ALL was well on a peaceful Sunday afternoon in the park, with only the sound of a brass band to interrupt the birdsong, until 30 youths arrived with crates of lager and a football.

For a while the old men snoozing in the sun tried to ignore the swearing and the shouts. But then the youths began yelling abuse at the musicians and kicking the ball into the bandstand.

Exchanging determined glances, pensioners and war veterans rose from their deckchairs and formed a thin grey line. As they advanced shoulder to shoulder, some brandishing walking sticks, the band struck up the theme from the war film The Great Escape. Within minutes the enemy had been routed. The youths, unable to withstand the withering glares of 20 old men, fled the field of battle.

The confrontation is now part of the folklore of the Somerset resort of Weston-super-Mare, where the front lines between the old Britain and the new are drawn more closely than most. On one side sit the retired residents and elderly visitors for whom the resort holds many sunny memories. On the other, the area’s large number of unemployed young people. Weston has big problems with alcohol and drug abuse.

Les Brown, a 78-year-old veteran of the battle of Grove Park, who signed up to fight Hitler at the age of 18, said: “The Great Escape music came on and the next thing I knew I was marching towards them, along with lots of others.

“It felt like I was back in the war again, up against a fierce foe. I’ve never seen a group of young men look so scared.”

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