A SPANISH government minister who befriended a retired Blackburn couple on holiday ten years ago dropped into town to catch up on old times -- and to sample some of Lancashire's traditional cuisine.

Javier Hernandez Gonzalez met Edna and Harold Ashworth in Majorca and the couple invited him to Blackburn to help improve his English. This month he stayed at the couple's home in Showley Court, Salesbury.

Javier, now assistant director of communications in the government's national plan against drugs, was impressed with Edna's cooking. Harold said: "He loved the roast beef, black puddings, Lancashire hot pot, and steak pudding with chips and mushy peas from the chip shop."