ALAN WHALLEY'S WORLD

IT'S many a month since the old spotlight was swung onto the famous bygone Alma's Cafe, haunt of night hawks and girl-seeking Yanks, which once cast its colourful shadow across the Fingerpost area of St Helens.

But it seems that the echoes from those hurly-burly 'fifties times are still reverberating.

For Leyland housewife Mrs A. Ogden now writes: "I have just come across one of your newspapers, date April 11 1996, and have been reading your piece, headed 'Alma's Heyday'.

"I have great memories of that snack bar," she writes, "I visited on many weekends and spent some of my summer holidays there, too."

Her dad was related to the proprietors of the busy snack-bar, famed for its doorstep-thick butties and pint cups of tea strong enough to stand up a spoon in 'em.

"I was only in my early teens at the time, but I remember it as a great place," adds Mrs O, from 133 Dunkirk Lane, Leyland. And she'd now welcome any other anecdotes from the life and times of that old haunt.

SO if anyone has a personal memory, please write to me at the Star.

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