SIR — I was appalled to read the recent correspondence from Julia Winstanley (Your Letters June 8).

Unfortunately this person seems to be one of the easily recognisable, delusional locals who think they live in the fictional village of Cranford.

According to Ms Winstanley, Butlins and its out-of-town clientele seem to be the cause of all the ills of local society, conveniently forgetting a well-published incident, a little while ago, when a whole rampaging horde decamped from Washford to smash up a local pub because one of their underaged mates was ejected for being drunk and disorderly.

These people originated from your neck of the woods Ms Winstanley, whether they were overweight and wearing T-shirts was not reported, probably because it was irrelevant.

She is, of course, completely uninformed, as are most of the Cranford Clan, when it comes to the facts.

Does she know how many local people Butlins employs and just how much most local businesses rely on the camp being open? Of course not!

And as for the need of a cinema - well we had one of those and the locals didn't support it.

Is she aware of just how many commercial premises in the town are empty? Imagine how many more would be derelict if you suddenly removed the 2000-plus Butlins staff from the equation.

Of course that wouldn't really bother her, because she lives in Roadwater, sorry Cranford. I don't know if she wears green wellies and drives a 4x4, but if I adopt her criteria for judging people, one must assume she does.

Well, I'm overweight and I wear a T-shirt, I also worked in Butlins running a concession for a local family business for eight years during the 1980s, and I can image how I must appear to her through those rose-tinted pince-nez.

But I do also live in Watchet, and it's nice to know we have Ms Winstanley's approval for "tidying ourselves up". I'm afraid her outlook and attitude could also do with a make-over!

Fred Owen,

Watchet.