AFTER 32 years in Bournemouth, I have relocated to Sevenoaks in Kent to be nearer family, which I am sure will be greeted with cheers, and come as a great relief to those several regular correspondents whose blood pressure went through the roof every time they opened their Echo to see one of my, not infrequent, and I freely admit, often hyperbolic diatribes!

Writing to the Echo has given me a great deal of satisfaction over the years.

I discovered long ago that if something I read or heard of in the news irritated, distressed or angered me, putting pen to paper, or more accurately, finger to keyboard, acted as a cathartic release!

I was much amused some years ago when one contributor to the letters page questioned whether I even existed - suggesting that ‘my’ contributions were actually, to use his words, written by some ‘hack’ at the Echo with the deliberate intention of instigating debate on various topics!

This letter is really to say thank you for allotting my scribblings far more column inches than they deserved.

Local newspapers are a vital part of any community, greatly underrated, and all too often unappreciated.

I fervently hope that the Echo and other local newspapers the length and breadth of the country manage to survive the threat posed by the growing move to online advertising.

With very sincere regards,

ROBERT READMAN

Rockdale Road,

Sevenoaks