MYSTERY had always shrouded the origins of an odd local place name known to generations of Sutton folk as the Strappers.

But now, in response to an early query, reader Les Woods comes up with what seems a convincing theory. Strappers, he suggests, could be a Lancashire dialect corruption of the word strips - the Strappers having been made up of strips of land with water-filled ditches on either side.

Les, a born and bred Suttoner from Reginald Road, gleaned this info some time ago at meetings of the local historical society. The strips, he adds, were probably rented out as allotments.