Vaughan Bowden, of Broadstone, Dartmouth, writes:

After reading last week’s front-page headline, Air safety shock for royal regatta, Chronicle, June 17, I felt compelled to write a letter, having put off writing on the same subject many times before.

I am a huge fan of regatta – always have been since I was a small child. It is the week of the year I look forward to more than any other. But for many years now the regatta has ­gradually moved its emphasis away from the traditional regatta events to more and more air displays. It seems as if all the other events have to work around the air displays.

If you look on the official Port of Dartmouth Royal Regatta website, you can find information on the Red Arrows, the Typhoon and the Battle of Britain memorial flight, but you cannot even find a mention of the Thursday West of England Amateur Rowing Association Regatta, which is one of the largest rowing regattas ­nationally, with 500-plus rowers from all over the country competing. It is said that Dartmouth Thursday is second only to Henley Royal Regatta.

Perhaps during this period of additional restrictions it would be a good time to scale back on the air displays and get back to a more traditional event. Do

we really want ‘bumper air ­displays’ in the future?

I know fans of the air ­displays will say that without the large pull of events such as the Red Arrows we will not get the big sponsors. I would say that without the massive expense of the Red Arrows you don’t need to attract big sponsors in the first place. Most of the traditional events are fairly cheap to put on and some actually make the regatta money.

Perhaps it would be a good time to have our own ­referendum on how the people of the town would like regatta to go forward, as there are ­similarities with the EU in the way that the regatta has grown and evolved in a way no one could have predicted.

The wording could be: ‘Do you want regatta to continue with its large amount of air ­displays, or would you rather it was a more traditional water-based event?’

Unlike the EU referendum, I know exactly which way I’d vote.