THE Queen Mother made the first of her four visits to Bolton district on the last day of the 1938 royal tour of Lancashire.

As Queen Elizabeth she accompanied her husband King George VI and thousands turned out in the May sunshine to greet them.

As their majesties passed Westhoughton Town Hall the British Legion standard bearer dipped his standard in a royal salute.

Then more than 3,500 children from 17 schools greeted the royal couple at Haslam Park. Flag-waving workers lined Deane Road all the way into town. About 6,000 people, half of them children, had been waiting for more than an hour.

The magnificent picture on this page shows the splendid scene in Victoria Square where earlier there had been cries of "We want the Queen! We want the Queen!"

Huge crowd

On the Town Hall steps there were 450 representatives of the town including civic, religious and industrial leaders. All round the square were thousands of cheering people.

The King and Queen stepped from their car and were greeted by Lord Derby. Then the royal standard was raised at the dais and the huge crowd joined in singing the national anthem.

The huge crowd waiting for the King to inspect the guard of honour provided by the 5th Battalion of the Loyal Regiment. The Bolton Artillery and the Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry were also on parade.

The royal route out of town led into Manchester Road where a large sign said: "You're Gradely Welcome". More than 2,000 children cheered them outside Burnden Park.

In May 1940, the King and Queen drove through cheering crowds to Horwich Loco Works to see tanks in production.

Their second visit to Bolton itself was in March, 1945, when they chatted with wounded soliders in Victoria Square, and had a wartime austerity lunch at the Town Hall as guests of the Earl of Derby.

Huge crowds welcomed them in the town centre, and there was a great cheer as the King, wearing the uniform of the Chief Marshal of the RAF, and the Queen stepped from their car. The Queen Mother as Queen Elizabeth, also visited Turton briefly in 1948 when she stayed overnight in the royal train in sidings adjoining land belonging to Clough House Farm, a building the Queen much admired. She invited the owners, Mr and Mrs Harry Mason, to visit her on the train.