IT'S haymaking time, so two pictures -- sent to me by Mrs Margaret Standish (nee Scowcroft), of Thornton Avenue, Bolton -- are well timed.

To view the photos, click HERE and HERE in our Looking Back Photogallery. The photo will open in a separate browser window. This screen will remain open at the same time.

The two men on the right of the picture with the horses, taken in 1931, were farmworkers who came over from Ireland every year at haymaking time and stayed at Top o'th' Knotts Farm, Harwood, owned by the Scowcroft family.

The man on the left is Mrs Standish's father, William, next to her mother, Jane (nee Orrell), with her aunt Bella Scowcroft standing between the two farm hands. Mrs Standish does not know definitely the name of the boy with the dog, but thinks it could be her Uncle Jim.

The other photo shows the Scowcroft family, with Mrs Standish's grandfather, John, pictured back centre, and her grandmother, Mary Jane with her hands on the young boy's shoulders.

There were originally 14 children (four had died in their infancy), but this picture taken in about 1928 shows nine of them. They are, from left, Robert, Cecilia, Harry, Jane, Arthur, William, Isobella, John, and Nellie. James is the young boy.

But why are they all standing around? Come on you lot, get on with the haymaking . . .