‘What has happened to the young artists?’

I suspect that question posed by Mr and Mrs Lanches from Devon (“What has happened to Bournemouth?” Echo, August 25) is rhetorical, but in respect of the Pine Walk art gallery, it deserves a reply.

The real question is “what happened to the young artists?”, the older ones having retired or given up in the face of costs exceeding any likely advantage.

Read more: What has happened to Bournemouth’s hidden gem?’

This is a question best answered by a cartoon in the Private Eye a few months ago: a classroom of infants lined up on a floor, equidistant from each other, with one missing from the line-up, staring into mobile phones.

The missing child is in a corner with a big smile on her face as she splashes around with a paint brush and paint.

The adult teacher says to another: “I don’t know what we’re going to do with that one.”

Geoff Way

Bournemouth