I went along last month to the Halesowen Pensioners'

Meeting chaired by Gordon Caine. The Secretary of the Group was Beryl Marshall.

What a pleasure it was to attend such a meeting with peoplechipping in with contributions and to hear sense spoken.

There was no House of Commons-speak, no sound bites, no evasion of questions, but rather people talking, sometimes joking and discussing the difficulties pensioners face, not only for themselves, but for their sons and daughters and grandchildren and wider society.

What came over crystal clear to me was that the bus pass is a vital lifeline for many and must be kept free.

Every year The Pensioners Groups in the United Kingdom have to battle to keep it.

What is also obvious is that the state pension is inadequate.

The National Pensioners Convention is a campaigning group. and their latest petition, I found out at the meeting, is in response to senior ministers suggesting thatWinter fuel allowances, bus passes and television licences for the over 75s should be means-tested or withdrawn altogether.

My response is: what sort of cold, miserly minds think like this? You know, I once thought that people entered Parliament to help society: how naive I was.

I was also very surprised to hear from Beryl that the Government is actually going to charge pensioners for putting their pension in the bank! The Government forced pensioners to have a bank account in the first place!

Mahatma Gandhi stated that the measure of a civilised society is how it treats the very young and the elderly.

The hard-hearted Tories and Liberals fall well short on both counts.

Pensioners are still having to argue, not only for their rights, but to keep what they have.

Beryl, Gordon, Ingrid and theothermemberswhogive up their own time to fight for rights should be held in the highest esteemandhave my greatest respect.

Chaz Stoll 23 Brier Mill Road Halesowen