THE boyhood memories of veteran action man Roy Harrison are to be captured in print. For 64-year-old Roy - veteran of a series of charity parachute jumps, keen fly fisherman and ferret fan - is busy with his homespun autobiography.

Centred on his knee-pant adventures in and around Carr Mill Dam, it will strike a familiar note with anyone who remembers the halcyon heyday of that vast watery jewel in the St Helens crown.

Says Roy: "To me and other kids of that generation the old dam was what life was all about."

His partly-completed book is pitched in the war-torn 1940s and during the happy aftermath of the 1950s, a time when picnickers by the thousand flocked to the banks of the dam and to the grassy slopes of the adjacent 'Happy Valley.'

Roy, from Shaw Street, St Helens, has no shortage of words (he's brimming over with anecdotes and observations) but he's hoping that customers of this column might be able to help him to illustrate his labour of love.

"I'm keen to borrow any photos taken at Carr Mill during the period I'm concentrating on," explains Roy. "Picnic groups, boating activity, the amusement attractions, swimming shots, cafe gangs . . . anything at all that ties in with the old-time scene." He promises that all pictures will be safely returned and he's prepared to pay for any copies taken from them.

Roy's personal memories include being taught to swim by German prisoners-of-war who were then based at Ashton. In return, he befriended and helped them through their stumbling attempts at speaking English.

He also remembers attempting to rob wasps' nests for fishing bait grubs (at great personal risk!) and skinny dipping near the old boathouse.

Memories, too, of joining up with the week-end picnic hordes, clutching at his bottle of water and jam-butty treat, and watching the penny-catching strongman and escapology acts that were once part of the colourful scene.

IF anyone can help Roy with his picture plea, then please forward them to me and I'll pass your photos on to him. You can contact me at: Whalley's World, St Helens Star, YMCA Buildings, Duke Street, St Helens WA10 2HZ.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.