EVERYTHING comes to he who waits . . . especially if he's a keen customer of this column.

Back in July, a veteran Newton-le-Willows reader wrote to see if anyone could confirm that a wartime first-aid post had been set up in Holy Cross infant school, St Helens. Apparently, RH (as he preferred to call himself) was having difficulty in convincing folk that such a place existed.

But now, Mrs Vera Bannan of Walmesley Road, Eccleston, has stepped up with solid confirmation. Vera's well-known dad, Norman White, used to be superintendent of the St John Ambulance Brigade (Parr Division) later becoming area superintendent, receiving the award of Serving Brother and progressing, in 1946, to the Officer Award of the Order of St John of Jerusalem.

"I can remember my father being a member of the first-aid post at Holy Cross and also of the one at Merton Bank School," she writes.

Vera adds: "As children, my brother Geoffrey and I did not see dad for several days each week. He left for work before we were up for school and either returned from the first-aid post after we had gone to bed or was on overnight duty."

THANKS for the info, Vera. It was folk like your dad who helped to keep spirits high during the dark days of 1939-45.

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