A CHARMING, and rather poignant, little letter from a lady reader has encapsulated what, I fondly hope, this nostalgia page is all about.

Ann Evans explains that the flashback photo (October 12) featuring the butchery team at the Co-op's old Helena House store during the 1950s, had brought a ray of sunshine into a rainy day

For beaming out from that group was her brother Denis Byatt . . . "all smiles and with his arm around two lovely girls."

Denis enjoyed a very happy working life at the Co-op. "He had a winning smile and lovely personality and always enjoyed meeting the public."

Ann, from Lea Green Road, St Helens, adds that Denis was also a talented singer who performed with the Mary Lyons Concert Party in Prescot for many years, appearing in all the shows staged at the BICC canteen.

"He also played drums and drove us mad when he was younger.

"Unfortunately, Denis died of cancer when he was 54, and we miss him very much," says Ann. "To see his face smiling up at me from your page brought a ray of sunshine to a rainy Sunday morning."

And Mrs M. Davies of King Edward Road, Dentons Green, also picked up on that happy snap.

She spotted her late aunt, Ann Farnen, among the Co-op staff, and places the date when it was taken as pre-1958, because her aunt was serving with the WVS in Germany by that year.

Mrs D also brought back a personal memory, in reminding me that at the teenaged outset of my career, with the Wood-Westworth publishing firm in St Helens, her mother, Nellie Carroll was a mature fellow employee.

MY fond regards to Nellie who, I'm pleased to hear, has now clocked up her 86th birthday.