S Gilmore, of Crowthers Hill, Dartmouth, writes:

It was great fun on New Year’s Eve to watch and hear people celebrating the old year out and the new year in, and by all accounts everyone had a great night out.

When the clock struck ­midnight and the fireworks were set off in the centre of the town, it was lovely to hear the cheers and celebrating.

Surely the one, properly organised firework show for everyone to enjoy in the town should be enough, but sadly not. There are those irritating, selfish people who let off fireworks in their gardens, where they are closely ­surrounded by other homes.

We watched one group nearby, yahooing like idiots, setting off their rockets and fireworks totally regardless of others around them. They care not about all the animals cowering in terror as their fireworks went on well after 1am. Disgraceful.

Anyone who knows the law about fireworks will know that it is ‘illegal’ to let off fireworks after 1am – so why do it?

One of our dogs was so scared he shook for well over two hours, and at one point we thought he was going to have a heart attack.

My message to those ­irresponsible idiots is this: if my dog had died of fright, I would have made damned sure that those people – you know who you are – would have had to deal with far more than they bargained for at the start of this new year.

Another salient point: do these firework-crazed idiots ever consider the children in the Middle East who live in fear and terror every day of their lives, with explosions and

fire ripping through their homes and towns, destroying generations of families?

With that thought, would it not be more considerate to give the money to charities that care for war-torn lives and children made homeless, instead of wasting it on fireworks and watching their money go up in smoke? What a complete waste of money, and how pathetic and irresponsible.

Next year please show some intelligence and consider other people and animals who share your neighbourhood.