WITH reference to the article by Paul Stammers (Evening News, November 6) about the Countryside Alliance, I must point out that the letter from Tim Pinney, Alliance County Chairman for Worcestershire, is one of at least three printed that have voiced real concern for the future of our Health Service, particularly from a rural perspective.

The Alliance is not, and never has been, just a lobby group for fox hunting. It is concerned with all rural issues, farming, rural Post Offices and shops, access to to the health service and transport. May I suggest that Paul Stammers opens the CA website again and look at the policy handbook section which will give him a much better understanding of how 400,000 Alliance members are working to give rural Britain a voice.

Remarks made in the article regarding the possession and use of firearms were somewhat misleading. The pistol pictured is no longer available to the law-abiding target shooter, though the criminal fraternity has managed to keep an arsenal and gone on to acquire machine guns which have been illegal here since the 1920s.

Commenting on firearms legislation has many pitfalls. The British Association for Shooting and Conservation or West Mercia Police Firearms Department might provide an excellent point of reference.

Good journalism, like good shooting, depends on accuracy. If you cannot see your target clearly and you are unsure of what lies behind it, then you just don't shoot.

J BURGESS,

Malvern.