IN OUR village there are banners that demand that Kingswood be kept a village, this is a campaign against new builds.

But village life has also changed, the pig man's hut where the villagers would take the family pig to be killed is gone, the farmer is now an isolated figure on his farm, the vicar is itinerant, and the doctor is now part of a NHS practice.

Most of all the population has changed, we now have the old village where families have lived for generations and the new village of first generation, the difference is that where as the old village is shy and happy with the old ways, the new comers like to broadcast what they are doing and to run things - a difference in culture, two cultures living side by side, and I guess this reflects the change in Britain.

I am not saying that this is a bad development only that the new culture, like a new plant or animal introduced into the wild can if dominant wipe out the native.

So when I look at these notices about keeping Kingswood a village I think it is not just about housing and size, but about people and respect for the old as well as acceptance of the new.

Paul Brazier

High Street

Kingswood