MY family and I thoroughly enjoyed our Saturday morning trip to the Arts Centre to support our daughter and her friends, who were a team called Shadow of Girls, in a poetry competition. The standard of poetry was outstanding, funny thought-provoking and delivered with great confidence - we have some very talented 12 to 13-year-olds in Swindon.

We were disgusted however that a large part of the audience, including teams which had not gone through the four heats, their teachers and supporters, got up and left before the final! What bad manners! What a bad example the adults showed the young people.

They missed a mere half hour of more fantastic poetry, which the finalists had to perform to a half-empty auditorium. Surely fair play and good manners dictate that, unless one has a pressing reason for not doing so, one stays to watch the end of such a competition and cheer for the finalists.

WENDY TUCKER Duchess Way Upper Stratton Swindon