MADAM, – I write with reference to the article on the Noah's Ark, Hartshill (Then and Now, All Our Yesterdays, October 11).

There used to be a bowling green, which is now partly covered by the car park. My great-great uncle, Thomas Bayley, used to run the Noah's Ark.

Where today pub-goers are welcomed by the two white stone lions, then they were welcomed by a white cockatoo, which sat on a perch by the entrance. Thomas's son, Alec, and his wife Gertrude, later ran the Alma public house.

CHRISTINE BOURNE

Cheadle