REGARDING your article (LET, September 20) about the proposed closure of the Mind Centre in Regent Street, Blackburn, I am sure I am only one of many people outraged at this news.

I have visited the centre in my role of book-keeper since October 1989 and have come to know co-ordinator Eric Green and the staff well.

The centre is a place of refuge and a lifeline to the many service users who regularly attend.

It is a place where they can go for assistance with personal and social problems, where they are treated as individuals and where they are surrounded by people they know, feel comfortable with but most of all trust.

It is about time the social services woke up and came to their senses and realised what a great job Eric and his staff do day to day. Have they not even considered what will happen to these people when the centre finally closes its doors?

These users could be walking the streets the next day.

MRS LYNNE JACKSON, Haslingden Road, Blackburn.