THIS letter is to say a big thank you to the lady whose story on 'Child Abuse' appeared in Friday night's Bolton Evening News on March 26. It took me nearly all night to read the story because I did a lot of crying. That story really hit home because, believe me, I have been there. At the moment, I am seeing a counsellor every week because I cannot bring myself to tell family or friends what I went through at the hands of my step-father. He started on me at the age of six and it went on until I was 14. I am now 55 years of age and I have lived with this for over 40 years. After a huge row with my step-father last year and then the death of my brother, all my nightmares came back to haunt me. I cannot give you my name or address because I still feel so guilty about what happened, even though I know now that what happened was not my fault. Please give my best regards to the lady in question because I know how hard it must have been to tell her story. I just wish I was as brave as she has been and a big thank you to the BEN for reporting the story.

A Horwich lady.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.