VAL GIBBONS, of Seymour Drive, Dartmouth, writes:

This newspaper brings to me a weekly glow of warmth; all is right with the world.

Those of us who grew up in large towns or cities will have seen our localities change, from a time when we could name all the neighbours and pass the time of day, to the present where folk pass by, avoiding eye contact.

We moved here from Shropshire in 2006, from a similar market town (even having a river and a high and low town) and I recall a newspaper headline there which outlined the horrors of a shop-keeper who had been attacked by two local hoodlums. The 13-year-old had pea-shooters and had blasted their ammunition towards the shop counter from the shop's doorway. They should be out by now.

However annoying the young reprobates may have been, their criminal activity bears little resemblance to those reported daily in cities' media.

So, when I read last week's front-page headline, 'We don't want you in the market!' and saw the photo of the dreaded pigeons, I thought Yippee! No muggings, rapes or murders, again.

That Shropshire town also had quarrels between its councillors and the voters, and the same gasps of resistance to planned house-building on farmland, and the spread of supermarkets. It's normal.

For all its squabbles though, Dartmouth has the most marvellous feeling of community. One of my simple pleasures is to travel on the local buses and just listen. Passengers know one another's names! They enquire about their friends and families. Even the drivers chat and smile! It is a delight, and those of you who were born and raised here perhaps don't appreciate that closeness.

Here too, if there's a job to be done, someone is usually willing to undertake its organisation, in a voluntary capacity, and I thank them for that. Yes, this is a tremendous place to live, and it's not simply the beautiful scenery that we should appreciate.