Dear Editor,

I was pleased to read in the Meridian that there are great Crested Newts in Constable's Rood. Of course we must all do what we can to protect this species and it is heartening to learn of the County Council's interest in this project.

Though to tell the truth I was a little puzzled as to why the newts would prefer to live in such a polluted and contaminated eyesore, rather than in a site that had been cleaned up. Perhaps it only looks that way to us humans who dislike its appearance and worry about children playing in it, over the summer holidays for instance. Presumably leaving the site as it is and unsecured raises no health and safety issues.

I hope that now Cambridgeshire County Council are so concerned about newt habitats they don't also investigate other potential sites close to Constable's Rood, for instance in the ditches and wet areas adjacent to the proposed route of the guided bus. It would be a pity if that had to be postponed as well, so as not to disturb these little amphibians.

Yours
Carole Pook

… and we are not all killjoys

No, of course young people aren't all vandals and hooligans (August/September Meridian, page 29), and older people aren't all boring old fogeys and killjoys, either. Young people want to enjoy their leisure time; so do we. You want to socialise with your friends and listen to music; so do we, but we don't find it easy against a background of thumping stereos, revving motorbike engines and screeching tyres. We have to get up and go to work in the mornings - no long summer holidays for us - so we don't enjoy being kept awake by yelling and car horns in the small hours. Picking up other people's litter isn't much fun, either.

We don't have a down on young people and we don't want to stop you enjoying yourselves. But sometimes young people (and older ones too) seem to be unaware of the effect their activities have on those around them. We all have to limit our behaviour to some extent, out of consideration for our neighbours. So if we ask young people to accept certain restrictions, remember that we ask the same of ourselves and other adult members of the community.

Yes, Swavesey's teenagers need leisure facilities, and no doubt the responsible majority would use them sensibly, but unfortunately facilities also attract the anti-social minority. The best way to avoid being labelled a vandal is not to be seen associating with them. Make it clear to them that their behaviour is unacceptable, you don't think it's clever and you don't want them around. That message from their peers will be more effective than any amount of moaning from us oldies.

Naomi and Jon Reed

We just thought we would drop you a quick line to show that not all the youngsters in the village are hooligans...........

On the evening of Thursday 5th August 2004, there were a group of youths at the rear of the memorial hall; a regular meeting place. They were not causing any problems, but were being quite vociferous. The memorial hall backs onto the rear of our house and we have two young boys; one 5yrs and the other 9months. Because of the hot weather, all of our windows were open, and having eventually managed to get the boys to sleep, they were awoken by the 'noisy youngsters'. We therefore stuck our heads out of the window and asked them either to quieten down or move along because they were keeping our kids awake. Perhaps expecting a mouthful of abuse, we were quietly surprised when the group politely apologised and told us that they would move along, which they did . Still perhaps expecting some 'brave backchat' once we had dissapeared from their site, we hung around to listen, and heard nothing but polite conversation.

We didn't thank those youngsters, but thankyou very much for your consideration.

I believe the same group have returned since, and they are generally considerate in their noise levels now.

Paul & Melanie

Wallmans Lane, Swavesey