PETER Hale from Cumbria is one of several who contacted me to identify the location of this old factory.

He writes: "The picture of May 14 was taken from Standish Street looking down the canal to the Corporation Street bridge.

"At the bottom of the picture is the swing bridge taking the railway over the canal. The chimney to the front of the picture I think was a company called Pritchards later to become a scrapyard. The square pointed roof was part of Lennon's distribution buildings.

"I spent a lot of my childhood playing on and under the iron bridge."

Another reader Trevor commented: "I'm pretty sure the photo is Foster's Glass (currently Waterside Technology Park in Fingerpost) with the metal and wooden bridge going over the canal. The bridge in the right of the photo spanning the canal is a rail track and the chimneys in the far left is possibly Pilkington 's Cowley Hill. That was back in the days when St Helens had thriving industry supplying jobs for the townsfolk and the surrounding area."

Geoff Liptrot added: "The bridge in the distance is Corporation Street with the old railway swing bridge in the foreground. The railway used to go into Fosters Glass which is now Waterside College.

"I'm not sure what the factory is but it is now Helena Housing and a car park. When we were children in the fifties we used to climb onto a steel ledge under the swing bridge to get covered in steam as the trains went across."

My thanks to others who rang supplying information.