LIFE was tough for a rag-and-bone man, but Tommy Carter had no hesitation when he found a bundle of banknotes among old coats he had collected around the St Helens town centre.

He gathered them up and took his £400 find to the local police station. His honesty was later rewarded with a measly half-crown, or 12p in today's money!

Mary Meara, who is naturally proud to have been honest Tommy's daughter, was reminded of that 1960s incident when she spotted a piece on this page about a rag-and-bone man who, many years ago, used to visit Allanson Street School, Parr, complete with a miniature merry-go-round.

Tommy Carter, who died in 1978 at the age of 67, worked all his life in that humble re-cycling trade. Much of the time he was to be found shoving a handcart around the district, though he progressed through the years to horse and cart and, finally, to a van.

He was a magnet to kiddies and adults alike, rewarding his rag-bearing customers with toys, crockery and donkey and ashley stones for cleaning and whitening front doorsteps.

Once, while collecting rags around the Lowe Street area, he was handed a lot of old coats. And while 'fluffing the rags up', to increase the volume of the load before taking them to Hindley's scrapyard in the Water Street area, he discovered the little treasure trove.

They were bundles of £1 notes, amounting to £400, which represented a small fortune in those early 1960s. But Tommy marched straight to the police station with his find.

"The police located the house," says Mary, of Parr Street, "it seemed that an old man, who had recently died, had earlier hid money all over the house. I think the final figure was about £2,000.

"The family rewarded my dad with half-a-crown," says Mary, who recalls that the newspapers got hold of the story and one carried the wry headline 'Honesty is the best policy?'

Later, Tommy received two envelopes with anonymous gifts of £1 and £5 inside . . . and both emphasising that honesty was indeed a quality to be proud of.

WHAT a dad to look up to, Mary! Thanks for that delightful little story.