THERE has been much in the post-bag in recent weeks about the planned closure of Sainsburys.

Some of the comments in the post-bag have caused me some concern about an underlying attitude towards people in need. It will be a great pity if the planned closure does go ahead and undoubtedly have an impact upon the Prestwich economy. Whether the Sainsburys store should become a hostel for asylum seekers is equivocal.

What should be made absolutely clear is that there are many in Prestwich who enthusiastically welcome asylum seekers into the community. Already in the churches of Prestwich asylum seekers are being positively welcomed. In King's Church there are a number of families who meet regularly with us in the Longfield Centre on Sundays and in people's homes during the week. We believe our lives have been enriched by getting to know these people better and have learned much from them about patience, tolerance and forgiveness

towards those who have persecuted them and caused them to leave good homes and businesses in order to save their own lives and the lives of their families.

On arriving here they are subjected to an obnoxious system of food vouchers and forced to shop at Tescos (as Tescos is the only place they can use their vouchers in Prestwich). They are not given change from their vouchers. This means trying to calculate to the last penny how much they put in their basket as they walk round the store. This week my wife happened to be behind an asylum seeker who had overspent by 9p and was about to put a packet of rice back so that he could pay his bill. Fortunately she could help him out.

Checkout workers who don't understand the "rights" of the asylum seeker can exacerbate this sort of humiliation. A biochemist from the Congo recently told me how he went into Tescos and tried to buy some paper along with his food. He wanted to do some academic work to keep his mind active. He was told at the checkout at Tescos he was not allowed to buy paper with vouchers, only what the checkout worker thought was necessary for him.

Surely as a local community in Prestwich we do not want to be guilty of having so narrow a view of the world that in our worthy attempts to do the best we can for the people of Prestwich we ignore or despise those who through no fault of their own have found themselves with the stark choice of fleeing or dying. Whatever happens or does not happen to a supermarket building on a small shopping precinct, let us be big enough to be welcoming to all who come into our village.

David Emmett

Co-opted Member to Area Board for Prestwich Council of Churches.