I APOLOGISE that my first letter to the Citizen is over 550 words but I really felt A & S Kilmartin's letter needed a response like mine.. and I am sure other have expressed their feelings in the same way!

On a cold and miserable evening in November I sat down to read the letters section of The Citizen (Thornton Cleveleys 6/11/03). The one from the Kilmartins of Ormont Avenue struck me as one of the most pathetic attempts to justify anti-social behaviour, belittle others and to transfer blame, I have ever seen.

Having been, in the past, the victim of the sort of behaviour they allude to but try to 'water down' by themselves and their cronies, I can see the issue from a somewhat different perspective.

1) They start off by describing it as a warm and balmy evening before it abruptly turning into 'dancing until the early hours'. The idea of outdoor music loud enough to dance to at such a time sounds deplorable and I am not surprised to hear that the police were called and that the police also obviously decided the noise was inappropriate. Maybe they should have considered their other neighbours trying to sleep on a hot night, probably with windows open, and so saved police time.

2) They cannot make up their minds about a certain key fact. Was it a 'one-off' or the second occurrence in the last three years? Their claims seem to be somewhat contradictory.

3) Did they, the next day, apologise to the neighbours forced to call out the hard-pressed police force for the inconvenience they had caused? Something one would expect of those who describe themselves as '30-somethings' living on a very respectable road.

4) They say that those who wrote to the council should 'get a life'. Have they actually thought that the 'life' these people want is not the one they choose? Has it occurred to them that others may want their own 'life' which involves being able to enjoy peace and quiet in, as is the Kilmartins have admitted, 'the early hours' .

Incidentally, I am a '40-something' who enjoys a drink or ten and used to know all the verses to Eskimo Nell. However, I have also always understood the need to respect the feelings and needs of others. I would be mortified if the police, no matter how amicable they were, had been called to break up any party of mine.

Furthermore to resort to emotive words and phrases like 'pathetic letters', 'killjoys' (for complaining in the first place to the police?), 'bitter and twisted response' also seem, to me, to convey an element which may urge others into an anxious silence.

Hardly a way to build bridges I think.

I suspect the actual amount of council tax used by WBC to send you the letter was substantially less than that spent on the initial police action.

11pm is usually considered the 'watershed' for 'noise nuisance' so a termination of activities that would warrant a complaint from neighbours at this time would have saved much more public funds.

I sincerely hope that this was a 'one-off' event as claimed and that the Kilmartins will 'live and let live' in the context of others being allowed a life of their own as well.

Mr Moore

Winchcombe Rd

Thornton Cleveleys