IT'S about thirty years since I last wrote to your paper. My wife and I are ex-Accringtonians and had just visited the town on vacation. In my letter I tried to draw attention to the mess that Priestley Clough had become. The lower path had become inaccessible; the stream was cluttered with old prams etc. Even the old quarry was getting it's share of rubbish. From what I read on the internet, improvements have been made. We, for nostalgia's sake, sure hope that is true. You may wonder why we retain our interest after more than fifty years absence.........it's a romantic story. You see back in the thirties I was a young lad from Burnley who met and fell in love with an Accrington girl, Lily Dawson of Ranger Street. I was only fifteen at the time (a bit young to start courting) and she was only fourteen. I had to wait b�~till I thought I was old enough and then asked her if she would care to go out with me. Well, she didn't hesitate. She said she would like to. So the next Thursday evening I came over from Burnley, went to her home and was invited to go for a walk. It was all new to me. We went round by Highamb�TMs Woodnook mill and along the bottom path of Priestley Clough till we came to the old bridge over the waterfall... It would have been a gradely spot for a lad to steal a kiss or two but it took another month before I got up enough courage for that. We walked up the hill towards the farm house and as we passed the two cottages that were there I asked her how she would like to live there. She said it would be nice and we forgot all about them. But four years later, when we were ready to wed, the only houses available to rent were those two cottages. We rented them both from farmer Nelson at Fern Gore ... No. 1 for us, and No. 2 for my widowed mother. The cottages were very old and run down but we worked on them and made them real cozy, even if they did have neither water, gas nor electricity. AH THE THINGS YOU DO WHEN YOU ARE YOUNG... We left there in 1951 and, of course, they are long gone now. But we still remember heather and bluebells farther up the valley and wild roses and hawthorn near the old quarry... ah well [Big sigh]. From Edwin R and Lily Astin, 1477 Grand Ave, #5 Grover Beach, California 93433, U.S.A. E-mail: edlily@charter.net