"CALL in any of Bolton's dozen or so parks about dusk at this time of year, and the lights will be burning brightly in the pavilion," wrote an Evening News reporter in December, 1964.

"Open the door, and in the warm, smokey, atmosphere inside will be found a part of one of the most amazing organisations in town. Known familiarly as the "vets", they are the veterans' bowling clubs which in the past 40 years or so have sprung up all over town. But they are not official, have no organised welfare services and no special rights in the park pavilions they use."

The clubs began, it seems, in the depression years when the casual meetings of old friends developed into regular dates in the open park shelters, then -- perhaps a little reluctantly -- the Parks Committee filled in the sides and front and created pavilions.

Officials were appointed, furnishings moved in, electricity and heating laid on. When this picture was taken, at Morris Green Park pavilion, with a kind of "unofficial official" recognition, the clubs were continuing to flourish. Even though the members had put games and furniture into the pavilions, they were still public and the public had a right to use them.

The members denied that the club was a part of a movement to "get away from the missus".