IN the early 1980s, the selfish minority in Great Harwood blocked the construction of a new Brooke Bond Oxo factory, resulting in the relocation to Worksop, with the loss of 500-600 jobs locally.

The factory, mainstay of this town since 1939 and employing, in many cases, whole families, closed in 1993, dealing Great Harwood a bitter blow.

On most weekdays and especially on Friday afternoons, the town would be buzzing with Oxo workers spending money with local traders and patronising local businesses.

When these jobs were lost, Great Harwood started to decline and continued to decline up to the present day, hence all the empty shops. The rest is history.

Safeway have 180 vital jobs on offer with their supermarket proposal. Are we going to let the selfish minority win yet again?

R HADCROFT, Netherton House, Clayton Street, Great Harwood.

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