FORMER singer Pamela Slattery likes to keep up-to-date with the news from the Rossendale Valley, even though she now lives miles away in Nottingham.

So the memories came flooding back when she saw that Looking Back had recalled the days of The Astoria in Rawtenstall, when a copy of the Lancashire Telegraph arrived in the post from an old school friend.

The 79-year-old said: “My heart skipped a little beat when I saw the Astoria again, where I has spent so many hours in my youth.

“Those were the days when dancing was dancing — quick steps, waltzes, fox-trots and the ‘excuse-me’, when you wondered if ‘he’ would ask you to dance!”

Pamela, nee Webster, still keeps in touch with her former Haslingden Grammar School friend Kathleen Austin, who sent her our story about the Astoria.

She said: “When we left school I got a job at David Whitehead and Sons at Lower Mill in Rawtenstall and I remember the company used to put on shows, which were very professional.

“I was a singer and a regular in the performances and after them I remember the bosses used to treat everyone to a meal, as well as the best seats to a show in Manchester.”

Pamela recalls having to walk past the dance hall every morning on her way to work and she said: “One day I stopped in surprise. Mr Constantine, the very busy local photographer, had three photo frames next to the entrance to the Astoria and that day they were of me!

“Because of all the revues and concerts I used to do in those days, I was quite well known in town and I did get some ribbing!”

Among the people Pamela remembers seeing on a regular basis at The Astoria, were the Heys sisters, the Manning sisters and former Whitehead’s girls Joan and Rona.

Then there were the Connolly brothers and the McConvilles.

She recalls, too, Joan Molloy, who left the mill to go to Bahrain and marry her boyfriend from Rawtenstall, while Barbara Heys went to Rhodesia, to marry Eric Radcliffe, who also worked at the mill.

Pamela added: “ I wonder if anyone remembers me and would like to get in touch; I would love to hear from them.”

*You can contact Pamela at 58, Lower Kirklington Road, Southwell, Notts, NG25 0BH.