The bus drivers have said sorry for striking, but if they were that sorry they should have thought about the elderly, disabled, young, workers, and the people that had appointments and have pre-booked tickets to Dunster Country Fair.

They are not sorry at all as this would not be happening for two days. They, the bus drivers, are blaming wages and new electric buses.

For a start, striking is a luxury, I am surprised they can afford it. As for new electric buses, at long last the drivers have no excuses not to turn up because buses have broken down.

Of course, you have to spend millions on buses as the bus drivers need to come out of stone age.

Linda Sparks,

Williton, Somerset

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I have recently visited the brook or stream which runs between the Railway line and Butlins. I used to be able to feed the Ducks, sadly no more!

The pathway that follows the stream looked good as all the reeds have been cut back, the pathway is now quite wide thank goodness, when it came to finding a place between the reeds in the stream itself, it was hopeless.

The water has thick deep stinking mud and litter, mostly drink cans. Imagine my shock when I found three female Mallards, it was a mum in a distressed state and two of this years youngsters with her.

She was lying along the small amount of water available and the two youngsters were looking very sad indeed. I love Ducks, I threw bread onto the water so that it was nice and wet for them to eat, and they seemed very hungry.

Surely this situation cannot be allowed to continue, as a keen gardener I know that eventually the reeds will engulf and destroy any living creatures who rely on this waterway.

Gina Robinson (Mrs)

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It is a shame that you did not speak to the local population for your report about the proposed of change of use of The George Inn in Brompton Regis (‘Anger at holiday lets for pub’, July 26).

You would have found universal opposition to the pub’s closure. You would have found astonishment at the claim that the pub is not viable, when under the current owners so many opportunities were missed to make it a going concern.

You would have found sadness that the heart of our community is being shut down, and anger that a decision was made without anyone in the community being spoken to.

It is interesting to see your report above one about another pub, the Blue Bull Inn at Triscombe, which is being put up for sale because it is ‘not viable as a business’. Yet the Blue Bull is where Paddy Groves cut his teeth creating one of the most successful pubs in the area.

Since selling it almost 20 years ago Paddy has managed a very viable and multiple award-winning business at Woods in Dulverton. He has done so with creativity and imagination, solid business nous and outstanding customer service.

Buildings do not make viable businesses. It is the people who run the businesses who make them succeed or fail.

Many in the village believe that with a series of obvious changes The George can not only be viable, but thriving, once again the centre of our community that it has been since the 16th Century.

That is why a community bid is being developed so it can be made a success by those who know what needs to be done: the locals who know their local.

Charles Stewart-Smith

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Whilst there will be displays of impressive human athleticism and sporting prowess and tales of athletes overcoming adversity (at the Paris Olympics), a darker undercurrent lurks – the use of horses.  

Equestrian sports are inherently cruel and have no place in a progressive society. There are countless tales of abuse in the world of equestrian sports; horses being whipped, kicked, neglected, left with bleeding wounds after aggressive use of painful artificial aids (equipment used to maximise a horse’s ‘performance), subjected to cruel (and outlawed) training regimes, pushed to their physical and mental limits and punished for not scoring highly enough.

In 2024, it is simply unacceptable and unnecessary for animals to be used in sport. Humans at their best are compassionate, respectful, and willing to change for the better. These qualities are gold-medal worthy whilst the subjugation of an innocent animal is not. 

Nina Copleston-Hawkens,

Animal Aid Campaigner