I KNOW that some of us grumble about the National Health Service sometimes (oh, yes you do!), particularly if we are on one of the long waiting lists, but Mrs Alice Cook, of Mealhouse Court, Atherton, has made me realise just how lucky we are.

"Seventy years ago, when I was 18," she writes, "I had to have a throat operation at Ancoats Hospital. I was then Alice Eckersley, of Garden Place, Atherton, and I received the following letter:

'Dear Madam, We are hoping to arrange for your admission to this hospital on the 11th inst. as per the enclosed card. In the meantime it is necessary for you to arrange what you are able to contribute each week towards the cost of treatment, and to fix up for your relatives to make this payment to the Office while you are here.

'The average cost to us is £3 9s 5d (£3. 47p) per week per patient, and as you are not a Manchester resident and subscriber to the funds each week it is necessary for you to meet this amount as much as possible'."

Mrs Cook also recalls being in Bolton Royal Infirmary in 1931. "I'd been on the 'free list' after abdominal surgery and pneumonia for three weeks in the Recovery Ward, and being now out of danger I was transferred to the newly-built Colin Cooper Ward.

"Now that I was taking an interest in life again, I was ravenous as I developed an appetite.

"At breakfast and tea time, only bread and butter (margarine?) and cups of tea were provided, but staff would boil an egg if the patient had one brought in by visitors.

"The only real meal of the day consisted of two courses, usually a hash of meat and potatoes, followed by a sweet - always milk pudding, rice or sago.

"At mid-morning and supper time, drinks were provided, but patients' lockers usually held a supply of eggs and preserves (jam or marmalade), a little pot of butter, bag of sugar, and other extras provided by relatives and friends to supplement the inadequate diet. My mother also brought me some home-made saucer pies and various tasty bits."

Well, Mrs Cook, after that we should be grateful for what we have got today . . .