Talking about manners, last night a woman who had won a 'free entry' in the raffle at the last concert, duly arrived with two teenagers for whom she happily paid admission, plus a toddler of two or so. They stayed at the back of the room and the toddler played on the floor, so there was obviously some thought being taken. Unfortunately, it's not possible for a child of that age to stay quiet, or understand why it should do so, for the best part of three hours, nor can you tell them to just whisper, so frequently a serious or quiet song was totally destroyed by said child's voice.

My own feeling is that children of that age should never be taken into this sort of situation where inevitably other people's enjoyment will be spoilt. What do the panel think?

Barbara