Dear editor.

Visiting the Crooklands section of the Lancaster canal a few days after the Inland Waterways (IWA) trail boat festival and bicentenary of the northern reaches from Tewitfield to Kendal, I met a family with two little boys.

The boys were looking for ducks and swans to feed, but were unable to see any because of tall weeds all along the canal. The disappointment on their faces so acute that I could feel it myself.

For there was no way they could see any wildlife because of the weeds towering over them.

In places it was difficult for anyone to see the canal.

It rained on the three days of the Trail boat festival, and boats must have found it very difficult mooring up against these weeds and sedges, and skippers and crew must have been soaking wet, along with the volunteers running the show.

The event, organised by the local IWA group and Lancaster Canal Trust, (LCT) in cooperation with Canal & River Trust (C&RT) in charge of the bicentenary, will be seen as the opening of the bicentenary.

Why C&RT did not have the foresight to cut these weeds, giving a warm welcome to the trail boats from around Britain, will have to be answered by them, but I ask that this will be rectified on any further major events along the canal.

Frank Sanderson

Crooklands, Kendal.