My First. . .

Mr Pilling, of Wedgewood Road, Accrington, has donated 90 pints of blood since he was 18 and has been presented with a crystal platter by the National Blood Service for reaching the 75-pint milestone.

MEMORY: I think it was when I was about three years old -- my parents were stewards at the Conservative Club in Clayton-le-Moors by the canal bridge and I remember the barges going past.

HOLIDAY: I don't remember the first one, but we have family photographs of Blackpool and Morecambe.

JOB: I was a pupil civil engineer with Accrington Borough Council, which was the start of my career. I retired eight years ago.

CAR: An Austin 7 Nippy, registration number BRO 17. It was a 1936 model, a red two-seater, that I bought in 1963 for £35.

HOUSE: The first house I bought was in Manchester Road, Accrington, after my wife Margaret and I got married.

RECORD: It was by Lonnie Donegan -- and I think it was The Comancheros.

PET: I didn't really have any pets as a child, but at our previous house we had a lot of land so we had various cats.

HERO: Dan Dare.

BLOOD DONATION: You had to be 18 and they came round to the office when I worked in the town hall in Accrington. I signed up then, but you had to get your parents' consent if you were under 21. I went to a mobile unit at the old Ambulance Drill Hall in Accrington. Things have changed a lot since then -- if you were breathing and could get there they accepted you,.

ALCOHOLIC DRINK: Beer. When I was 16 or 17 and we had a trip from Accrington to Sherburn-in-Elmet in Yorkshire. We stopped at a pub and the only one who was refused a pint was the only one of us over 18.