Professor Paul Salveson is a historian and writer and lives in Bolton. He is visiting professor in ‘Worktown Studies’ at the University of Bolton and author of several books on Lancashire history

For thousands of Bolton children it was the most exciting time of the year, at least next to Christmas. ‘Bolton Holidays’ – or ‘Wakes Week’ - in the 1950s and 1960s was the fortnight when Bolton emptied, with thousands of families heading for the Lancashire seaside resorts, mostly Blackpool, or further afield.

It started on the last Friday of June and lasted for a fortnight, though many people just went away for the first week. It was common for families to return to the same resort, and same boarding house, year in year out. The schools closed for a fortnight followed by a three week return before the summer holidays.

Carol Walsh recalls “I remember Wakes Weeks, my grandma used to take me and my brother on the train to Blackpool, the same boarding house in York St. every year. Great memories.”

Arthur Singleton recalls the 1950s: “We always went for a weeks’ holiday in Bolton’s Wakes Week. Always went to Fleetwood. Did this for a decade; lunch at the same fish and chip Shop near the North Euston Hotel. We always stayed with Mrs Hawkins’ B&B at 16 Windsor Terrace just opposite the pier.

“I was fascinated by a fortune teller on the sea front, the Marionette man near the bowling greens and remember glorious long days in the open air swimming Pool – it was too dangerous to go in the sea because of the river. We always took the steam train from Bolton and when we got there we went to Knott End by the ferry. For years my Dad convinced me we had been to the Isle of Man.

“What made me laugh was all the Bolton workmen sat in deck chairs sleeping the lunchtime boozing off - with suntanned faces and arms and white bodies that looked as though they had never seen the sun.”

The tradition of the Lancashire ‘Wakes Weeks’ goes back to medieval times and local religious ceremonies. Farnworth still had its own ‘Wakes’ in the early 1900s, though the Bolton holiday week was usually just called ‘Bolton Holidays’.

During the 19th century the combination of rapid population growth as the cotton industry took off, and the development of the railways allowed the possibility of working class people taking a holiday. Whitsun was the main holiday period, with a mass exodus from Bolton and other ‘cotton towns’ on Whit Friday. However, it was only in the late 19th century that workers were given a full week off, and that was without pay.

By the end of the 19th century the cotton industry was a highly organised industry, with the owners combined in powerful trade associations; their counterpart were the cotton unions, equally well organised and influential. The employers decided between themselves which town would have its week’s holiday. Oldham went first, followed by Bolton the week after at the end of June. Burnley, Bury and Wigan had their holidays in early July followed by Blackburn and the North-East Lancashire towns at the end of the month.

The week’s shutdown, only lengthened to a fortnight after the Second World War, enabled the mill engines and machinery such as looms and spinning mules to be overhauled and given a thorough clean. Paid holidays didn’t come until 1941, so it was only after the war that the holiday ‘boom’ really took off. A further week was added in September.

The ‘staggered’ holidays were helpful for the railway companies who would have been overwhelmed if every town had its ‘wakes week’ around the same time. As it was, the railways struggled to cope with the huge demand for ‘specials’ taking families to Blackpool, Southport, Morecambe and further afield including North Wales and the West Country.

Most trains left from Trinity Street, though some – particularly the North Wales trains – went from Great Moor Street, a tradition which continued for several years after the station had officially closed in 1954.

During the inter-war years families would save up all year for their week’s holiday. Thousands were members of savings clubs, known locally as ‘Diddle ‘em clubs’ because of the frequency of the collectors running off with the takings! The safest option was to save with the Co-op, which also organised holidays, including transport by train or ‘charabanc’.

Some companies, such as Walker’s, ran their own ‘holiday fund’ which employees paid into each week.

In those days it was normal for families to take their own food in tin containers – the landlady would cook the food for them, though there was the more expensive option of having meals made for you. In many guest houses families would invite neighbours or other members of the extended family to join them for their tea!

So for one week in every year, popular destinations such as Blackpool and Rhyl became ‘Bolton by the sea’. The Bolton Evening News was on sale along the sea front and the paper sent staff photographers to snap happy holiday-makers.

Pete Sharples remembers being at Fleetwood in 1976: “While enjoying messing about on the shore, we heard a bloke shouting ‘anyone from Bolton?’ Repeatedly. It was a photographer from the B.E.N. The photo he took was featured in the paper, along with photos of Bolton families in other Lancashire resorts.”

Managing the exodus, particularly in the first week, was a huge logistics challenge. As well as dozens of special trains, hundreds of coaches took people to destinations all over the country.

Christine Salt worked in the Ribble travel office at Moor Lane for many years. She recalls: “Bolton holidays were mad busy, dozens of coaches going to places such as Rhyl, Llandudno, Newquay, Bournemouth etc, and every day hundreds of customers taking day trips to Blackpool, various zoos, Betws-y-Coed in Wales, and many more. Some days we didn’t even manage a cup of tea!

“Even when continental holidays really took off, we still did lots of day and weekly excursions, as well as cruise bookings and many package holidays. Obviously none of us were able to go away for Bolton holidays.”

Joan Heath’s family went by coach to Wales: “We travelled by coach to Rhyl from Moor Lane. It was very hectic and dad would be cursing. Grandma made us sandwich-spread butties to eat on the coach – it was like having a picnic.

“On arrival the trolley-boys would be waiting to load your cases and take you to your campsite, dad would obviously have to tip them. At Rhyl you could buy The Bolton Evening News. It was very exciting from start to finish.”

Not everyone headed for the popular resorts. One family regularly visited Warrenpoint in Northern Ireland.

Going away was a communal experience. Jackie Richards was brought up on Kent Street, Farnworth and remembers her first trip to the Isle of Man, when she was seven: “It was a burning hot Friday - even the tarmac on the road was melting and the factory workers were running up the street, laughing and shouting and singing, ‘We’re off, we’re off, we’re off in a motor car, 50 bobbies are after us and we don’t know where we are’.

“At 8 that evening after a wash and change I was bundled into a coach waiting in Frederick Street along with half the street. We were going to Fleetwood to catch the Lady of Man boat to the Isle of Man. Such excitement I had never known before.

“It was a rough overnight crossing but no-one minded, all the men were in the bar whilst women and children ate butties and cake in the lounge. We slept eventually and woke to a glorious morning and the first sight of the magical island. I thought it was heaven, from a two-up-two down terraced houses and mills to this wonderful place – it was magic to me.

“There were so many people from Kent Street and surrounding streets on the boat and during the week - we saw most of them every day. I cried when we had to go home, I wanted to stay forever in this lovely place. I returned many times during Wakes weeks but that first trip with my nan and grandad was the best. “

Probably the high point of Bolton Holidays for the railways was the late 1950s and early 1960s. The 1962 holidays saw 31 special trains leaving Trinity Street, 13 on the Friday evening and 18 on the Saturday. Destinations on Friday night included Newquay, Heysham (for the boat to Northern Ireland), Bournemouth, London (St Pancras), Paignton, Plymouth, Yarmouth, Holyhead, Eastbourne and Portsmouth.

On the Saturday, the rush started with a train to Penychain, for Butlin’s, via the now closed route from Bangor and Caernarfon. There were further North Wales trains to places including Llandudno, Bangor, Rhyl and Caernarfon. Other destinations included Filey Holiday Camp, Liverpool (for the Isle of Man), Skegness and of course Blackpool.

Additional locos were drafted to Crescent Road sheds and Bolton drivers and firemen had a rare chance to widen their horizons, with some working trains through to North Wales.

The coaching stock was assembled at Horwich, Lostock Junction, Moses Gate and other locations. The 7am special to Llandudno was worked by ‘borrowed’ Jubilee class express loco ‘Manitoba’ and worked by Bolton driver Jack Ritson and fireman Tommy Bustard throughout. Jack Hartley and fireman Cliff Edge worked a later special all the way to Bangor with another borrowed ‘Jubilee’ from Patricroft depot.

Life in Bolton, especially for the first week, was completely different from usual. It became like a ghost town. The factory chimneys stopped smoking and you could see the Welsh mountains from the top of Smithills Dean Road! Most shops closed, including newsagents. Children set up makeshift paper shops on the pavements, sometimes earning a bit of extra pocket money but not always.

Joanne Campbell remembers: “We usually went away but one year we didn’t - I went to get a paper from the bus terminus at Andrew Lane, Astley Bridge, and stayed there sorting the papers and selling them for a least one of the weeks, for nothing. It gave me something to do as I was an early riser. The local shops, at the bottom of Sharples Avenue would close at dinner every day.”

The decline of ‘Bolton Holidays’ happened almost imperceptibly. As the mills and engineering factories went into decline there wasn’t the same co-ordinated ‘shutdown’ at the end of June; the mills had shut for good.

If there can be said to be an ‘end’ it was in 1992, when schools went over to a standardised national pattern of summer holidays. By then, Bolton had changed dramatically and people’s leisure habits had as well. Cheap foreign holidays by air became normal, though some people maintained the old traditions of Blackpool or the North Wales Coast.

Joan Heath is one of them: “I loved the memories from childhood - and because of this I carried on taking my own children, and grandchildren, to North Wales. Even now my husband and I still go, first week, last Saturday in June.”

Details of Paul’s book Moorlands, Memories and Reflections, featuring aspects of Lancashire’s history can be found at www.lancashireloominary.co.uk. A new edition of his biography of Bolton writer Allen Clarke is now available on a special pre-publication offer. See website for details.

Many thanks to Steve Leyland for information on rail excursion traffic during the holiday period.