AND still the response comes in...

Following my extensive spread last week on the much-mourned Pilkington Theatre at Ravenhead (originally a first world war hospital for the troops) three other readers have chipped in with their own fond memories.

Pat Chisnall says that a visit to the Pilks pantos was one of the treats of the year when she was a child.

And she recalls that Workers' Playtime, once a hit show on radio, was recorded from there on at least one occasion.

Will Sharrock of Pendlebury Street, Clock Face, was still a relatively young shaver when he deputised for the sick regular drummer at a production in the old works theatre. He still recalls, decades later, that the show was called 'Over She Goes'.

Richard Marsh of Preston Road, Southport, attended several Gilbert& Sullivan shows at the Ravenhead-based theatre during the 1950s. "I am sure", he writes, "that there are a lot of Catholic Amateurs still around who performed so beautifully then. "Incidentally, because of those amateur productions, my wife and I are still G & S fans".

And he adds an interesting footnote, in telling us that his late grandmother, Annie Hyland, worked as an auxilliary when the theatre was originally used as a hospital.

ONCE again, my thanks to all who provided superb response to this memory-stirring subject.