THE pathetic concrete tower, topped with its equally absurd metal spire, plonked on the unfinished Blackburn Cathedral, is a cheap compromise and a mockery of the original architecture.

Another Sixties disaster, like the shopping precinct, it also is now crumbling away.

Consequently, a public appeal for cash has been launched. And instead of commissioning a compatible design, church officials seek the cheaper option of restoring this civic embarrassment.

They agree that demolition is more expensive. Why then is that principle not applied to the three adjacent Waterloo Buildings in Church Street, with them being renovated? Let's see how smart they would appear in their original bare stone facings.

J A MARSDEN, Scarborough Road, Blackburn.

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