Melanie Carter (letters May 22) asks where she should learn first-aid skills. The British Red Cross runs regular courses throughout the country. Find your local Red Cross centre in the Yellow Pages and ask for details of first-aid courses run by professional trainers. The latest edition of the excellent First Aid Manual by the joint voluntary aid societies is published in July (Dorling Kindersley, £11 99). Get hold of that and a decent first-aid kit. Then take a training course and you need never walk by when you could have helped. Ruth Martin Sheffield