The wartime bomb story related in the April 17 column revived memories for Pauline Rimmer who writes: “I can recall my mum telling us about sitting under the stairs and under the table in the air raids, and the bomb that landed in Back Bolton Street and the house in the article being destroyed.

“My mum and her two brothers, with our grandmother, lived at number 27 Park Road, regretfully since knocked down.

“When I pass there I can still see Lester’s bakehouse, the doctor’s surgery (the big house on the corner), and St Christopher’s school of motoring on the opposite side. When we visited my grans we went to the Wesleyan church just up the road.

“I remember the shops on Fingerpost, Hunter’s, where you could buy almost everything, the shop window was like an Aladdin’s cave, and Orrell’s newsagents.

“My mum told me and my sister on many occasion the stories of during the war, and working at BICC making the cable for planes. Sadly my mum is no longer with us but I recall fond memories.”