The T&A article concerning Bradford's part in pioneering school dinners highlighted yet another of many fields where, due to an enlightened citizen taking action and improving matters, the city has led the way - a matter for Bradfordians to take pride in.

This crusading spirit may have fed upon the appalling conditions existing during Bradford's transition from beckside hamlet to burgeoning industrial centre, as well as an attempt by the factory owners to give something back to their workforces' families.

The sheer pace of the Industrial Age meant that factories sprang up without planning. In the wake of textile progress came overcrowding.

Born in 1921, I attended Usher Street School when many of my schoolmates were likely to be dependent on school dinners for the only real sustenance they received.

The article made no mention of the part of Bradford Corporation Passenger Transport Department in the set up of the Green Lane School operation.

As a school leaver I was taken by my father, Percy Clayton - then a tram conductor - to the Transport Department offices at Bolton Road to be interviewed as to my suitability for employment as a parcel lad.

At the very outset I was rejected, in today's vernacular, "discriminated against". My father was told: "Nay, Percy, he wears glasses!" But shed no tears, after serving with the RAF and being demobilised in 1946, I was taken on - almost gladly - as tram conductor.

The relevance of the anecdote lies in that the job dad had put me forward for was that of an employee at the then Parcel Department, an organisation within Bradford Corporation's Passenger Transport Department which, along with a Late Letter Posting Service, ran a local parcel delivery service. It was operated by a staff of youths who, if found suitable, would graduate at age 18 to become the next generation of tram conductors, then drivers.

Although fated never to be a parcel lad, later when promoted to a cashier I was to learn a good deal about the lifestyle. The Transport Department needed a number of vans to carry out departmental duties at late, inconvenient hours, but at other times they were unemployed and a use was sought to ensure the vehicles paid their way.

The Education Department employed the vans to carry newly-inaugurated school dinners from the kitchens at Green Lane to the many schools around Bradford district. This job provided the parcel lads with another kind of work. The Green Lane school kitchens made stews and similar food in huge amounts which were put into "dixies" - rectangular metal containers which took a bit of lifting.

As corporation employees, parcel lads wore an apron. Their task was to transport the dixies of hot food in their vans.

Some schools' dinner areas were located in upper rooms requiring the dixies to be carried up steps. This was so at Usher Street.

The dixies were prone to spill, so later when my colleagues in the cash office became reminiscent they recalled their mishaps, minor spills. Yet when a perk of sampling some of the dixies' contents was mentioned, it would bring back a smile.