I AGREE wholeheartedly with the letter from Dorothy Maden, of Pets in Need, about the closure of the charity canopy, pictured Bolton Friends of the Earth relies, for funding, on our sales at the canopy. If £30 is all we can expect to make at the new market stall venue, then it would be a waste of time and effort.

Perhaps councillors think they can make Bolton posh by trying to remove visible signs of the need for charity.

But a civilised society would not be able to function without an effective, vigorous voluntary sector, including charities like Pets in Need, leisure organisations, campaigning organisations such as Friend of the Earth, who help to make democracy work and indeed the work of ordinary members of political parties, which makes democracy possible. The voluntary sector is just as necessary as government and business but the work done by volunteers of all kinds needs funding, which is becoming harder to get.

The council is about to spend a lot of money on the town centre refurbishment in which the canopy is to have no place. Perhaps it will bring more business and jobs but the voluntary sector will not be helped.

Elizabeth Shepherd Anfield Road Great Lever