With the plethora of letters about Lewes bonfire night, it is good to read some common sense from Bob Sellwood (Letters, January 5).

You cannot rewrite history. What has happened has happened and we should learn from our mistakes. The Gunpowder Plot should remind us of how easily our stable way of life can be changed by the will of outside forces. It also shows how difficult our path to democracy, however imperfect, has been.

The Reformation and its aftermath is to the credit of few. Jan Huss and Martin Luther were brave men who saw a mighty organisation, the Roman Catholic Church, sinking into corruption.

The Reformation was a wake-up call, to which the Church eventually reacted. This undoubtedly saved the Church. It is interesting that Islam has reached the same point in its development as the Church had reached at the time of the Reformation.

Enjoy the celebrations at Lewes but don't forget the lessons they can teach.

-Brian Coomber, Shoreham