Some heartfelt bouquets to hand out after a visit by four French friends to Bradford and its district.

Without exception, everyone we came across in any kind of public service was as friendly as you could have wanted, and became especially so when they realised that our friends were visitors to this coun-try.

There are some people in Bradford who have a very low opinion of their home city, but I had a warm feeling of pride every time people went out of their way to be friendly, polite, or try to explain things as best they could to people with another language.

Whether it was at City Hall, the National Museum, Waterstones, Salts Mill, pubs in Haworth, Oxenhope and Oakworth we were royally entertained and made welcome.

Our friends left for France with a glowing impres-sion of the district, and that was in large part due to its warm and friendly people.