MY great friend Chris Abbott, who has died aged 66, devoted his life to the community he was proud to represent.

As a long-serving Redcar councillor, Chris, along with his beloved and equally committed wife Glynis (who died in 2011, aged 59) sacrificed time, money and effort for his belief in public service. I and my late wife Frances did the same.

Yet Chris and I both had to put up with jibes like "you’re only in it for yourselves".

The public are right to criticise lazy, ineffective and self-serving councillors, MPs, MEPs and Peers, but don’t tar us all with the same brush.

Chris Foote-Wood, Darlington