What is the world coming to? The "older people" living in Elgar Avenue don't want to be disturbed by the noise of children playing ball games in their own gardens.

So, of course, the Elgar Housing people have decreed that such activities should stop. They say "it's about wanting people to be aware of each other and what they are doing".

Is this consideration for other people to be a one-way street? Can't the older people who are making these complaints accept the fact that the children are just having fun, enjoying the outdoor air and running around keeping healthy?

To my mind there is no better sound than that of kids enjoying themselves. Better to have them running around in their own garden having fun than hanging around in street gangs and getting into who knows what sort of trouble.

A little bit of tolerance wouldn't go amiss, I feel. I'm sure many of the older people who say they are being disturbed by the "noisy children" were equally guilty of such behaviour in their own childhood days. If they deny it, then I'm afraid they are deluding themselves.

M R CHURCH, Abbey Road, Malvern.