All climbing guidebooks build upon information that has been collated in previous definitive publications to an area. Therefore, sincere thanks must go to all those climbers who through the years have contributed to previous guidebooks to Lancashire and the North-West. In particular, Dave Cronshaw and Phil Kelly must be thanked for all their efforts in editing and collating the information for the previous guidebook, which has certainly stood the test of time.

Climbers may be interested to learn that the idea of a guidebook that specifically covered the Lancashire Area was first mooted with Eric Byne and the BMC in 1967. Unfortunately, these plans had to be scrapped because of funding problems at the time and so the first guidebook was produced by the magazine Rocksport. After the demise of Rocksport, Cicerone Press stepped in and was responsible for publishing three full guidebooks and two supplements to the area. However, as this guidebook is being published by the BMC it is appropriate to thank Walt Unsworth, his wife Dot and Brian Evans from Cicerone for supporting the area by producing so many guidebooks and also for the friendly way that they were willing to transfer the guide to the BMC's aegis. Without these guidebooks, development of the area would have been severely limited and the area could easily have been without a definitive publication for years.

The main guidebook team members are listed at the front of this guidebook and at the start of the sections to which they contributed most. They must all be thanked for the hard work that they have undertaken in writing the scripts and checking the route descriptions. In many cases this also involved recleaning some of the less-frequented routes and replacing ancient protection pegs and so their efforts have improved the overall quality of the climbing at many crags in the area.

We must also thank all the artists whose diagrams have been included and Jeremy Ashcroft for producing the endpaper map. The old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words is only true if they are prepared skillfully and meticulously. The originals of the diagrams certainly appear to be clear enough and we just hope that they will all reproduce well. All the diagrams have been scanned onto a computer and the route lines and numbers have then been added. This process was a little bit experimental and Geoff Radcliffe must be thanked for his technical assistance with resolving many of the scanning problems.

Thanks must also be given to all those climbers who assisted by proof-reading, or checking the technical information. The attempt to include comprehensive historical information also meant that it was necessary to contact many of the earlier activists and it is pleasing to note that so many of those who contributed to the 1969 guidebook were located and are still climbing. Sincere thanks are given to all of these contributors and to others who helped by checking small sections or by coming on working meets. We must mention in particular: Steve Barker, Dave Bates, John Belbin, Pete Black, Nick Bond, Frank Booth, Ian Conway, Adam Cropper, Brian Davison, Carl Dawson, Margaret Dewhurst, Al Evans, Ray Evans, Rick Graham, Andrew Gridley, Geoff Haigh, Dave Hollows, Tony Howard, Dave Kenyon, Ken Lathom, Mark Leach, Bill Lounds, Mick Lovatt, John Mason, Tony Mitchell, Russ Murray, Dave Musgrove, Ged O'Sullivan, Duncan Parker, John Parker, Gareth Parry, Hank Pasquill, Keith Phizacklea, Mick Pooler, Paul Pritchard, Jim Ingham Riley, Gary Smith, Jessica Stam, Daniel Waddington, Tom Walkington, Alan White, Bob Whittaker, Dave Wilcock, Steve Wilcock and Wilf Williamson.

We must also thank Geoff Milburn for undertaking the final editing work on the guidebook. Geoff is one of the great unsung heroes of the British rock-climbing scene and has worked tirelessly on the often thankless task of producing both CC and BMC guidebooks. Therefore, we are extremely grateful that he has been able to advise us and let the Lancashire guide benefit from his years of experience. Geoff is a perfectionist and although this often adds to the workload of those producing the guides, in the end it ensures that the highest quality standards are maintained. For this guide, changes have been made in response to requests from Geoff, Dave Gregory and Graham Hoey (who have also read the script in detail), in a way that moves us towards the style used for the BMC Peak District guidebooks, whilst maintaining some distinctive differences. However, whilst these have taken time to implement and may have delayed the guide a little, now that the necessary changes have been made, we are pleased with the results and must thank both Geoff and Graham for their inputs.

Finally. thanks must go to Jean, my wife, for putting up with the reams of scripts and diagrams that have littered my office for several months and for help with the awkward and time-consuming tasks, such as scanning the diagrams, inserting the route lines, re-ordering the first ascent lists and regularly altering the formatting.

Les Ainsworth, Dave Cronshaw (Volume Compilers and Sub-editors), 1998