REAL ACTION NEEDED: It was good to read the story Council Determined To Reduce Carbon Footprint in the Green Guardian (News Shopper, October 22). The Carbon Trust seeks to potentially save £8m by 2012/13. I furnished the council with a paper back in 2006. It was about the 400 council staff cars which have Kensington Palace-style grace and favour parking in the Civic Centre and St Blaise car parks. The main thrust of this paper was the fact 90 per cent of the staff vehicles were not even used on council business but they still got free parking. At holiday times there is insufficient space for the public to park in the Civic Centre so in excess of 100 vehicles wait in Kentish Way to get in. The response to my paper was zilch. Let’s see some real action from this council, not airy fairy plans years ahead which look good on paper but deliver nothing.

Rob Miles, Petts Wood

NEW GROUP: Do you look after or have lost contact with a grandchild? A new support group is being started by two grandparents who are fully aware of how difficult it can be to speak to friends and family about grandparenting issues. Speaking to other grandparents who find themselves in the same situation is such a relief. Meetings are held In the Shortlands Room at Bromley Parish Church, in Church Road, from 2pm to 4pm on the first Sunday of the month. Call 020 7485 2901 or email bromley.supportgroup@grandparents-association.org.uk

Diana Leary
The Grandparents’ Association

GET FESTIVE: I am subjected daily to the doom and gloom which surrounds our society. Hospital closures, crime on our streets, the state of the economy, child abuse, world famine, the list is endless. At the moment I am reading and hearing people complaining Christmas has come too early into our shops. Please allow us the joy and pleasure the very word Christmas brings to many of us. In an ever-changing world, let us look forward for a few months to pretty lights, Father Christmas, bright-eyed and excited children and let us try and leave the negative side of life until the new year when, believe me, we will have plenty of time to be miserable again.

Lyn Gentry
Address supplied

CAN YOU HELP?: I am trying to trace any members of the McKenzie family related to my grandfather George who lived in Forest Hill and who died in around 1960, or his brothers Leslie, Reg, Colin and Roy. If you can help, call 0161 224 7711.

G Brooks, Manchester