MEMORIES came flooding back for Greenock reader Hugh MacLean when he saw my old photographs of an agricultural show in Battery Park. Now 89, Hugh can recall attending the event which he said was called Greenock Cattle Show.

His grandfather, also Hugh MacLean, was a carter and horse dealer with premises in South Street.

He would enter a horse and lorry, as flat carts were known before motor lorries came along, in the show.

Hugh told me: 'A week before the show, work would start to make sure the horse brasses were bright and shiny. I can still smell the polish today.

'On the big day I was allowed to travel to the show, wearing my Sunday best, on the horse and lorry driven by a carter.' Hugh"s memory of the show dates back to when he was four, and he believes the event may have ended around 1925.

He attended the recent European Pipe Band Championships in Battery Park and memories of the cattle show came back.

Hugh was subsequently amazed and delighted to see photographs of the show in Talk of the Towns.