I AM delighted that the Marlow Town Regatta has been such a wonderful success over the last decade. Town worthies deserve massive thanks and congratulations for rescuing this huge social occasion after the serious rowing was moved to Dorney.

However, there is a perennial blot on the landscape – the booze binges undertaken by the hordes of youngsters who often end up disgracing themselves.

I have to say police do a pretty good job in keeping this contained as far as possible, but they are not miracle workers. They end up confiscating vast quantities of alcohol from kids and they do their best. Equally, this is not to blame the regatta organisers because the trouble is in the surrounding area which they cannot control.

Sometimes its teenagers, aged from 14; last year it was crowds of drunken thugs, who had to be dispersed with police horses after the regatta had ended. This is a really sad state of affairs for a great event, and I feel very sorry for the organisers that this aggro is in any way associated with the regatta. It really isn’t fair.

However, don’t blame the cops, and don’t blame the regatta this year if there’s more trouble. It’s up to parents to know exactly where their offspring are. They have the responsibility for this yobbery, and it’s their job to either keep these ruffians indoors or to teach them how to act properly in public without getting drunk or into a fight.

I sincerely hope tomorrow’s event is an unqualified success. But if there is trouble, I implore the authorities to come down like a tonne of bricks on the parents who let their kids run wild.