The suggestion in your paper in June that councillors and their families were fighting to gain admittance to a reception for the Rifles this coming weekend seems unbelievable.

I am sure great public servants would want to stand back and ensure that families of soldiers recruited locally were given first place at any reception to honour our servicemen.

Hopefully this matter has now been resolved. Perhaps members of Bournemouth council could demonstrate their public spiritedness by making a donation of £25 each to an armed forces charity.

An extra £25 could be given for each family member who attends the reception.

Bournemouth is right to honour the Rifles, whose young men will again be deployed in an operational area this time next year.

It is sobering to realise that many of them earn less than the leader of the council receives in allowances.

All our civic leaders have much to learn from our troops, who so often demonstrate values that are all too often missing from the council chamber.

Rev Canon JPM Martin, Gladstone Road, Poole