with The Rev Kevin Logan, Vicar of Christ Church, Accrington. . .

ONE pleasant evening in '94, I perched precariously atop a stepladder outside Asda undoing the last tie of a banner proclaiming "OPEN SUNDAY".

"Okay," called up a most obliging Asda trolley lad gathering the trailing advert, "I've got it."

Later, as he helped me fold it, guilt briefly tugged for seizing his boss's banner. Abruptly, I pulled it and myself together, recalling that Asda and most other big stores were not only breaking the law but also bragging about it.

Their boasting banner was posted off to the standards and trading officer, who rejected it as the obvious evidence it was, conveniently branding it 'stolen property'.

This week marks the tenth anniversary of the new trading law that changed Sunday into just another Saturday.

Has it helped?

A NOP poll reveals that seven out of 10 folk wouldn't be "bothered at all" or "not much bothered" if stores closed and trading reverted to the pre-1994 market of local convenience shops only for Sundays.

Thousands of them are Sunday workers who no longer have rest time with their families. We now work longer hours with fewer holidays than anywhere else in Europe.

As our mad rush dethrones the weather as our prime topic of conversation, have we really done ourselves any favours cancelling society's day of rest?

Do you think God might have had a point about one day off in seven?