I'M not a morning telly watcher, but for some reason, I switched on last week and an old black and white film caught my attention.

The noise and sight of hundreds of women working on the factory floor took me back to the '50s when Leigh was a cotton boom town and wakes weeks were spent by the Lancashire coast.

The film was Hindle Wakes and followed the same theme of two millgirls from a dark satanic milltown holidaying and manhunting in Blackpool.

Men, also on the pull, had manners then and on the packed train, one stood up so one of the lasses could sit down. The Tower was jam packed with couples dancing close together and the white-knuckle rides were the old dipper and chairoplanes.

The men were terribly Terry Thomas all whacko and "you scan the beaches, I'll scan the peaches."

It was corny as hell but a true story that brought back some vivid memories of the newly defunct but much longed for wakes weeks.