IT was an era when many East Lancashire families worked a piece of land to produce food for their table.

The need to grow vegetables had been established in the war years, when ration books were issued, and some foodstuffs could not be bought in the shops.

Many people turned over their own patches of soil to produce such things as potatoes and peas, however small their garden.

Others had allotments where they tilled the land on a daily basis, sewing rows of cabbages and carrots for their own families, and growing so much they could supplement the diets of relatives and friends, as well.

When the war finally ended, however, the passion for producing home-grown vegetables did not – and well into the fifties, and beyond, men and women still spent many happy hours toiling in the sun, and rain.

There were more than enough of them, as well, to form allotment societies, which would hold regular meetings, competitions, and days out.

Our picture today shows more than two dozen members of Haslingden Allotment Society, back one sunny summer’s day in 1953.

Maybe they had been on a day trip to a flower show, or similar event. The women are all in gay summer dresses, and many of the men in open- necked shirts.

You might recognise a member of your family from this happy group who posed for the camera almost 60 years ago.