READERS have been acquainting me with some more of the stars who performed at Bolton's Odeon cinema in the early 1960s.

They included Dusty Springfield, Gene Vincent, Carl Perkins, the Searchers, the Kinks, Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames and Gerry and the Pacemakers.

Janice - who preferred not to give me her second name - remembers the happy times she spent there when she was around 14 and 15.

When Chuck Berry performed she and a group of her friends from Christ Church youth club, Bolton went, to the first house around 7 pm.

There was a terrible turn out and they were able to move from their seats and sit in the front row.

Janice remembers that the rock "n" roll star, who has a reputation for being difficult, talked to them all through his performance and played individual requests.

"He did "Too Much Monkey Business" for me," Janice recalls.

"He was brilliant."

But there was also disappointment when a scheduled performance by PJ Proby was cancelled - in the aftermath of the famous incident which involved him splitting his trousers on stage at an earlier concert.

Mrs Christine Jones of Lower House Walk, Bromley Cross, remembers that she and her husband Bob used to enjoy the Odeon concerts whenever they could get a babysitter.

"The Odeon is a big place and it was usually full," she says.

And Gerald Firth of Kerry Grove, Tonge Moor, remembers Chuck Berry coming on stage - presumably it was the second house - with members of the audience running down the aisles towards the stage shouting "Chuck! Chuck!"

Gerald adds: "And that was the boys! Honest!"

Gerald remembers that the show was opened by a pair of girl singers and wonders if they were the Caravelles.

No doubt somebody will tell us.

Mr John Smith of Chorley New Road, Horwich attended a show in 1963/64 starring Gerry and the Pacemakers with Cilla Black in support.

"A good night as I recall and the girls were throwing all manner of clothing (including underwear) on to the stage," he says.