Music of the Night

From reading recent reports in the national and local media one could be forgiven for thinking that modern youth is epitomised as knife wielding, drunken, drug-crazed, foul-mouthed lawless citizens. However, I have just returned from attending a glorious open air performance of Music of the Night at the Royal Citadel in Plymouth and my faith in the young people of this City has been completely restored. From a cast of 300 of whom over half must have been teenagers I witnessed total dedication and commitment of the highest order. Weeks of rehearsals and preparations culminated in a professional presentation of which this City can be justly proud and all in the name of raising hundreds of thousands of pounds for charitable and humanitarian causes. It clearly demonstrated that the vast majority of our young people are first class citizens and undeserving of the negative publicity attracted by the minority of badly behaved teens in our midst. As for the organiser, Angela Collins, I think it is high time she received formal recognition in the Honours list for her magnificent contribution to this biennial event. In relation to the minority of whining residents of Plymouth Hoe who complain about the "out of tune warblers" and loud bangs from the Royal Artillery during the 1812 Overture I say "Get a life". Yes, I can understand that pets may be frightened by the noise for a few minutes each night during the week but compared to the period around Guy Fawkes Night when the firework bangers continue throughout all hours it is a small inconvenience compared to the enormous success of the event and, judging from the prolonged acclamation of thousands of people in the audience, I am not alone in my views. A huge debt of gratitude is due to all the performers and back stage hands who contributed to this great extravaganza of local talent at its very best. Congratulations and well done to all concerned.