THREE years ago, Roy Melluish and I tried to get a link with Harvard University and we were advised that it would not happen.

Low and behold, Harvard now wants British students.

So, why our interest in Harvard?

Well, it was a Bury man - Henry Dunster, who lived at Bolholt, off Walshaw Road - who saved the university from going out of existence.

Our two Bury heroes, Henry Wood and Henry Dunster, of whom we should be proud, were educated by the Rector of Bury in the early 1600s and they knew each other. Dunster became headmaster of Bury Grammar School in 1630.

Harvard was closed down due to students being starved and beaten and the Puritans asked Dunster if he would restart Harvard, which he did - probably with his own money.

He became the first president of Harvard and stayed there for 14 years. He had to leave because he refused to have his children baptised.

On my journey to Woodbury on board the Henry Wood I came across an American doctor who had been educated at Harvard and had lived in Dunster College halls of residence. I felt very proud when I told him that I was born in Bury, the same as Dunster.

Every child in Bury should be told of the two heroes. Bury must, in my mind, rank third in its links with America, after Plymouth (the Pilgrim Fathers) and the city of London.

Wood founded the city of Woodbury, New Jersey, in 1683 and Dunster saved Harvard.

Mr Melluish and I intend to make contact again with Harvard. If you would like to join us, please contact the Bury Times, addressing the envelope Harvard Link'.

Let us have a proper link with America which will benefit the youth of Bury.

MELVIN MAGNALL MBE Bolton