WITH reference to your obituary report on the former chief executive of Blackburn Council, Mr Clifford Singleton, (LET, December 30), my memory of him takes me back to the early 1970s when, on the Bennington Street estate, we had just reformed the Community Association.

Although we found oceans of enthusiasm, we had no place to meet.

As the chairman of the estate's Tenants and Community Association, I was invited to the town hall to meet Mr Singleton. In this and subsequent conversations, I found his interest, perception and clarity something we had never come across before in local government - or anywhere else for that matter. Made aware of our desperate need for premises, Mr Singleton undertook to see what he could do. A short time later, we were informed that premises had been found for us - in a large shop on the estate, rent-free. We were over the moon with joy.

It was a very innovative and daring enterprise then to give a community association rent-free use of premises on a council estate. It showed the true calibre and vision of that gentleman.

The centre ran for nearly 18 years and many of our methods and ideas were copied at similar premises provided by the council in areas of need in Blackburn and Darwen.

Many hundreds of people, from babies to pensioners, have benefited from the activities at these centres over the years.

And I remember with great fondness the man whose vision and conviction gave us the start we were so desperate for - that man of courage, Clifford Singleton.

EDDIE DUXBURY, Arthur Way, Blackburn.

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