THE cross Chanel relay swim by pupils of Westholme School, in Blackburn, to raise money for a new pool (LET, February 4) should be scrapped at all costs. However romantic it may sound, it would be very dangerous. The temperature of the water deep down could be a killer.

How often, even in summer, have people and children been warned to stay away from swimming in lodges or lakes?

There are other ways in which this Channel challenge could be safely done and enjoyed.

Why don't the children swim in relays in the safety of their local baths? I, too, have started a 'channel swim' of 22 miles -- in the comfort of Mercer Hall baths, in Great Harwood, going for an hour a week, and I hope to finish around June or July of this year.

Again, I am doing a sponsored swim as part of Sharron Davies 'Swim for Life' appeal in aid of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign.

I wish the girls who are training for their Channel swim all the luck in the world, but I wonder if they know what Captain Webb had to do when he was the first to swim the Channel. So think again, girls -- there are other ways in which to fulfil your dream.

ADA GIBSON (aged 86), Grange Street, Clayton le Moors.