I WAS saddened to read that Littlemoor is experiencing a rise in anti-social behaviour.

I well remember moving to Louviers Road as a recently divorced nurse in December 2005.

I was working twelve hour shifts to pay my mortgage. 

I moved in on my day off and I was back on duty the next day leaving the house at 6.45am and returning at 10pm to find a box of candles and matches left on my door step. 

My neighbours knew I was on my own and were concerned because there had been a number of power cuts that day.

From day one I knew that the negative concerns surrounding Littlemoor were very one sided and not at all balanced.

In the six years I resided in Littlemoor I can recall only two instances of anti-social behaviour but many, many instances of community kindness.

Anti-social behaviour is everywhere but obviously it is heightened in a densely populated area such as Littlemoor. 

I am not surprised that it has re-surfaced now. 

Our youngsters have been bored with nowhere to go because of Covid restrictions. 

Money is tight for many and it’s wrong to simply blame the parents when they, themselves, are struggling and worrying to buy food and pay the bills knowing that Christmas is on the horizon. 

When I lived in Littlemoor the community hall, sports club and library were very pro-active with social activities for everyone as was the local church. 

I enjoyed going to a weekly friendship group held at the community hall on my day off. 

People of all ages, but especially the young, need somewhere to go and something to do especially when money is tight. Our youngsters need to feel they matter and their moral needs to be boosted. 

There is no excuse for appalling behaviour but let us not just apportion it to one section of society: it starts with the privileged who run the country. 

They can and should look to narrowing the widening gap between this country’s wealth and poverty in order to bring positivity to communities such as Littlemoor.


Julia Squibb
Weymouth