THEY were only slips of girls, but with their school days behind them and in their first year in the world of work, these teenage Blackburn lasses were able to save up for the first time themselves for a holiday -- in Blackpool in 1956.

The girls all worked at Newman's slipper works in Blackburn as sewing machinists and, says the picture's sender, Mrs Patricia Wilkinson, of Preston -- then Pat O'Malley, seen second right in the group -- had to carefully put by any spare money from their weekly wages of £3 14s 1d (£3.72p) to afford a week's break at the resort.

Pictured outside their digs, the eight spent their holiday dancing in the Tower Ballroom, at the Pleasure Beach and 'chasing lads' -- but they were chaperoned by the mother of one of the girls who accompanied them to Blackpool.

"I can't remember how much it cost to stay at the boarding house, but we each managed to save £7 for spending money -- giving us a whole £1 a day to splash out with," says Patricia.

"Newman's employed a lot of young girls like us who were 15 and 16 at the time. It was a great place to work and we loved it. There was a reunion of former employees two years ago and everyone had a great time."

Pat cannot remember all the names of the girls in the picture, but among them were Alice Kenny, Eileen Jenkinson, Kathleen Livesey and Rene Farren.