THOSE of a certain age will remember the days when neighbours were more than that.

They were like extended family - the lady of the house next door or across the street, was an instant 'aunty', someone who shepherded you to school if mum was busy and bathed your grazed knee if you fell in the back yard.

She would make slices of bread and jam for all of the kids as they played out in the street at hopscotch or marbles.

And during school holidays you could count on her to keep a watchful eye on the youngsters whose parents had to work.

Her husband also helped you build a go-cart for cub scouts and donated wood for the annual bonfire, at the end of the street.

All along the street were others like them, good neighbours who stitched costumes for the maypole queen, helped repair bicycle chains and supported each other through the good, bad and sad times.

Being good neighbours came naturally, no one thought about - community spirit was how it was among families across East Lancashire.

Children were best friends, mums would pop next door for a cuppa and a chat or gossip over the yard wall, while dads would lend a hand with DIY jobs, or enjoy a cosy pint at the local at the end of the road.

It was the lifestyle of the age which helped foster that togetherness - people lived close to one another in the rows of terraced housing, which characterise the north.

It was not uncommon, either, for two or three members of the same family to live only a few doors apart - moving to another part of town when you married was simply unheard of.

The two world wars also played their part in fostering community spirit, everyone kept an eye out for everyone else and if you had extra while your neighbours had nothing, you simply shared.

Eric Nolan, who was brought up in Langho, vividly remembers being sent by his mum to Mytton Fold Farm to collect some eggs, but returning empty handed as the Hargreaves family were nowhere to be found.

"I was told off no end by Mr Hargreaves who was our milkman for not just going into the dairy and helping myself, as he knew mum would have settled up when next paying for her milk.

"I also recall that an elderly neighbour who lived three doors away kept hens, and I would take our potato peelings round to add to their food, my reward was an egg or two or, much more preferable, a toffee.

"Another neighbour, just cross the field to us, was the parish priest of St Mary's, Langho, Fr. Geoghan, who had an old Austin Seven but couldn't drive himself.

"He had to be chauffeured to the old church near Old Langho by either my dad or the village butcher, Mr Sykes. "His elderly housekeeper was only a basic cook, so my mum, who had been a cook at Stonyhurst College, used to augment his diet, with dishes such as trifles for his tea in the summer - my reward being allowed to 'scrump' the fallen apples from his orchard.

"When the Bishop of Salford paid his annual visit, mum would also step in and prepare a three course dinner, 'more befitting his rank'."

He continued: "When I was 12 we moved into Blackburn and mum took over a corner sweets and tobacconists shop on Audley Lane, where my sister and I had to be instructed how to administer 'tick' for some of our customers.

"At that time we didn't own a TV, but a newly married next door neighbour did, so we would be invited in on a Saturday night to watch the telly.

"Mum supplied the supper, with sandwiches made from the freshly cooked Sunday lunch beef, with added silverskin onions, and finished off with cakes from the afternoon's baking.

"Mum would also look after babies while their mothers went down into town shopping - all part of the service of Nolan's Corner Shop.

"Another neighbour lent dad his Baby Austin so the family could visit me at my new college at Durham."

He added: "All this paints a picture of friendliness and a willingness to help one another back then.

"And this was very much evidenced when eventually we sold the shop and dad needed a deposit for a new bungalow being built at Wilpshire - we were loaned the cash by the smallest of our sweet wholesalers, Mr McCloskey, of Bottomgate."