I WAS very sad to read the headlines in the Worcester News last week that the boat festival had gone into receivership.

Sad, because many local people will lose a lot of money, and that is terrible for everyone. However, I was surprised to read in the leader article in the same edition of the paper that the boat festival was being likened to Huntingdon Hall and the Swan Theatre, which have both had their "fortunes reversed" and expressing the view that surely the boat festival can be turned round as well.

With respect to that anonymous leader writer, the comparison is not valid in any way. The boat festival was a trade show, set up basically by an individual who was intent on making a profit. You might as well say that Marks & Spencer can be made profitable because Huntingdon Hall and the Swan have been turned round! The Huntingdon Arts venues and the Worcester Festival are non-profit making registered charities, and are run for the benefit of the people. They are supported by the city and county councils, and many arts trusts, because they serve the public and because they are non-profit making.

The boat festival was advertised widely, and most people seemed to know about it, but did not want what was being offered.

To be honest, they were probably good judges, as having had some free tickets for the Saturday afternoon and braved the weather, I can only say that if I had paid the £7 entrance fee, I would have been pretty unhappy.

There were certainly not 18,000 people there over the weekend as claimed. I doubt whether there were 3,000 in total. There is an old adage in the business - you can't start a large festival.

Yes, we probably should have a festival of boats, but it does need to be organised by someone with experience of both boats and festivals.