DO you recognise yourself or a friend or relative in this photograph taken at Preston's ABC Cinema in 1959?

If so, you could be a special guest at a public film show to be presented by the North West Film Archive as part of the anniversary festivities of the Lancashire Record Office -- which this year celebrates 60 years of caring for Lancashire's heritage.

The show is on Thursday, September 21 at 7.30pm in the council chamber at County Hall, Fishergate Hill, Preston.

Star billing for the evening will go to a film made to celebrate the opening of the cinema called Candid Camera Visits ABC Preston.

The picture on this page was taken more than 40 years ago when 'Carry On' star Bernard Bresslaw visited Preston's ABC cinema to promote his new film The Ugly Duckling.

In those days a new film in a luxury new cinema drew massive media attention, where you could enjoy a night at the flicks for just a few shillings. The cinema opened in March 1959, at the corner of Theatre Street, in Fishergate, with a capacity to seat more than 1,400 people.

Fourteen years after its opening, it was refurbished as a smaller auditorium with a saloon bar downstairs called the Painted Wagon. It finally closed down in 1982.

County councillor Dorothy Westell, who is responsible for Lifelong Learning in the county, said: "I am looking forward to welcoming the North West Film Archive to County Hall for this very special evening.

"Film collections are a great record of the past providing a valuable insight into the way we used to live, and of course they are great fun to watch too."

If you do recognise yourself or a friend on the photograph, call (0161) 247 3097 to be invited to the special show.

Pictured: Carry On star Bernard Bresslaw at Preston's ABC Cinema.