I'VE just returned to Preston for a family member's funeral and decided to visit the area I grew up in - St Mary's Street, New Hall Lane and London Road.

I felt disbelief as I journeyed through the streets. What has happened to the Preston I knew and grew up in?

Shoddy, dirty, shock and horror faced me.

I grew up in Preston in the 1930s and '40s and lived there during the Second World War, when we had nothing but it was never like that. Do people know what buckets of water and a brush are for?

Going to a funeral is always upsetting, but what faced me made me feel dejected.

At the back of my mind I had always thought I would return to my Lancashire home one day -- now, never.

I'll just take my memories with me of the Preston I loved and the good ole days when we had nothing.

Jack Croston,Tarporley, Cheshire.