With reference to the article on page 3, April 11 Falmouth Packet re the anger and sadness about the theft and damage to the swan’s eggs at Swanpool; a situation that must be considered to be total vandalism and lack of respect for other living creatures.

There is however for me another layer of anger and sadness, in as much as Swanpool does not need the tautological addition of the word ‘Lake’, which over the last few years has become the norm in both the press and estate agents selling literature.

When I was a child, any large area of water in Cornwall was either a Pool or a Reservoir for example Loe Pool ,Dozmary Pool and of course Swanpool. This was the case until a quango calling itself South West Lakes decided to override local convention and rename all our large areas of water using the English vernacular of Lake and once again another small piece of our local culture has been eroded to almost extinction.

Please can we take pride in our past and its uniqueness and preserve our local words and culture. If we fail to do so Cornwall will sadly be consumed into the corporate UK image with no local identity. So much has been lost already but there is still time to preserve what we still have.

John Bastin

Eglos Cot Budock.