I AM writing this letter in response to the announcement that The Armed Forces Day is to be amalgamated with the Weston in Bloom Community Show.

I AM writing this letter in response to the announcement that The Armed Forces Day is to be amalgamated with the Weston in Bloom Community Show.

This is an absolute disgrace and I hope that many people in Weston and surrounding areas will also voice their opinion.

As the wife of a husband that served for 24 years in the Royal Air Force and the mother of a son who served for 16 years in the Army, I feel that all of our servicemen and women deserve to be recognised and praised in their own right. Not to have the one special day merged with a town flower show.

As far as I know, all other towns that are celebrating Armed Forces Day, do so as a very special event. Whilst on holiday on The Isle of Wight this year, they staged a similar event and the whole island responded by flying Union Flags on many buildings and people turned out to show the respect and admiration for our forces, past and present.

We are seeing the population of Wootton Bassett turning out almost every week to show their support to the grieving families of young men coming back from Afghanistan in coffins draped with the Union Flag and Weston cannot even hold a dedicated day to give tribute to young men that have the bravery to serve their country or have done so in the past.

We need to show there is overwhelming support for our Armed Forces as the Government we have at present does not seem to have any real concept of what it is like to be on the front line and be fighting with a lack of equipment capable of protecting our troops.

When we see very senior officers resigning from the services because they are dissatisfied with the lack of Government strategy, inadequate resources and disillusionment at the apparent inability of departments to work together, it is time for everybody to stand up and show the Government that we are not going to accept this situation any longer.

Therefore, I would ask the council to rethink this decision and make Armed Forces Day a separate and special event that the town can be proud of and give people the opportunity to show their support.

JAN HOLLOWAY

Rossendale Close

Worle