IF the grand old tradition of Walking Days is to thrive and survive then we need to adopt some new policies for 2015 and beyond.

Once every large employer in town, from Rylands to Crosfields, Thames Board to Lockers and British Steel would let their downtrodden staff down tools for the annual procession of witness.

But with many of our traditional firms either defunct or significantly depleted then this presents a different challenge.

And that's before you even turn to the dwindling numbers who attend local churches - nothing against our institutions, it's the price we pay in an increasingly secular society.

Then perhaps it's time to change the emphasis slightly - make future Walking Days a parade bearing witness to everything which is good about Warrington, both past and present.

I've long been an advocate of making the whole affair a multi-faith celebration. Unlike some of its northern counterparts our borough is not as diverse as others but this should be all the more reason to extend the hand of friendship.

And maybe one if our present-day industrial leviathans might want to play a leading role then they should be embraced wholeheartedly.

United Utilities is usually falling over itself to extend its community programme and what better opportunity than a balmy day in June?

Recently I've reined back from some of my more hard-line attitudes to participation in the Walking Day festivities, one of the few examples of mellowing with age.

Several years of toting a banner for Fairfield School every summer - while some of my Oakwood Avenue mates who bunked off got an early dart to Blackpool - can lead to a degree of resentment.

But at the end of the day we should be open to suggestions to preserve a custom which should but the envy of the north-west.

* The last few weeks have seen The Guardian besieged by complaints regarding the lack of grass cutting, due in no small measure to another more savage round of cuts, inspired by our beloved Coalition.

One stroll along Farrell Street, past a former Magill hangout of the mid-80s, really served to drive this phenomenon home.

The Twiggeries resembled a swathe of the Amazon - now I'm not sure if this was a deliberate ploy but away from the bushes and ponds in the centre this was always heathland when I was a lad and not dense undergrowth. Progress? Not really.

* Former WBC environmental health inspector John Williams shared some delightful images of the old Brittannia Inn, Scotland Road, after a previous column on New Town House and I hope to print them soon, when space permits.