I REFER to Brian Iddon's comments in Friday's edition in relation to our dying Working Men's Clubs.

As a local cabaret artist, I travel to many social clubs across the North-west of England and can see these clubs slowly, but surely, dying.

The best clubs I have visited as a soloist are the ones with mixed age groups on their committees and in their audiences.

Many clubs appear to outsiders as a "closed shop", ie you have to be a member to visit one on a Saturday night. This is not always true. In most cases you can visit on a Saturday night for an entrance fee of anything between 50p -- £1.50. Where else can you find great live entertainment so cheaply? Many great entertainers started in the clubs, including Bob Monkhouse, Bernard Manning, Russell Watson, Claire Sweeney, Martine McCutcheon and, of course, Jane MacDonald who have all been club acts.

Having just returned from Tenerife, where we go to the cabaret bars seven nights a week for entertainment, it's sad to see that we can't seem to fill these clubs one night a week. More and more artists are giving up the Northern circuit to work in these warmer climates.

Concert Secretaries -- don't let your clubs die! Take a chance. Do something different every once in a while ..... hey, you could even hire me!

Caroline Breeze

Heaton