COMMUTING to work was a bit speedier in the days when Abe Graham began his first job at Stott Park Bobbin Mill, Newby Bridge, writes Helen Long.

The 14-year-old Abe, who had just left Finsthwaite School in 1938, opened his front door and walked to the mill - taking all of two to three minutes.

But when he made the same journey this week, 78-year-old Mr Graham, who still lives at Woodside Cottage, Low Stott Park, was returning to his old work place as something of a celebrity.

As one of the last surviving former employees, he was invited back to the mill - now an English Heritage visitor attraction - to help officially open a new tourist season after last year's season was hit by the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

Although Mr Graham retired in 1971, he had a second career at the mill when it opened as a tourist attraction and he was responsible for showing visitors around between 1983 and 1988.

But when he left Finsthwaite School, the young Abe was not at all sure that he wanted to work at the mill.

"I really wanted to do farming," he confessed.

But with a grandfather, father and three brothers all being mill employees, he was persuaded to tow the family line.

He remembers his work at the mill, making bobbins by hand, as hard and quite dangerous.

"There was no heating and we couldn't wear gloves because of our work," he explained.

The bobbin mill, built in 1835 to serve the cotton and weaving industries of Lancashire, remains in full working order for visitors to see.

A working static steam engine is powered on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays throughout the season.