IT'S great pity that Mr Reg (Snowy) Bailey did not elaborate more about his dismay regarding the state of the river and town. He made the trip to Evesham to meet me and talk about our family as he had once had a close association with my late Uncle Steve's family and with the view to possibly moving back into this area. He would be the first to agree that the changes to Bridge Street, the Park and Waterside are for the better.

The area both he and myself are most disappointed with is the upper reach of the Avon. Have any of the letter writers who de-cried his comments ever walked along the river footpath above the weir. It's a crying shame that what was once a very pleasant walk is now an eyesore ending just past the site of the old bathing place (the up river side of the railway bridge) into an impassable bog, both he and I spent many happy hours swimming and sun bathing at the old bathings myself nearly 20 years later than Snowy I might add. Perhaps I'm a little biased as I was born and lived on the Common for 19 years. His other major concern was Evesham's awful one way traffic system especially after he and his family had been caught up in the Greenhill to New Bridge crawl two or three times. By the way Reg (Snowy) is no Victor Meldrew type at all. He's an 87-year-old gentleman with very fond memories of Evesham and his old friends of yesteryear.

MR D J PINCHIN, Winchcombe Road, Sedgeberrow.