WHEN Dr Roger Watt goes out for a meal with his wife Margaret, he does not study the menu for hours. He studies the cutlery instead.

Dr Watt, a paediatrician at the Royal Bolton Hospital, collects stainless steel made by Old Hall which he mainly buys from second-hand shops.

In particular, he collects items by designer Robert Welch.

Now his collection of toast racks, milk jugs and cutlery has been displayed in four glass cabinets in the main corridor of the hospital.

Dr Watt, aged 59, said: "I became interested in stainless steel while I was at university and it progressed from there.

"I like to visit car boot sales and charity shops looking for Old Hall designs and have sometimes paid a few pence for things that might be worth £50 or £60.

"Many people who married in the 1950s will have got Old Hall things as wedding presents and they probably just sit in a cupboard for years and are never used.

"People often just throw them out when they are fed up with them.

"The stainless steel isn't worth a fortune, probably the most expensive thing I have is worth a few hundred pounds, but examples of Old Hall work are on display in museums around the country.

"I keep all my collection in the loft so it's not cluttered around the house and I just thought it might be nice for people to see it. It seems to have generated a lot of interest.

"My children think I'm a bit of an anorak, but I enjoy it."

Robert Welch was born in 1929 in Hereford and studied at Malvern School of Art, Birmingham College of Art and the Royal College of Art in London. He opened a shop in Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds in 1969 to sell his designs exclusively and his family continue to run the business.