Sir.-What is going on in this town? Bonfire night was, and has always been, November 5.

Fireworks have been going off every night for the past four weeks. And they were being sold three weeks before bonfire night.

Dozens of people I have spoken to are sick and tired of it.

My Jack Russell dog has spent every night for the past four weeks shivering in fright underneath my bed. She does not understand that there are idiots about who can't control what they do.

I can't give my dog anything to pacify her as I cannot keep her doped for four weeks.

Does no one in this town have any control? These people do not even care about the restrictions on times when fireworks can be set off as we have very loud bangers going off at 12.30am and 1am.

It is against the law to set them off in the street but that is happening as well.

These fireworks are not beautiful or colourful - they are loud bangers used to cause upset to others.

Have the police or the council no control over these things? I am amazed no one seems to be doing anything about it.

I recently returned to Basingstoke after seven years in Lincolnshire, and have been told that this sort of thing went on last year as well.

Isn't it about time a stop was put to it and it was restricted to bonfire night only?

-Name and address supplied.

Sir.-I would like to extend my deepest thanks to the people who organised the huge firework display on the recreation ground between Abbey Road and Shakespeare Road on November 12.

The fireworks began a little before 9pm and went on until after 10pm - a marvellous display with all the explosive bangs, whistles and screeches that go with it.

Not only did they give me an opportunity to put all my parenting skills into practice - dealing with an overtired 11-month-old woken by all the noise and the fact that his bedroom was lit up as though it were morning, and who could not be calmed until 1am on Sunday - but they also put my pet ownership skills to the test. I had to deal with a stressed dog and small guinea pig for more than an hour while trying to calm a screaming baby.

On top of this, they showed how selfish they are, as no warning was given to residents that the display was to take place.

Since they clearly had enough money for more than an hour's fireworks, a few flyers dashed out on a PC to warn people would have cost next to nothing in comparison.

We were not the only people affected by the display. For the entirety of it, I could hear other dogs barking and neighbours' babies crying, after being awoken in the same manner as my son.

The display did not break the law in terms of noise disturbance, but surely it isn't too much to ask for a little courtesy to the residents.

Maybe I'm expecting too much from people who seem to have more money than sense.

-Mrs A Dewey, Popley, Basingstoke.