THE appointment of the Rev Ronnie Clark (LET, September 14) will be warmly welcomed, but he is not the first full-time Church of England chaplain working in Blackburn hospitals.

When I came to Little Harwood in 1954, the Rev Harry Voce was chaplain of Queen's Park Hospital, where he had been for many years.

I knew him well, and remember going to his funeral in Accrington Crematorium. This was attended by nurses and others from Queen's Park, some of whom must still be around, even though it was a long time ago.

Further back still, there was the Rev T B Heaton, who came to be vicar of St Stephen's, Little Harwood, in 1932, and who had previously been chaplain of Queen's Park.

Mr Voce had a successor who did not stay for long. He was not replaced, and since his retirement, the chaplaincy work has been carried on by a succession of Blackburn vicars conveniently placed to add the hospitals to their parochial care.

CANON J DIXON, Sunnyside Avenue, Wilpshire, Blackburn.

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