SINCE moving to Haslingden just over two years ago, I only get the Bolton Evening News when I visit the town (usually each Tuesday). On the odd occasion I have received Thursday's copy and been very interested and impressed with the articles written by Fred Shawcross. Teenage kicks (Thursday, March 11) was excellent and I'm sure echoes the sentiments of those of us who remember the days when we all lived in fear of the consequences of breaking the rules or the law.

"Don't tell mi dad," were the first words that came to mind when a rule was broken. I tell people that my father would have killed me if I had used a four letter word in our home.

A story that my grandchildren find quite amusing is the one I tell them about porridge. My dad insisted my first meal of the day, every day, was porridge. On the only occasion that I refused the dammed stuff, he said to my mother: "He''s not hungry Ethel, leave it on the table until dinner time, I think he will eat it then." I got the impression that had I refused the porridge at dinner time it would have been there at tea time, and what could I say to a man who dug coal for a living.

I think how easy it would be for him, and the majority of dads of that era, to put the world to rights were they alive today.

I will make sure I don't miss future issues of Thursday's Bolton Evening News. Keep it up Fred you could soon become as popular as Les Gent.

Frank Fletcher

Smithy Brow Court, Haslingden, Rossendale

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