Newbury Music Scene

To whom it may concern,

On the evening of the 19th January this year, around 300 local children from around the Newbury and Thatcham area turned up at the Kennet School for a charity gig, raising money for a trip to Canada for some Kennet Pupils, and Children In Need.
The bands started at 7oclock, and with each band playing around 4/5 songs each, we managed to get through the first 3 bands before the house lights went up and we were informed by who we all assumed to be a teacher at the School that there have been people participating in illegal activities such as Underage Drinking, and there had also been some fighting. We were told that until the police came and arrested who ever was concerned, the gig could not carry on.

The offenders outside the venue were nothing to do with the gig, nothing to do with the people inside. This is a group of people that congregate outside most gig venues, including The Waterside Centre, in Newbury, and Northcroft Leisure Park, also in Newbury. They congregate looking for trouble, offending the kids who want to see their friends and some local music, people that want to have fun in a safe environment. Unfortunately the people that congregate outside the venues ruin it for everyone inside the venues, such as what happened on the night of the 19th.

We are writing this letter to you, to hopefully get the message out that venues need to have security, either in the means of bouncers, inside and outside, or police patrolling the area. We are sure that the gig-goers wouldnt mind paying an extra pound to help put money towards the bouncers wages, so long as they do their job and keep us safe. Many small children are actually scared of leaving the venue, from fear of being beaten black and blue, either because of the music that they listen to, the way they dress, or simply because the offender has so much illegal substances inside them, they dont know what they are doing.

We dont congregate outside clubs that cater for their kind of music, such as Liquid or Venom; we dont stand there looking for fights or drinking ourselves stupid.

Police and bouncers should be aware of the kinds of people that are offending like this, and this letter is one way of trying to get the message across, either to the Venue organisers, the Police, or even the offenders.

Thank you



I feel that the above letter is correct and I am writing my name below, along with my local town, as a sign that I have felt the need to complain about either the night of the 19th January, or other events, such as Waterside and Northcroft.