I WONDER if your anguished Holcombe Brook correspondent "Hugh Dunnit" (June 25) is still trouble by "The Beast", a seemingly nocturnal creature who has a fetish for leaving its smelly and unwelcome "calling cards" among his prized petunias?

Since his despairing letter was published I can report that "The Beast" is now hyperactive in the Elton area. This seemingly invisible creature can leap fences Red Rum wouldn't tackle, and leaves deposits amid my marigolds which a donkey would envy. Can any Bury Times reader offer help to counter this horticultural CATastrophe? On a related topic, I am one of more than a dozen volunteers who regularly mow the grass at Bolton Road Sports Club and I am horrified at the amount of fresh dog deposits which appear each day. It is rare to see animals without an owner, and these irresponsible people are happy to allow their charges to trespass over cultivated grass and leave heaps of disgusting mess for the volunteers to clear.

Unless you have eyes like a hawk, the constitution of an ox, and the footwork of Ryan Giggs, playing sport is a very hazardous business indeed for the senior and junior sportsmen and women who regularly use the club facilities.

If the Metro's newly-strengthened dog warden team, with its swingeing powers, wants to earn a few "Brownie points" - to coin a phrase - Bolton Road Sports Club is the place to be, any day, any hour.

I. N. DeMYRE

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.