SIR – Along with many other local people I was proud to attend the support our troops day last month.

During the thoroughly enjoyable afternoon I was handed a leaflet which I didn’t have time to read until later.

When I did it introduced a really sour note to the occasion. The leaflet, which I believe was from the Quakers, was anti-military and in particular denigrated the youngsters of the cadet units.

These units instil into our youths the very values that society benefits from – among these are selfdiscipline, unselfishness and camaraderie, all virtues you would have thought a religious organisation would like to see fostered.

Not all youngsters who join the cadets will go on to pursue a military career, but they will take into adult life the values they learned.

Everybody is entitled to their opinions and the freedom to express them, the very freedoms our country’s young servicemen and women fought for in the last war, a war in which, incidentally, many Quakers were persecuted for their beliefs by the Nazis.

The young cadets did us proud, and one young lass in particular was so keen to attend, she paraded on crutches. Please will those people who handed out the leaflets voice their opinions at a more appropriate occasion.

RON PAYNE
Evesham