It was a wish I, Margaret Mather, had and it came true last Saturday night in the Caird Hall when the Dundee people turned out in force for our Help the Heroes concert.

In the beginning local performer Ronnie Coburn and I discussed and set the show.

Then I was joined by my steering group Bruce Kelly, Victor Herd, Derek Shaw and Alec Scott.

Although it started as one woman’s wish it quickly gathered momentum.

I thank Dundee City Council, Derek Souter of DJS Creative Marketing, Kerrs Milk, The Rotary Club of Dundee, The Salvation Army, The Deep Sea Restaurant, Dundee Junior Showtime volunteers, The Whitehall Theatre volunteers, Ron Cathro, Photographer, Marks & Spencer’s, all shops who displayed posters, Asda, Kirkton, The Wellgate Centre, Looking Good Shop, Kirkton, Robert and Sheena, Ronnie Coburn’s stage managers, 225 TA, Major D. Simpson and DC Thomson.

There’s too many to mention and of course who can forget the magnificent cast who all turned up proud on stage and performed magnificently. No wonder the audience stood up at the end.

The cast deserved the fantastic ovation they received at the end of the show.

Thank you, Dundee; you made it happen, as did our very own Lord Provost John Letford. He was supportive to the whole event. We have raised over £7000, which is absolutely fantastic. Thank you all for making my wish come true. — Margaret Mather, Producer.

With all the money being spent on the regeneration of Lochee I hope some will go towards reconditioning and preserving these structures for the heritage of Lochee. — J. R., Lochee.

It was with great sadness that I read of the passing of founder Reta McLean. This band was a marvel over the years and was a popular draw at various locations throughout the area.

The standard was fantastic.

These were obviously well-trained individuals who came together to perform at many different locations, including, as one previous letter writer said, at Tayport during the coronation celebrations in 1953. — Interested.

Does Annoyed not think about the massive boats that go up and down the Tay every day or the big boat with big engines that take people out to see the dolphins?

I have been skiing in the Ferry for around 30 years and not had any bother with the dolphins, even when I take out the jet-ski.

We are not going out to bother them, we are only going out to enjoy ourselves.

I also inform Annoyed that when entering or exiting a harbour the speed is always kept to five knots in the interest of swimmers etc.

And as far as the noise goes, all the exhaust noise is transmitted under the jet-ski directly into the water thus keeping noise to a minimum.

The water is not deep enough to drive at speed two metres from the shoreline.

I can only hope Annoyed is in the minority as whenever we take to the water there is always plenty of spectators watching and enjoying our sports. — Live and Let Live.

The Scottish Parliament agreed to all but abolish short sentences of three months or under and UK Justice Secretary Ken Clarke reversed the old Conservative mantra that prison works.

It is clear that short sentences deliver little other than vastly expensive bed-and-board for convicted offenders.

Prison is viewed as such an inevitable destination for some young people that it almost becomes a rite of passage. In the absence of any positive role models, stable family home life and decent education, prison becomes a cost of life that is simply factored in.

The less well we care for our children the more likely they are to wind up in prison.

To truly change the prison population we need to change the status quo for these young people.

The ending of short-term sentences gives us a unique opportunity to talk about shutting off the prison pipeline and reducing the inter-generational cycle of offending and re-offending. — Simon Watson, Head of Development, Barnardo’s Scotland.