THERE was a time when the council rent man really ruled the roost. As well as picking up the weekly payments, his duties included keeping a beady eye open for anyone who may have broken the strict rules attached to estate tenancies.

Old-timers Norman Owen and Harry Worthington remember it well. The pair love nothing more than getting their heads together and reminiscing about their pre-war boyhood spent in the Thatto Heath area of St Helens.

If any council property was damaged, the culprit would be tracked down and made to pay for repairs out of his own pocket, they recall. Pigeon-keeping was strictly prohibited. And anyone making even the slightest alterations to their council dwellings risked being evicted.

"One family, in Upland Road, changed the colour of their front door", the old chums recall, "but they soon altered it back to the standard council house shade after the rent man paid them a call and issued a warning."

It was as strict as that! But there was a lighter side to council estate life, including annual awards for the best-kept gardens. Harry is proud to record that his dad won the top award three times!

MORE from the owd codgers soon, with sparkling memories of the old Neighbours Club.