THESE proud pupils were photographed at St Paul's, Astley Bridge, in 1949, after they passed the 11 plus examination.

Mr Ray Yates of Belmont Road, Bolton - that's him second from the right on the middle row - tells me that they all went on to Bolton School, Bolton County Grammar or Canon Slade.

"It was quite a good pass rate in a class of about 35," Mr Yates remembers.

"I still keep in contact with one or two of them."

Mr Yates went on to become a physics teacher at Smithills Grammar, the Derby School at Bury and the Queen Elizabeth school in Middleton.

The most famous member of the class - television gardening expert Roy Lancaster - is not on the picture because he failed the 11-plus and went to Castle Hill.