I WOULD like to respond to the letter published on September 20 regarding poor behaviour following the Haddenham Steam Rally. As a member of the rally committee I wanted the opportunity to express the views of the committee. While we can all sympathise w

I WOULD like to respond to the letter published on September 20 regarding poor behaviour following the Haddenham Steam Rally. As a member of the rally committee I wanted the opportunity to express the views of the committee.

While we can all sympathise with the victims of the vandalism, it is an easy option to blame the rally and not look at who are the vandals.

It takes a year of hard to work to put on this event from a lot of people and for a few individuals to try and ruin this is very sad. The village and lots of charities benefit greatly from the event. We do our utmost to ensure the event is safe and we hire security at great cost. They do not allow any member of the public to bring alcohol onto the site.

Our security team also has a person around the beer tent on the Saturday evening to ensure there are no problems. There were no reports this year of any bad behaviour from anyone.

The letter mentioned that cans had being littered through local streets.

The only alcohol sold at the rally is from the beer tent and all is sold in plastic cups.

The bar follows licensing laws like any other bar and do not sell alcohol to anyone who is under age. You have to look at where this alcohol is coming from and why the parents of these youths do no know their children are drinking in the streets in the small hours of the morning.

The signs from the rally field were stolen and vandalised.

This has caused the rally much expense and inconvenience - money which would have gone into good causes for the village.

The rally did request a Police Community Support Officer to attend, but he did not attend.

It is very sad that local people are suffering at the hands of these individuals, but they are local people who are walking to and from the rally site, not people who have come to enjoy the steam rally.

To blame the rally for their behaviour is unfair and we need to look into stopping this in the future. The parents of these youths should look at where their children are getting their alcohol from and trying to put a stop to this.

KELVIN YOUNG

Haddenham Steam Rally chairman