SIR - Congratulations to the Friends of Lister Park for the success of its Family Festival in the Park on Saturday.

It was everything such an event should be - locally-based, low-key, family-friendly and everything the overkill of the Bradford Mela was not.

Highlights were the superb children's choir from Miriam Lord Primary School, and the Appalachian dancing display by Roll Back the Carpet. In the latter case, the laconic commentary by one of the musicians, Tony Charnock, made it rather more than just a visual feast, and the dance in which children were invited up on to the stage to join in was sheer joy.

Speaking as one of the poets invited to participate, I was less happy about the suitability of verse for such an environment. Of course, it didn't help that while some were performing, the primarily young audience defected to watch a nearby puppet show.

May I suggest that instead of mounting another Mela next year, the authorities instead foster the organisation of a series of such community events across the city?

Not only would they involve many more local performers, but they would have less impact upon the local environment.

Karl Dallas, Church Green, Bradford