AS a boy, during my rambles with my older sister over the moors around Belmont and Tockholes, she told me that Stepback was so named because, during the Civic War, Oliver Cromwell had given the command to his troops to step back, thus giving them the respite they needed to win the battle.

But, then again, she told me that the big old oak tree down at the cafe at Sunnyhurst Woods, Darwen, was where Bonny Prince Charles hid from the Roundheads. This must be one of the thousands of such trees around the country.

Could someone confirm this, as I should hate to abandon these wonderful boyhood memories after carrying them for the past 75 years?

ELLIS MOSSLEY, Vancouver, Canada.

Email: emoss@telus.net