A BLACK mark to Darlington council. On Sunday last, a friend and myself went to the South Park to listen to Barnard Castle Band.

We arrived 2.30ish to get a seat for the 3pm start. All we saw were two security men, so we asked what was going on. Nothing, they said, the band had cancelled. "Wait until 3pm and someone might turn up."

It would have been nice if some seats had been put out for the dozens of people who had turned up and were disappointed. "We don't have the key to get the seats out,"

we were told.

Surely the council could have found a band who would come?

What a washout (and I don't mean the rain).

Elizabeth Richards, Darlington.