WHILE sorting through her elderly mother’s belongings, Angela Wharmby, 68, came across a treasure trove of old photographs depicting the Cox Green area of yesteryear.

"There were four shoeboxes-worth,” said Mrs Wharmby during a visit to Bolton from her home in County Clare, Ireland, where she moved to in 2000.

Her 93-year-old mother Alice Brooks, nee Hammond, now lives in Withins Residential Home, in Breightmet, but she spent the majority of her life living in Cox Green.

The family home was the white cottage which can be seen to the right of the photograph on the left.

When Alice married Leonard Brooks she moved. But she didn’t have far to go as they bought the house on the hill, which can be seen just behind the white cottage.

Mrs Wharmby and her sister, Christine, spent an idyllic childhood there enjoying the rural splendour. But they had to be careful as they lived right next to Egerton Quarry, which can be seen in the centre of the photograph.

The farm on the front left of the photograph was later bought by Mrs Wharmby’s cousin.

The splendid photograph above is of a jolly old charabanc outing for members of Walmsley Unitarian Chapel.

Unfortunately, Mrs Brooks is unsure of the date but judging by the clothing it is likely to be the 1920s or early 1930s.

Charabanc outings were hugely popular and eagerly looked forward to back in the days before coach travel was widespread.

It was an occasion to don your finest clothes and enjoy the novelty of an open-topped journey at speed.

Mrs Wharmby said the family were long-standing members of the chapel.

“I can remember my mum making white nylon dresses with blue sashes for the chapel’s special children’s services,” she recalled.

These two photographs, also supplied by Mrs Wharmby, depict work and pleasure in Egerton in the early part of the 20th century.

The small park surrounding the war memorial was a popular place to relax in the sunshine of a summer Sunday afternoon.

If you look carefully, between the gateposts you should just be able to make out an enormous pram.

Neither Mrs Wharmby nor staff at The Bolton News can work out what the unusual piece of street furniture in the left foreground was.

A police box? A postal storage unit?If it wasn’t for the fact that they didn’t exist back then, you could be forgiven for thinking it was an early example of a public superloo.

Mystery also surrounds the signpost above it which, unfortunately, is to small to read. It was clearly important due to the four lights were used to illuminate it.

And what about the flat-capped boy on the left? It looks like he’s tucking into some fish and chips.

The war memorial itself, in the fork of the cobbled Blackburn Road and Darwen Road, would have been a relatively recent addition.

The photo on the right shows Eagley Mills where Mrs Brooks and her sisters spent many years working as weavers.