EVERY parent knows how most children are attracted by the sight of water and find it difficult to ignore the temptation to get wet.

The dangers are obvious and during the summer months every year youngsters across East Lancashire find themselves in trouble in rivers, reservoirs and lodges.

That's why it is important that at an early age children are taught how to swim and gain respect for water and confidence in it.

The ability to swim, once learnt, is with you for life and swimming is also a great way to keep fit.

It's for these reasons - and the fact that the National Curriculum stipulates that by the age of 11 children should be able to competently swim 25 metres - that cutbacks in school swimming lessons should be viewed with alarm.

Budget pressures are blamed, in the form of increasing bills for coach hire costs to and from a dwindling number of local authority pools.

It is a fact that transport costs are going up all the time and bussing children around town is no doubt an administrative headache.

In an ideal world most pupils would have swimming pools within walking distance of their schools.

But in the meantime money must be found for transport to ensure that children are not just equipped for life but given the skill to stay alive in one of the earth's basic elements.