MORE than half a century after the end of the second world war, a few lingering memories of the conflict are still to be found in and around St Helens.

There's the odd backyard air-raid shelter, dotted here and there, a few concrete pill-boxes such as the one at the end of Washway Lane, and, the latest to be spotted, a fading EWS (emergency water supply) sign at Gerrards Bridge.

Keith Atherton of St Mary's Avenue, Billinge, a keen student of local wartime history (especially of the aircraft kind) brings this sign to notice. He writes: "Early in the war, big black cast-iron tanks were strategically placed around neighbourhoods throughout the country, with prominent signs painted close to them."

These pointed the Auxiliary Fire Service to where emergency water supplies were available, should the mains supply be breached by enemy bombing.

"They frequently appeared on the gables of long-since demolished properties," adds Keith. "In St Helens, however, at least one was painted on a structure still standing today -- the railway bridge over the A571 leading from the town-centre to Wigan."

And now, Keith invites other readers to reveal where further examples of this now rare EWS sign (or any other echoes from the 1939-45 conflict) might still survive locally.

IF you know, then please drop me a line at the Star.