Peter Lucas, of Church Hill, Kingswear, writes:

It was with interest that I read the Dartmouth Regatta programme to find that more pages had been allotted to the aircraft displays than the combined WEARA rowing, whaler and pair rowing and all the sailing events.

This prompted me to look up the definition of 'regatta' in the Oxford Dictionary and quote: 'a sporting event consisting of a series of boat or yacht races'.

I have enjoyed regatta for the 40 odd years that I have lived here, but in that time, have noticed the gradual change in its style.

As with the rest of the world, it has become bigger and more commercialised, but at whose expense?

In recent articles in the paper, the local traders are complaining that the 'Cheap Jacks' and, especially the fast-food and drink companies, are taking away their trade.

These local traders are the very people who pay year-round high rates and rents and really should benefit from the influx of visitors at regatta.

Presumably the increase in the number of the temporary stalls must bring in the extra revenue needed to pay for all the air shows?

I know the air displays bring in thousands of people, but few of them are actually able to get into the town and so watch from the hills around Dartmouth, so they cannot contribute financially to the regatta.

Some say 'bigger is better' but I would suggest that maybe quality is better than quantity? Should we therefore backtrack to the way that regatta once was and so be true to its definition?