I feel your report "Bonfire Night Pope burning is bigotry" (The Argus, November 14) may mislead people to believe I want the Lewes bonfire celebrations to be scrapped.

All I want is the removal of the Pope effigy and the "No Popery" signs from the march.

I cannot believe that if these were removed it would in any way curtail people's enjoyment.

Catholics, on the whole, have learned to keep a low profile over the centuries since the reformation and across the length and breadth of Britain, these types of negative images of Roman Catholicism have been consigned to the dustbin of history.

According to the newspaper reports, Keith Austin, secretary of Lewes Bonfire Council, does not believe any offence is intended and is unapologetic.

He thinks these celebrations are about religious freedom and the burning of Protestant martyrs outside Lewes Town Hall.

I am sure many of the 35,000 people who attended that evening had gone there purely for a good night out and to enjoy the fireworks.

If Mr Austin has been quoted correctly, both him and his society see this bonfire night as a significant ceremony and not just a bit of fun. We can both agree on this point.

Isn't it time they came into the 21st Century like virtually everyone else in the country and stop raising the profile of Lewes across Britain as a centre for extremism?

-Joe O'Keefe, Newick