I LEFT St Helens in 1951, having been born and bred in Kirkland Street, but was prompted to write to you after a recent visit to see family in my old hometown.

What prompted my letter were the headlines in the Star (Sept. 23) concerning the proposed demolition of homes in Chapel and Argyle Streets. My heart goes out to the people in these homes.

I recall with great clarity returning to St Helens many years ago with my children, then again with grandchildren, to find on both occasions a scene of devastation - houses in Kirkland Street and Prescot Road all gone, communities vanished.

What a disaster, all those houses demolished for so-called 'progress' and the residents spread the length and breadth of St Helens and perhaps further. Families, relatives, friends, neighbours, whole communities ripped apart, cast out of their homes like confetti in the wind.

Those who owned (very few when I was a kid) their home received a pittance no doubt of its true value to its owner. The rent-payers were probably re-housed in cheaply constructed houses with exorbitant rents.

After reading your article, I would like to extend my sympathies to all the families involved, who are with good cause very mad, and very upset at the approaching possibility of losing their beloved homes, and becoming, just a bit more confetti.

Should my letter be published, may I add, I hope you win your battle folks.

Environment

No doubt there are people in any community in any city or town throughout the country who would appreciate a new home to live in, but if a community is happy and content, why destroy their contentment and happiness? Why destroy the very environment that nurtures that contentment and happiness?

Those same people who advocate the destruction of a community are often the very same people who make sure the same destruction is never inflicted upon them.

SID Jones, Ludlow Shropshire.