'IS Bowdon the poshest town in Cheshire?' was a story carried in last month's Cheshire Life. And there followed a debate whether in fact Bowdon was still in Cheshire, being as it is part of Trafford.

Let me assure everyone that the official postal address recognised by the Post Office for Sale, Altrincham, Bowdon, Hale and Timperley is still Cheshire. So you should use it or lose it!

Post codes used on their own can be very misleading. To people unfamiliar with the area, Hale WA15 might suggest Warrington. But Macclesfield Town Hall has an SK10 postcode and Sale Town Hall has a M33 postcode - though you would never address a letter Macclesfield, Stockport or Sale, Manchester.

It looks wrong on paper, it sounds wrong and is very misleading. To merely add a string of impersonal numbers and letters after your address is a cop-out - play the Cheshire card and lead by example.

Robert Charlesworth, Campaign for Regional Identity (CRI).

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.