LAST October I made a trip back to St Helens, the town of my birth with the intention of catching up with family and friends, have a couple of pints and a good chinwag and once I had settled in I managed to do all of that.

Apart from catching up with members of my family I met up with good friends of ours, John and Joan Henderson and Jim and Nora Glover who all looked after me and were able to take me out and see parts of the Lake District and Lancashire and what beautiful places they are.

I think it's only when you have been away for a considerable time that you come to realise how beautiful the countryside in Lancashire is and how lucky you all are to have such beautiful places on your doorstep.

I also managed to catch up with Terry Loughlin, manager of Sprayhurst club and some of my old rugby mates that are regular drinkers in the Sprayhurst. I only managed to meet up with them once or twice but I must say having a chat with those old mates was one of the highlights of my visit. The friendship that exists between those blokes is something that I miss very much and I would expect it will be there for many years to come. As always there is always a load of rubbish thrown about in the conversations but who cares so long as everyone has a good time.

I would like to thank everyone who helped to make my trip a success and I hope to see you all again sometime in the future.

If anyone has a good recipe for a good Pork Pie, my wife would love to have it, the Burchall's pork pies I had were lovely.

Regards and thanks to everyone.

BILL Harper (via e-mail)