"In writing life and times of old Runcorn I do so without any literary experience, but with the knowledge that as a child and during my early life I lived through and experienced some of the times and events described in the following pages.

Most of the names and events are from memory, together with the help of many of my senior citizen friends who have supplied me with old photographs etc. Some minor errors may occur, but I have no wish to cause any distress or embarrassment to relatives, descendants, and friends of the people mentioned in the book.

I wish to thank the local press who kindly published my first attempts into the literary field, which gave me the incentive to continue and put them into book form.

At the age of 74 it is rather late in life to embark into the literary field but I am proud of the town I was born in and have the desire to see its wonderful past preserved for posterity.

In carrying out this project I have done so purely as a hobby and have no desire to seek any financial gain, but in the event of these manuscripts being published then it is my wish that any profits from the sales should be donated to any future project that is set up for the preservation of the past history and heritage that the wonderful town of Runcorn has.

Joe Broady"