SURELY every person named on Bury's electoral register must be aware of the consequences in Kosovo of government by dictatorship. Yet the failure to cast votes by some 70 per cent of the local electorate would seem to indicate that they do not value our democracy.

There can be no excuse for not voting, apart from the obvious ones of medical or other emergencies. It simply means that our democracy is not appreciated. Yet all it needs is a little thought, a bit of sifting of party policies, and then no dithering, but a determination to vote on election day.

Perhaps I learnt how not to dither as a child in the 1920s, when I had to decide how to spend my weekly pocket money of one penny at one of two shops in Booth Street or Scobell Street, Walshaw. Was it to be aniseed balls, humbugs, a Lucky Dip or a Swaggering Dick? Just substitute the political parties in any order you wish.

Locally each party had something to be pleased about on Thursday. The Tories won back two seats in Bury North; the Lib Dems increased their vote; Labour retained overall control and the Environment and Wildlife Alliance proved their ability to disrupt the main political parties by adopting two Labour turncoats as candidates. This is democracy in action and is to be welcomed, because in a democracy it is essential to have an Opposition. Without opposition there is no democracy - just a one-party state.

The Tories may now be able to improve the quality of their opposition; the Lib Dems will be able to continue their previous role; the Environment Alliance will be able to return to planting trees, counting worms and natterjack toads and turning brown-field sites into greenfield sites; and Labour will certainly miss Anne Beckett, the previous councillor for Ramsbottom, but will continue to serve Bury with the best council services the metropolitan borough has ever had.

Our democracy is a very fragile possession which could be improved by: lessons at school about the importance of maintaining our democracy through the democratic vote; government assistance to political parties in meeting the costs of regular meetings and administration of the parties; and acknowledgment of the time and energy spent by elected representatives in serving the public needs.

At 83, I remember with pride the part I and others on Radcliffe Borough Council played in: a) supervising the smokeless zone legislation which has saved hundreds of lives and given us a fog-free atmosphere;

b) building a new swimming baths;

c) building a new civic hall;

d) building new houses at St Thomas's, Trencherbone, and Five Quarters, etc;

e) cleaning dozens of slum dwellings;

f) extending the public library;

g) updating the market hall with washbasins and other hygiene facilities;

h) improving parks and open spaces;

i) introducing (with Lancashire County) comprehensive education;

j) restoring Radcliffe's Carnival and founding the Arts Festival;

k) initiating the Citizens Advice Bureau;

l) pioneering the Dano recycling plant;

m) keeping the rates at a reasonable level, and much, much more.

It would be invidious to mention any of those councillors and officers who participated in this work for the borough, but perhaps I may be excused for mentioning the name off ex-County Councillor, Councillor and Alderman, two or three times Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Bury and Radcliffe, Justice of the Peace Richard Fletcher and his wife, Frances, for their unbroken service of many years. Enough said.

JAMES B. MASON,

Strangford Street, Radcliffe.

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