IT was with some disbelief that I read (May 24) that Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS proposes to withdraw the funding for elderly care from St Margaret of Scotland Hospice in Clydebank.

My late mother benefited from end of life care provided by the hospice and it could only be viewed as the next best thing to home care. Not only are the elderly treated with the utmost respect, care and dignity, so too are family.

Experience of hospital care, respite care, in-house support and council care revealed a shortage of funds and insufficient resources with little time available for the job of caring.

Not so at St Margaret's. The staff managed to provide the necessary care and attention, coupled with respect, while at the same time giving support, understanding and friendship to the family.

It is nothing short of outrageous to propose to cut funding for this five-star facility which has served the West of Scotland for over 50 years.

It is time for the Scottish Parliament to step in here and ensure that no funding is withdrawn from this outstanding facility. Name and address supplied Challenge air fares

FURTHER to head of media at Glasgow Airport Donald Morrison's letter (May 23) regarding the flight supplements and the supposedly good value offered by the airport. I suggest Mr Morrison asks customers queuing at the airport during the school holidays if they think the flight supplements imposed by charter companies represent good value.

I have one of the leading holiday tour operator's brochures in front of me and the flight supplements range from £205 to £69. Explain to parents with children how it is more expensive to land planes at Glasgow during the school holidays than it is when the kids are at school?

If Glasgow Airport, rather than laying the blame at the feet of the airlines, challenged these unreasonable charges then perhaps it would be able to be Scotland's busiest airport. A DUNSMUIR, Via e-mail Gers day to remember

MY daughter Rebecca was very fortunate to win one of the prizes last week to be a Rangers mascot at the Scottish Cup Final at Hampden on Saturday. On her behalf, I would like to thank the Evening Times and the SFA for making it a day she will always remember.

Rebecca attends Kirkriggs School in Glasgow and has learning and speech difficulties, but she is also football mad. She had an absolutely amazing day. Thank you. FIONA SALLIE, Via e-mail Talk of the steamie

YOUR story (May 26) about an old steamie being transformed into an art school speaks volumes about how Glasgow has changed in recent years.

I bet the wee wifies who washed their smalls at the Glasgow Cross facility would laugh their heads off if they were still alive to see the transformation. CRAIG DEANS, Merchant City

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Email your views to us here. WRITE: Evening Times, 200 Renfield Street, Glasgow G2 3QB. Please include your name and address. E-MAIL: letters@eveningtimes.co.uk Please include postal address. TEXT: key in the word 'etletters', leave a space then send your comments to 88010. Max 160 characters. Please include your name or initials and where you're from. Texts cost 25p at all times. HOT TOPIC: Service sector jobs focus is short-sighted

ANYONE with half a brain could have predicted that it was idiotic to base so much of the city's business on the fickle tourist and conference trade.

Glasgow was built on manufacturing industries and the only way we will survive as a major city is to escape the low-paid, service sector economy. BILL JOHNSTONE, Posted online New role for city's hotels

GLASGOW has an over-provision of hotels and is not a tourist city. Now, as the mortgage crisis kicks in, I look forward to some the city centre hotels being converted to homeless hostels. MEEP, Shawlands Let's cater for tourists

GLASGOW not a tourist city? Rubbish! Of course it is. Any time I am in town, I see and hear foreign visitors. Glasgow is also a gateway to the rest of Scotland so the city will always need hotel rooms. The more recent April occupancy figures prove this. JKR, Lochwinnoch Lured from the States

I AM a potential tourist from the US and cannot wait to see Glasgow. We are under the crunch just now with the dollar weaker than the pound, but I and my friend are coming to your fair country. CELTIC4, United States Room prices too steep

I WAS back in Glasgow for a funeral last month and was horrified at the prices for city hotels. I ended up staying at an out-of-town Travel Lodge. The price for three nights' was less than I was quoted for one at a well-known Glasgow hotel.

These hotels will have to change their ways. JENNY, Norwich