MANY readers were shocked and upset at the plight of 81-year-old disabled East Lancashire war veteran Thomas Bywater when he was forced to stop his home help's twice-weekly visits after the charges more than trebled.

Though he depended on the visits to help him bathe and keep his home tidy, with just the state pension to live on, he could not afford them any more when the weekly cost rocketed from £3.45 to £17.

How he might have managed was open to question - until we saw the marvellous response today of Blackburn mum Sandra Almond.

She has stepped in to offer to do Mr Bywater's cleaning and shopping. It's the kind of caring gesture that is typical of East Lancashire folk and Sandra deserves everyone's thanks.

At the same time, an anonymous couple have offered financial help.

But though both these responses speak eloquently of how people in the community value our elderly, they also show up clearly the failure of the state and local government to care as much. For these increased home help costs that people like Mr Bywater face come against a background of closures of old folk's homes and official insistence that care of the elderly in their own homes is the way forward.

That people's charity has come to the rescue in this case is heart-warming, but is it not wrong that an old man who fought for his country and paid his dues all along ends up having to rely on it?