Children no longer want to make things from 'sticky backed plastic' - more is the pity - so the demise of this programme must have been on the cards for som time now.

A bit like Meccano going out of fashion - we now have fewer graduates in engineering and more in media studies.

As others have pointed out Blue Peter is moving from London to a purpose built Media City is Salford Quays, just along from the Lowry Centre & Imperial War Museum of the North.

In order to allow some people to realise there are bits of the country outside the M25 the BBC was forced to move more of its programming to the regions. The production of Dr Who in Cardiff was an early, and very successful experiment.

Much of BBC Sport, almost all BBC Children's output plus much of Radio 4 & 5 will be produced from Media City. BBC Breakfast is also moving next year.

This has caused some problems, with staff unwilling to move north, despite the incredibly generous relocation allowances that don't seem to have taken the fact that rents in Salford are less than half the rents in London.

Simon Mayo was supposed to move north with Radio 5, but he refused so was moved to Radio 2. Neither of the regular BBC Breakfast presenters want to move as they have young families in good schools, not something that's going to be easy to find in Salford.

When I started watching Blue Peter it was in black & white and the presenters were John (get down shep) Noakes, Peter (bad jumpers) Purves and Valerie (strait-laced) Singleton. I grew up making all sorts of things from Fairy Liquid bottles, yoghurt tubs and of course sticky back plastic......happy days makes me feel quite nostalgic thinking about it....sniff sniff, must have something in my eye.

Fao Legolas

not so strait-laced as she appeared!

Mike I won't read your link I don't want my rose tinted glasses smeared :))