DANCING at the Astoria Palais de Dance — simply known locally as the Palais — was a much-loved pastime for many of our Looking Back readers.

In this day and age the idea of an evening out without alcohol would seem alien to most young people, but in the heyday of this famous Bolton nightspot it was very much the order of the day (or night).

Young people turned up to enjoy the music — often performed by a live band — and to dance the night away rather than to drink.

When we featured Then and Now photographs of the dance hall we received plenty of calls from local folk who remembered the fun they had at the Palais back in the 1950s and 1960s in particular.

Here are just a few of their memories.

Lillian Walmsley, from Astley Bridge, is one such reader — she spent many an enjoyable afternoon and evening dancing at the Palais she says.

“I can remember going there in 1952, when I would be 16, and it cost half a crown. I would go in the afternoon.

“When you got older you would go in the evening but there was never any alcohol,” she says.

Lillian, aged 77, says she remembers dancing rock and roll to all the favourite singers of the time including Tommy Steele and Cliff Richard.

“Sometimes we were lucky enough to get band leader Alyn Ainsworth there — he was engaged to one of the Beverley sisters,” she said.

She also remembers some of her fellow dancers with fondness.

“There was a window dresser called Freddie who used to dress the window in one of the big stores in Bradshawgate. I danced with him — he was a great dancer.

“I used to go to the Palais with Loretta Dawson and Mabel Court. It was wonderful and we had a lovely time. We used to go regularly,” she adds.

Lillian’s husband, John, was not a proficient dancer, but it did not stop her from enjoying her pastime and she still dances today.

Meanwhile Geoff Gething played saxophone with the Phil Foster Band at the Palais.

His first professional job as a musician was at the Palais and it opened up a whole new world to the young Geoff, who is now aged 86. He was at the Palais from 1951 to 1960 and said he “loved” his time there.

“I didn’t get the chance to dance very much but I loved playing music,” says Geoff, who lives in Little Lever.

He met his wife, Sheila, through their shared love of music.

“I was going out with her cousin but she didn’t want to go out with a musician, but said she’d introduce me to her cousin.

“We met and hit if off from the word go and were married for 56 years,” says Geoff, who lives in Little Lever.

Geoff played all types of dance music and even jazz “although that was not popular at the Palais,” he explains.

He loved playing for the audience which would flock to dance at the Palais every week. “They were wonderful to play for. They really appreciated what we did and made it even more special,” he says.

Geoff, who has three children and four granddaughters, has played in Blackpool and for the Nolan Sisters, but remembers his years as the Palais as the most memorable times of his musical career.

The former music teacher — he taught at St James’s School in Farnworth — still plays saxophone today.

He and the drummer, Ken Bowers, are the only remaining Phil Foster band members still alive, he explains.

“Perhaps some of your readers will remember us,” he adds.

Frank Punchaby, who is 84-years-old, remembers the Palais during the Second World War.

“A lot of Americans came across from the bases in Warrington and our lads didn’t like that at all as they were taking our girls out.

“We didn’t want them dating our girls.

“I remember some good nights as the Palais. The dance floor was sprung and it used to bounce around,” he says.

Frank, who lives in Harwood, met his wife, Lillian who is now aged 81, at the Palais. They recently celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary.

“We have some lovely memories of our time there. I remember going at Christmas time, on Boxing Day, and you could take the family so we’d take our two daughters when they were little to have a dance. It used to start at 11am and run until one in the afternoon.

“I remember getting the late night bus home when I went in the evening when the dancing finished at two in the morning. Buses were put on especially for us.”

n Alyn Ainsworth was born in Bolton in 1924. He was a singer and dance band conductor.

He was educated at Canon Slade Grammar School on a scholarship but never completed his education because, at the age of 14, his talent as a singer was recognised by Herman Darewski who signed him up to tour with his dance band.

When his voice broke he learned to play the guitar and played in local dance bands while working as a hat salesman and then for Bolton Parks’ Department and later as a golf professional.

He then joined Oscar Rabin’s orchestra and played with the band and did musical arrangements. They also broadcast on radio.

He also worked with Geraldo but turned down an offer from Val Parnell to conduct the London Palladium Orchestra and chose, in 1951, to join the BBC Northern Dance Orchestra, the BBC’s then in-house big band as its arranger-conductor.

He achieved huge success with the band whose reputation as one of the top bands in the UK was in no small part due to his hard work and high standards.

In 1956 he announced, during Sunday Night at the London Palladium, that he was engaged to Teddie Beverley of the Beverley Sisters. In 1957 he announced that the engagement was off.

He resigned from the BBC in 1960 and went freelance. He was signed up by Granada TV to replace Peter Knight as presenter of Spot the Tune.

In 1965 he conducted the orchestra at the Royal Command Performance at the London Palladium for the third time. He conducted the Eurovision Song Contest five times and was the musical director for the BBC’s anniversary programme Fifty Years of Music broadcast in 1972.

In 1979 Alyn Ainsworth and his orchestra provided the music for the BBC show Lena Zavaroni and Music along with Alan Roper he provided the musical arrangements for the show.