Miss Amanda Margolyes       

                                                                31 Gershwin Mews

                                                                  (off McCartney Road)

                                                                  Crumpton

Mike Howland

Stagecoach Ltd

Daw Bank

Stockport

SK3 0DU

Dear Mr Howland

I hope you don't mind me writing to you.   It's part of what we're doing in literacy at the moment and Mrs Drumball says my letters have been the best ones in the class,

Sometimes on Saturdays me and my friend Jodie go into Crumpton town centre on the bus and it's very annoying for us. The reason it's annoying is the teenagers at the back of the bus saying bad swear words. It makes them sound cross even if they're not, and sometimes there are lots of swear words all in one sentence. (My dad only says bad swear words when he's cross and my mum never ever says any at all.)

My mum says on the television there's a thing called the watershed only it's not really a shed at all, which is not surprising because how can you keep water in a shed? It would all leak out, wouldn't it?

Anyway, on the television people are not allowed to say bad swear words before the watershed which is nine o'clock, in case children are watching. Nine o'clock is my bedtime on a school night but I'm allowed to watch programmes after that at the weekend so sometimes I hear swear words but that doesn't matter because it's just on the television so it doesn't count.

I would like you to make a watershed on your buses so that the teenagers are not allowed to swear on them before nine o'clock in the evening. Then, if anyone hears the teenagers swearing before that, they can go and tell the driver and he can use a special microphone to say, ''You are on Stagecoach Buses before the watershed. Please do not swear.''   Then if they do it again, he's allowed to make them get off the bus, so me and Jodie don't have to listen to it anymore.

I think this is a very good idea because the teenagers might get used to not being allowed to swear on the bus and not do it so much anywhere else either.

By the way, I am think of writing to some train companies too, and the cinema. If you can think of any more places, please let me know.

I hope you are well.

Yours sincerely,

Manda Margolyes (Miss)

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Manda, aged eleven, wants to change the world, in little ways, but important ones (to her).

She has also just discovered the joys of letter-writing, and intends to make the most of her new ''hobby''.

Put yourself in the mind of an eleven-year old and write to people, to try and make changes in Manda's world.

The first one is to her Member of Parliament (and she fully intends that he will be a regular recipient of her letters) but there are other people she could write to, on all sorts of subjects.

She could write letters of complaint, of praise, or just bright ideas like the one in the first letter.

Feel free to add!

updated Aug 7 by Tasha_Noble