The Bowthorpe Centre was started by the late Dr Dennis Morgan, consultant psychiatrist for Wisbech, in 1983 and originally based in the matron's flat.

I attended the centre between 1986 and 1987. I returned in 1992 when I got ill again with depression. In 2004 I was diagnosed with having Asperger's Syndrome.

On April 1 this year, the running of the centre was transferred from the Bowthorpe Association to the Richmond Fellowship, a mental health charity.

Since then, the weekday drop-in facility has been reduced to four sessions of three hours each. These changes have caused many members to become stressed and upset.

I do not blame the staff or the Richmond Fellowship. They are just following the national guidelines as set down by the New Labour Government.

These changes to mental health day centres across the United Kingdom originate in the USA, and are based on two ideas: 'recovery' and 'welfare to work'.

However, the New Labour government does not understand that, due to ignorance, employers will not employ people with a history of mental illness.

Mental illness will affect one in four people some time during their lifetime. It is therefore time to end the stigma of mental illness.

JOHN SMITHEE,
Kingsley Avenue,
Wisbech.