Dear Mrs Queripel

Thank goodness you have had the courage to write to the Marlpit regarding the subject of bonfires. I thought it was only me who grumbled about selfish people lighting fires during the daytime, but no, here you were in black and white fighting for the right to dry your washing outside.

As a mother of two small children (4 years and 1 year old), you can imagine the mountain of washing I have to get through. Especially with the 1-year-old, being a boy he is a muck magnet (for the want of a better description), he can go through several outfits in a day. My poor washing machine is never off; I wash every day and look forward to fine, dry days when I can hang the clothes outside rather than round the radiator. (My kitchen hasn't got the space for a tumble drier). So imagine my frustration when the day dawns fine and dry, maybe even with a bit of sunshine and I go out to put my washing on the line, only to find billows of smoke wafting over my garden or just the smell of smoke in the air. I have to take my washing back in and wait either for another fine, dry day or for the bonfire to go out.

I don't want to sound like a right misery - although I probably do to those of you who have to have a bonfire to get rid of garden rubbish, etc., especially when it is quite difficult to get rid of garden waste. But please before you light your bonfire, check the time and if it is during the daytime when maybe washing lines are full, could you please wait a few hours until after teatime perhaps. After all the clocks have gone forward and we can now look forward to lighter evenings, so that should give you more time to have a bonfire. And the poor people with heaps of washing to get through would be extremely grateful.

Thank you once again Mrs Queripel for raising this subject, it was brave of you!

Yours sincerely

Jayne M Downing (Mrs)