ON behalf of 1st Leigh Guides I would like to thank Paul Ferguson of Malvern Outdoors for all his help and to wish him the very best for the future.

Two years ago we were putting in an application for lottery funding for hiking equipment for our Guides. We decided it would be good if we could involve local businesses in our application and if successful we could spend the money with them.

Malvern Outdoors was an ideal place and Paul definitely the man for the job. With Paul's excellent advice we put in our application. He gave us all the necessary information, technical advice and a giggle along the way.

So naturally, when we were successful (we received £4,800) it was to Paul that we turned. He not only made sure we had exactly what we needed but also that we had the best value for money and fantastic customer service.

We are all very sad at the loss of Malvern Outdoors and especially Paul's expertise and kindness. Malvern needs more shops that offer his level of service.

I can only hope that the very promising ideas suggested by Paul in last week's Malvern Gazette are not ignored.

In the last 15 years Malvern town centre has been slipping into decline.

Church Street could easily be closed to traffic so the market can once again be at the heart of the town, not relegated to its fringes. We have an excellent theatre complex yet we seem unable to retain the quality our town once had. It is time the imbalance was addressed.

Once again, all our thanks and best wishes to Paul.

JENNIE MANSELL, assistant guider, 1st Leigh Guides.