Dangerous backbiting people

I was shocked at the attitude of a woman on Croftlands yesterday.

People like this can cause a lot of misinformation and can appeal to other people's illogical fears.

What happened:

I locate and provide free timber to a group of lads.

One gets help from his dad and constructs a grind box for skateboarding.

He practices with it in the lane behind his house - a dead end with no traffic.

As far as he is aware all the neighbours are supportive.

I check with one who is working on his car nearby that this is so.

A group of 15 year olds are playing on the swings nearby - equipment restricted to 13 year olds.

I go and talk to them about this - one of the things brought up by other residents.

I get a lot of cheeky lip - something that I'm used to as a teacher!

I go home and get a phone call from an irate illogical woman that my action of providing wood has led to the rowdy group congregating round the area were the skateboarding is happening. She says she has called the police.

I go round to see her a find her winding up another woman who lives down the road. They both have a go at me for causing trouble.

The disturbing thing is these people are part of a group calling themselves ' The Croflands Community Safety Association ' and are taken seriously by a few people.

Why don't people talk to each other more? Why didn't this irate woman go and talk to the youngsters who were causing trouble rather than coming to me?

If she felt intimidated then why not get her husband and other adults to come out together and talk to them?

The kids giving me lip on the swings live not far away. Why don't the women use their energy to go and see the parents of the children causing trouble?

Instead they have a go at me!

These problems could be sorted if instead of going into a huddle they got the adults to talk directly to those causing trouble and to their parents.

More on this later - the lack of communication between different groups of people has become a serious problem in our society.

Are groups like this Croftlands association useful if they don't promote communication between groups of people in their community?

What is your reaction?