SKATERS from yesteryear are giving their support to proposals to bring a rink back to the town.

People are delighted that Bolton and District Heritage Trust is calling for an ice or roller skating rink to be built inside the Crook Street bus depot.

There are plans to flatten the site and build a supermarket there, but the group says this would be a waste of a spectacular building.

The trust claims a rink would be ideal for people of all ages in the town and grandmother Marlene Croff agrees with them.

She met her husband at the old Navada roller skating rink, on Spa Road, when went to dances there in the 1950s and 1960s. Sadly, the rink burned to the ground 17 years ago.

Marlene, aged 63, of Dorset Street, The Haulgh, said: "It was really nice inside the Navada. There were seats all the way round the rink and there was a bar where you could get drinks.

"All the staff used to wear red coats and they looked like they worked at Butlins."

When children Beverley and Alison were born, Marlene took them skating with her.

Now a grandmother, Marlene says she is all in favour of a skating rink being developed at the Crook Street depot and would love to take her three grandchildren there.

She said: "There's not enough going on for young people today. The skating rink is a good thing for them. It brought me a lot of enjoyment and I was never bored there."

However, plans for the rink may never get off the ground as depot owners First Bus is in talks with supermarket chains about the sale of the land.

Margaret Ash, aged 65, of Sutton Road, Deane, also has fond memories of skating at the Navada and thinks a new rink would give young people something to do.

She has a suggestion of her own about what to do with the bus depot.

Mrs Ash said: "Why don't they build a supermarket but have an ice or roller rink in the basement?"

Norma Hayes, aged 39, of Great Lever, recalls the Navada days as "fun for all the family". Mrs Hayes said: "I think it is a brilliant idea. There should be something like this in Bolton, the town needs it."

The bus depot was built in 1979 and is the size of two football pitches.