THE response of the police and the community at Ambleside to a recent bout of anti-social behaviour is worthy of note.

When members of Ambleside Bowling Club arrived at their green to play an evening league match, they found it strewn with rocks. While clearing up, they were bombarded with more stones by a group of youths behind a nearby hedge.

The team set off in pursuit but the teenagers escaped - buit not before one of them was recocgnised. Police subsequently paid visits to various homes and spoke to the stone-throwers’ families.

This act of vandalism, which could have caused serious injury, might have been dealt with through prosecution, potentially leaving some yioung people tarnished with a criminal record.

Instead a different - and delightfully old-fashioned - approach was taken by the authorities, the bowling club and by the parents themselves.

It was decided that instead of the usual punishment for such a crime, the young people should visit the club and help members do some mainten-ance jobs, such as window cleaning and general tidying up.

The club also plans to sit some of the youngsters down and talk to them about bowls and encourage them to have a go. In this way, what could have been a divisive incident in a small community could turn out to forge bonds between its members.

In an age when society seems quick to want to apportion blame and seek compensation, it is good to see that the people of Ambleside are taking a more compassionate and ultimately more positive and uplifting approach.

In last week’s Podium column in The Westmorland Gazette, Kendal Mayor Sylvia Emmott wrote of the importance of respect in society. She said this needed to be instilled in children and that parents were the most important influence.

Ambleside’s response to this incident is welcome and may well engender the kind of respect and thought for others that will pay dividends in the future.