Sir,
After reading last week's front page story in the Observer regarding the extended Christmas lights in the town, I couldn't believe these people actually warranted newspaper coverage.
The only consolation I had was the fact that the people concerned have made themselves look even more miserable and petty then they already are. If we were shining spotlights in their properties and letting off fireworks every night, I could understand, but a few extra Christmas lights! Come on. They need to get a life.
The lights are mainly for the youth of Tenby and any adults who still have the Christmas spirit in them, and to attract more people to the town over the festive season, or along with not wanting to celebrate Christmas, are they also trying to keep visitors away? We need more visitors in the town and heaven help these people if they lived next door to the gentleman in Kilgetty who provided the fantastic Christmas display for many years.
If I was them, I'd be more concerned with the amount of anchors, metal, steel cable, chains, and other debris that has been dumped at the end of North Beach, some sticking dangerously out of the sand. It will only take one swimmer to injure themself, taking into account the Boxing Day Swim is nearly here.
While on the subject of youth in Tenby, isn't it about time we did something for them? Last Friday, while parking in the multi-storey, I noticed a group of teenagers playing in the car park. It would have been easy to dismiss them as troublemakers, had it not been for my son, who informed me that they were all good kids who simply had nowhere else to go.
We need to do something about them before it's too late, and we end up turning Tenby into a retirement home where youth are not welcome. We need youth in Tenby in order for it to move forward. We're all getting older, but I hope I never reach the stage where a few Christmas lights upset me.
Money spent on some recent projects could have been spent on projects for Tenby's younger generation, such as, dare I even utter the dreaded word, a skate park. That would have benefited more people than let's say, the money that was spent on the old Ocean Amusements site on North Walk. Knocked down and all that room with just two benches situated in it! Which bright spark came up with that idea?
I tried, along with parents and kids, a few years ago to get a skate park built in Tenby, but could not believe how much red tape stood in our way, mainly from people with the same mentality as the anti- Christmas light brigade.
I remember councillors and local representatives turning up for photos at every opportunity, but maybe that was just for the elections that were looming at the time, because after the elections nothing else was heard again.
No doubt, my letter will have upset a few people, but the comments from a handful of narrow- minded residents was the last straw and prompted me to write in because complaining about a few extra Christmas lights isn't a good start or the way forward.
Also, the local council need to take on board and address these issues and do something before it's too late, or if not bothered by these concerns, stand aside and let people who are have a go and put others interests ahead of their own.
Jon Mills, Tenby.