BURY Metro Marine Modelling Society members have used the Lido for model boat sailing for many years and are privileged to have one of the best facilities in the country.

Over the past four years or so, the water has been increasingly polluted with blue-green algae which, as has been reported in the Bury Times, is toxic. The problem is so severe that council officers decided to erect fencing all round to prevent people having contact with the water.

The main concern of the Society, and council officers, is to bring the pollution problem under control as quickly as possible. The problem is quite complex and the solution is not easy to determine.

Your recent article seemed to suggest that diverting water from the nearby Gipsy Brook and building a large island with a waterfall feature would cure the problem. Certainly, there is no water flowing into and out of the Lido at present but Gipsy Brook is only a trickle of water during the summer, except after heavy rain. The article gives the impression that the Society approves of the construction of the island. This is definitely not the case. Such a structure would dramatically affect the area of water available to us, it would reduce the water area and render some areas inaccessible.

Aeration of the water could be achieved in a number of ways, but these need careful consideration and discussion by all concerned. The Society has not given its approval to any such detailed proposals.

The Society is, however, fully in support of helping to maintain and improve the Lido and its immediate surroundings, and if the activities of the proposed Friends of the Lido help to bring this about, so much the better. We have accepted an invitation to be represented on this committee and intend to make a positive contribution.

PETER COX,

secretary,

Bury Metro Marine

Modelling Society.