THE author of the book, part of which the Guardian used for the front page headline story last week should have been around at the latter end of the last century.

Fletcher Boss, a well known traveller and writer of that period, wrote of cycling through pleasant countryside until reaching the bottom of Winsford.

"Thereafter, the long filthy hill to Over, which hardly could be worse than it is, where the light of the sun is darkened by the smoke. The stench is horrible, what should be fields are tracts of blackened slime, where the skeletons of the trees stand gaunt and withered!"

Of course this was a result of the numerous salt works in the area, so I think things have improved a little since then.

At the risk of being accused of 'shooting the messenger', I am surprised that the Guardian even contemplated printing that bunkum and balderdash last week on its front page.

Many of us in the town are involved in activities benefiting much of the local citizenry and can safely say that the community spirit is probably greater than in plenty of other areas.

Schools, churches, police, and local organisations co-operate on a wide scale of activities, and though it is true that there is vandalism surely that is a nationwide problem. No community is immune from this scourge any more.

The offending article should be treated with the contempt it deserves.

Interested of Over

Editor's note: It was felt that last week's Page One story was a legitimate cause for concern and was worthy of the publicity it received.

We realise that there are many people in the town who are working hard to engender community spirit and who enjoy living and working here.

But all those efforts are made much more difficult when this kind of unsolicited adverse publicity is disseminated.

Don't forget, the guide which carried the damning report on Winsford was aimed at people who had probably never been to the town before. On the strength of that author's opinion, those people are unlikely ever to make an effort to visit the town and find out the reality.

The Guardian's report was not an attempt to knock the town. In fact, it was quite the reverse.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.