YOU can't move for wellies down at Astley and Tyldesley Miner's Welfare Club.

But the latest fashion fad for Higher Folders who trek to the Gin Pit Social Club has become popular because of pure necessity.

Muddy footpaths around the Leigh estate are in such a state some regulars have been forced to stay at home.

But regulars hardy enough to face the water-logged tracks --churned-up in bad weather by tractors, horses and motorbikes -- are having to dress as if they were going mucking-out on the farm rather than nipping for a pint of Holts.

Now when the club is busy, lines of mud-encrusted wellington boots are a regular sight at the club which has undergone a multi-thousand pound revamp.

Club steward John Foy said: "It's making a mess of the carpets. It's quite time consuming to get rid of all the mud.

"All the access roads from Higher Folds are in a terrible state. One or two customers are staying away because of this, but about 30 regulars trek across wearing wellies and boots."

Wellie wearer Jock Wallace, aged 66, who lives on the Higher Folds estate has been a regular at the club for 25 years. He complained that in places the mud is calf-deep.

He said: "Gradually the paths have got worse and worse. Now it's really bad. Eventually somebody is bound to get injured on the tracks, because of the state they are in."

And club regular Peter Molyneux quipped: "There's that many wellie wearers the sheep round here keep looking over their shoulders!"

A Wigan Council spokesman: "Forest Enterprise (an offshoot of the Forestry Commission involved in establishing a community woodland in the area) have confirmed there is going to be a comprehensive resurfacing of all the paths on that site. It's going out to tender in the next couple of weeks and work should start in May or June."