THERE are some old Lancashire phrases that have never died out.

'For example 'bally ann' means a meal put together from whatever was left available as in: "It's a bally ann meal today." I dug up this contribution from an old Whalley's World column.

Bill Harrison, a former Clinkham Wooder, but now living in Canada dropped me a line. He said: "It referred to the day before pay day when most people had little or no money left."

Violet Dixon suggested it involved "the last day of the working week when no one had any money left. She added: "I remember when I asked grandma if I could have a faggot for my tea from a shop in Peter Street. Granny refused saying 'it's bally ann day'. The family were skint and the three halfpenny price could not be scraped together."

Violet ended by saying: "Although I now live in London I still love and miss St Helens."

During his research into the history of the local workhouses Bill Blinkhorn came up with a strange menu from 1835. He said the name was broken down from Banian Days, a derogatory term used by old time sailors when they had no meat.

It was picked up from vegetarian Hindu merchant traders in Victorian times. They belonged to the no-meat Banians sect.

Explaining his workhouse menu find Bill said: "I was stuck by the similarity of the word Banian days. Apparently they had three banyan days and three lobscouse days every week, plus Sunday lunch of boiled beef."

The banyan consisted of mashed potatoes, milk and melted butter, or bacon fat, thickened with flour. Lobscouse was potatoes and pork. No mention of vegetables.

Bread and supper was always the same, bread, oatmeal and milk, probably watered down. Bill, who is from Lickers Lane in Whiston ended: "Hardly a protein diet is it?"

Fast forward to 2015 and the word now is austerity. It is defined as difficult economic conditions created by government measures to reduce public expenditure.

We now have foodbanks, destitution, poverty, begging, financial distress, suffering, wretchedness and dire straits. Since my optimistic teenage years of the 60s, 50 years of politics don't seem to have achieved much.

I was recently at a meeting when it was said that Parr was currently the most destitute part of the borough. One lady said it was like that 50-years-ago so why has nothing been done.

No doubt the council will face the same questions in another 50 years?