 people, mainly family groups, went on our subsidised coach trips, which were in addition to our summer trips for pensioners and children's groups.

Perhaps, then, he would have realised what a busy group of people we are, with our Community Association, Housing, and Crime and Safety Committees Clubs, Training Seminars and other functions.

P NEWTON (chairman) and E DUXBURY (vice chairman), Bank Top Community Association, Oakenhurst Road, Blackburn.