JOHN Hool is a contented man, an optimistic man and, as customers of his herbal stall in Bolton Market Hall will know, a friendly man.

Part owner of the stall with his brother, John, a supply teacher and a Jehovah's Witness, is content with his lot and holds an optimistic view of the future.

"I grew up with the stall which my grandfather started in 1872. It passed to my father and I was around the place, helping out, when I was 10 years old," said John.

"When my father died I took over and my daughter works here now."

John, aged 53, is married to Linda -- also a partner in the business -- with three daughters and was a full-time teacher in French and German who still keeps his hand in with supply teaching.

"This is not just a business, we believe in the products that we sell," he added, "there is a strong tradition of herbal medicine in the North West, we still get older people coming in with recipes they got from their parents and we make up the ingredients for them."

Teaching -- and languages -- are John's great love and he considers himself very lucky to be able to continue as a supply teacher.

"I love teaching so much that my daughter is always saying that she is going to pack me off back to full-time teaching," he laughed.

"I love languages and at school I always wanted to do something with French. Of course in those days we were more restricted and I more or less had to go into teaching. Although I love passing my knowledge on, these days young people can go into tourism or other jobs. Working abroad is easier now that we are in the EC.

"I do not have any regrets about my life but I do wish I'd travelled more -- I have responsibilities these days.

"A foreign language is a tremendous asset. Combine it with a science skill and there is a tremendous scope for careers."

John's passion for languages extends beyond the schoolroom.

Apart from the French and German -- of course he is fluent as he teaches those -- John also has "a smattering" of Spanish and, having befriended some Angolan refugees in Manchester, he is now learning Portuguese from them.

"People love to be spoken to in their own language," said John.

"I am a Jehovah's Witness and I have friends in France who are Witnesses -- and in other countries."

As my experience of Jehovah's Witnesses has been (as I expect has most people's) the rather gloomy people standing on my doorstep, I asked John how he could be one and so cheerful?

He said: "Oh, being a Witness is not about gloom, it's about being optimistic for the future.

"It has a great effect on the way you live your life and it makes for an extremely stable family life.

"The world is in a state, two-thirds of the world are trying to move to another part of it.

"But if you really believe, you know that a better future is going to come.

"We all need to look for happiness in our lives, I have my religion, my business and my career."