FURTHER to the recent memories of the old Accrington Grammar School, mine include Mr Parkinson - 'PQR' . . . "You will write out the Bible five times in Latin" and 'Daddy' Patchett with his tickling stick.

Also I recall Mr Samuels' exasperated "What do you think you can do?" and our caretaker, Mr Street - 'Zukov'" - who clipped the bottom corner off our completed exercise books and jotters before issuing new ones.

Perhaps the most moving experience was being driven on the special bus by a gentleman we soon named 'The Crasher' - it was an early white-knuckle ride on the lines of Back to the Future, arriving in Great Harwood almost before leaving Accrington.

Later, some of us went on to the Art School on the top floor under the care of Sam and Nancy Lindoe, PG Findlay and the redoubtable Miss Gunson.

Life there was quite surreal. In between studies, we played endless games of table tennis and sometimes indoor cricket - Legionnaires versus Bedouins - watched over by plaster casts of classical statues. Michelangelo's David came to grief during one heated competition.

Happy days indeed!

The sullen years have done their worst and now that the demolition dust has settled, although there is a strange emptiness on Blackburn Road, the remembered images remain bright and clear.

PETER SHACKLETON, Park Lane, Great Harwood.

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