I’VE had to reach for my pen again concerning the health of the River Mersey in this area of Sale and Ashton-on-Mersey.

When you consider we have been using the Moon as a bus stop and have sent probes to Mars, I feel it’s a shame that the River Mersey is in a state of chronic decline.

I feel that after a lifetime of fishing most rivers in England I am entitled to my opinion.

Forget my selfish motives being an angler, but I feel healthy rivers flowing through our country is not unlike healthy blood flowing through our veins.

I fish the river on a regular basis and every time I sit on the bank I know and I feel I am looking at a sick patient.

What a shame.

K G Bearney, Sale