THERE'S no going back to the past - radical reforms are needed to bring local government closer to the people, including the possibility of elected mayors.

So said Blackburn councillor Peter Greenwood at the Association of District Councils' annual conference at Harrogate.

That is amusing and ironic - as I recall from the pages of grassroots history that the first 'mayor' of Higher Audley, Blackburn, was elected in 1874 by the local populace from the back of a lorry on spare land opposite the Scotland Road Hotel, having been bribed 'democratically' with pints of ale as they paraded around to every pub in the district.

And in 1887, in conjunction with Queen Victoria's Jubilee and the celebrations for the opening of Queen's Park, the 'major' of Oozehead received a presentation at the Bowling Green Inn, Long Row, for having held office for six years.

J A MARSDEN (Mr), Scarborough Road, Blackburn.

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