AFTER attending the brilliant military band concert at Accrington Town Hall on Saturday night, November 17, I was walking past the old 'Accy Con,' now Churchill's, and was struck by the contrast that has occurred since my long-lost youth.

At 10pm, there were two girls outside and all was deathly quiet inside.

Compare that with my youth when queues formed on Saturday afternoons for tickets for dancing there the same night -- the girls with their curlers up and with bare legs, "to save their stockings for the night."

No-one was allowed in after 10pm and at the least hint of swearing, you were chucked out on your ear. At 11 o'clock the dancing was over. If you touched lucky and got to take a girl home, it was in a gang of boys and girls who would walk to Clayton-le-Moors or Oswaldtwistle -- all together with no chance of hanky panky.

Buses finished at 11pm and the only taxis were for funerals and weddings.

Compare that with today when screaming, "effing and blinding" 16-year-olds of both sexes, stagger through the streets smashing glass bottles and tipping litter bins over. That's what they call a good night out.

FRANCIS CROSS, Royds Street, Accrington.