I WAS saddened to read (LET, January 7) of Grane residents in Haslingden protesting at the building of eight flats in their area by West Pennine Housing Association to house people with mental health problems.

In your photograph of the worried residents, there were five, healthy-looking children and six healthy looking adults. Which of them, I wonder, can guarantee that they will never have a mental health problem?

Having been reared in Helmshore, it surprises me that the local caring attitude I remember seems to have been replaced by the "I'm all right, Jack" outlook.

As relatives of someone with a mental health problem, we can understand the concerns of people. But if we welcomed these people into our communities and encouraged integration, we would learn to understand and, perhaps, even reduce their problems.

They would feel less isolated and may develop a useful role within their new community. We all like to be loved and needed. Come on, Grane residents, put your efforts into lobbying for a community.

MR and MRS J BARRY, Livesey Branch Road, Feniscowles, Blackburn.

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