SIR – I noticed with some sadness and concern for the family, friends and relatives of those involved, the number of deaths that occurred over the weekend in the seas around Great Britain.

However, I also notice that there are no calls for all beaches to be closed, no miles of fencing being erected to prevent access, no police patrols warning sunbathers that they will be arrested and no outraged protestors demanding they should be closed because “water kills people”.

How nonsensical you might say, to think something that patently ridiculous would happen as the result of what amounted to (as tragic as it is), human error and accident. Just because people died in the sea, it doesn’t mean everyone has to be prevented from enjoying it in the future. That would be totally Orwellian!

Except that is EXACTLY what happened when two adult males drowned on consecutive weekends at Gullet Quarry!

We were warned of dire consequences for those that ventured into the water and that “the water was dangerous”. I was even told by a very serious-faced police officer that swallowing the water would “make my larynx close up” and I would die. Excuse me? This is exactly the same water that flows from the many magnificent springs dotted around our beautiful hills and if drinking it fresh from a spring has no effect (other then to refresh and re-invigorate), then why would/could the water in Gullet Quarry kill me!

Furthermore, I was also told (by a man sitting in a van with a Malvern Hill Conservator logo on it, who admitted that he had not even put a finger in the water, let alone swam in it) that the quarry was not safe to swim in because it “contains patches of freezing cold water”. Wrong again! There are no “cold” patches (let alone any that are freezing!) The water is spring-fed and therefore cold to start with, however, when the sun is out certain areas at the surface, particularly where the water flow is extremely slow, will become warmer. So the water is, in effect, “cold with warm patches” – something I can attest to, having swam in the quarry on many an occasion before the fences went up.

Gullet Quarry is also a wonderful sun-trap and a lovely place to just lie and soak up the warmth but, according to one over-zealous copper (when he spotted my wife doing just that on the large rock formation opposite the path), it was “dangerous” and he would “arrest her if [he] found her doing it again!” Arrest her? For what? Wearing a brightly-coloured bikini?

What complete and utter nonsense!

So, I will close by asking a simple question...

If the beaches around the coast of Britain are to stay open and people allowed to swim in the sea, why is Gullet Quarry to remain off-limits to those of us who want to enjoy the delights of swimming there?

Nigel Streeter

Malvern