WHEN Humphrey Spender took to the streets of Bolton with his camera, little did he know that more than 70 years later his work would still be providing a talking point.

The mass observation project that Spender was involved in helped to capture the lives of hundreds of local people during the thirties.

It provided an insight into Bolton at work, at play and people generally going about their business as all photographs and written observations were taken surreptitiously.

Children could be seen playing on railway bridges, women were spotted heading to the mills and funerals, weddings and nights at the local pub were all marked for prosperity.

It was a snapshot of life in a northern town and the appeal of the photographs taken is evident today in Bolton Museum and Art Gallery where a new exhibition will be giving the people of Bolton the opportunity to see some of the more interesting aspects of the collection.

Here we can see some of the Spender photographs probably all the more fascinating because they feature people who are still alive today and able to give their own version of events as they saw them.

Now the collections access officer at Bolton Museum and Art Gallery, Matthew Watson, hopes to get even more recollections to add to the photographs.

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By putting some of the more distinctive images on line boltonworktown.co.uk Matthew says it has been possible to find some of the people who appeared in them and more information about others.

“It has been really interesting and we hope to find out even more through the exhibition,” he says.

The photograph of the children on the bridge is one that brought back memories including those of the youngsters in the picture.

Cyril Bromley said: “The young lad looking into the tar yard was called Derek Holden and his two sisters Iris and Mavis are with him. After the war they knocked the bridge down and built an iron one that is still up today. The tar yard was owned by McCreath Taylor.”

But even more fascinating was that Iris Holden got in touch to say “This is me in this picture, Iris Holden, along with my sister Mavis, brother Derek and best friend Jennifer Ball. We lived in Eagle Street just around the corner,” says the now Iris Heaney.

The photograph of dancers at the Palais in Bolton brought back memories.

Ann Hall says her mother remembered the Palais having a central wooden motif.

She also mentioned it having one of the best sprung dance floors (sprung to four to five inches) and, theoretically, if everyone moved to one side the floor would actually tilt that way, she says.

“The Palais had a 12 piece orchestra; the Empress Club on Mealhouse Lane had two (one at either end. Mum also went dancing at a smaller dance hall next to and above Whitakers (now Beales) which had a smaller ensemble playing.”

The image of Snowden Street would appear to be incredibly ordinary yet it was the normality of it that struck a chord with so many people.

Norman King says that having travelled all over the world Snowden Street was the street he remembered the best.

“What great memories of my ancestors who have passed away and my brothers playing there,” he says of this photograph.

Sue Norman (Roocroft) says: “ My Uncle Arthur, Auntie Edie, and cousins Norman, Cyril and Kenneth (Roocroft) lived in the house at the end – it could have been 95. You could see in the mill from the side bedroom window.

"I remember the outside toilet was a wooden board with a hole and a bucket way down. I was scared I’d fall in. I loved visiting – happy memories.”

Memories of outside toilets came flooding back for Andrew Kobzan who says: “I lived in St Helens Road in a terraced house.

“The toilets had no electricity and we ran with a box of matches through the dark to light the candles to have at least a bit of light.

"Those matches were also very good for frying the spiders that wintered in the toilet. They weren’t very fond of that.

“We had to take a bucket of warm water in winter because the water pipes were always frozen. In summer it was fun climbing on top of the toilet roof and jumping down again. My mother nearly had a heart attack every time. We had a coal shed next to the toilet and I can remember betting with my younger brother to drive on the shed roof with his tricycle.”

A photograph of a shop in Orm Street was also popular.

Norman King recalls buying “little tins” from the shop.

He says the tins opened at both ends and one contained cocoa and the other sugar. “I think the workmen used to brew up at work with these,” he says.

Lyn Johnson who is aged 62 and lives in Brisbane, Australia lived in the street and had a part time job in the shop stacking shelves on a Friday night.

She is hoping readers may remember the “fabulous pie shop in the middle of Orm Street” she says.

Mrs Clayton points out that her mother, Margaret Whiteside, is wearing the coat with the fur collar in the photograph outside Claremont Church

Mrs Clayton would love to know who some of the other people are in this image. If you recognise any of the other people, please get in touch with us here at The Bolton News.

The Labour candidate in the 1938 Farnworth by-election, George Tomlinson, is pictured speaking during a Labour Party rally at the Empire Cinema. Labour party leader Clement Atlee came to Bolton to support Tomlinson who went on to win the election.

If you have a keen interest in this collection of photographs — Bolton Museum and Art Gallery has the rights to 900 negatives — then why not go along to a talk by the author of the book Worktown which has been written by David Hall.

The talk takes place in the Lecture Theatre at the Gallery on Monday, November 9 at 1pm and admission is free.

The book charts the progress of the mass observation project complete with some of the wonderful images from the work.

All images are © Bolton Council. From the Collection of Bolton Library and Museum Services.

If you recognise yourself or someone else in any of the photographs here do get in touch with Gayle McBain on 01204 537269 or email gayle.mcbain@nqnw.co.uk