THERE are plenty of Bolton folk who are proud of their working class roots and the town in which they live.

Stephen Harrison is one of those down-to-earth sort of chaps who is proud to call himself a Boltonian.

He has a particular interest in old films, particularly those depicting and set in Bolton.

These "kitchen sink dramas" told of a life in Bolton that would be familiar to many families.

"Times were hard when I was a lad but you just got on with it," says 61-year-old Stephen who, as a boy, lived with his parents, Peter and Violet in St John Street, Halliwell.

The former Whitecroft Road pupil was aged 15 when he first saw Spring and Port Wine at the Capitol (or ABC) in Churchgate, Bolton.

"I thought it was fabulous," says Stephen.

He explains that the film was a great representation of Bolton working class life.

It starred James Mason and Diana Coupland as well as Susan George and Frank Windsor.

The film depicted a Bolton of long-gone mill chimneys, showing an industrial town in modernisation.

Another of Stephen's favourite films which again features Bolton is The Family Way, starring father and daughter team John and Hayley Mills.

"This was filmed up Gibbon Street in Deane and there is a famous scene shot on the town hall steps.

"The travel agency seen in the film is still there," says Stephen.

The third film which Stephen believes worthy of a mention is A Kind of Loving which, he recalls, has a scene shot in Bolton's Albert Hall.

Stephen, who has worked in a mill, and also as a caretaker, believes the films mean something to people like himself who have lived through difficult times and remember a Bolton long forgotten by many.

"Things have changed in Bolton so much over the last 50 years.

"I can remember a time when we didn't have indoor toilets, we didn't have fridges and washing machines and we didn't have central heating," he says.

What families did have though is a sense of community that Stephen believes has, for the most part, disappeared.

"When you opened your front door you knew your neighbours.

"They were your friends. It was a hard life but we didn't see it like that," says Stephen.

Bolton was once awash with cinemas and a weekly visit to "the pictures" was enjoyed by most young people.