IN reply to the letter ' Is our sea wall safe?' by Lydia Smith, it is true that a mixture of cement and stones from the beach was used for much building in Morecambe, of walls and even buildings, for example the interior walls of buildings on Irving Terrace, but whether or not these are volcanic is open to question, and their life expectancy is no different to any other concrete structure. Since the first pool was built in 1906 at Bare, when it was much deeper than later, and used as a swimming pool, technology has moved on and it is now known that non-rigid defences are better at absorbing the impact of storms by dissipating the energy in a less destructive way. Also as someone interested in local history, you may wish to know there is a local history research group which meets at Morecambe Library on Tuesday afternoons (details from Suzanne Boutlin on 01524 424903) and that Lancaster University runs a home study course that teaches the principles of local history research, which I can recommend, and provides an academic qualification at the end of the course (details from the Open Studies Department of Lancaster University 01524 592623 or 65201.)

To 'No Nimby', I accept that Sefton Rd is not plagued by railway noise, but I did live at Sun St until compulsorily purchased in 1961, where we lived not just next to the the railway, but also the much more noisier and dirtier gas works, which operated 24 hours a day, every day. The older 60ft rails are used for cost effectiveness.

David Hodgson, Sefton Road,

Morecambe.

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