OLD holiday snaps have prompted one pensioner to seek out the lovely ladies from Bolton he met over 50 years ago.

Stan Strickland, 77, is looking for a group of ladies from the borough who went on a holiday for those aged 18-30 in 1963.

Today’s search for the Bolton beauties was sparked after Mr Strickland was flicking through some old holiday snaps, spotting a photo of his younger self winning a dance competition with a girl from the area.

He’s hoping that by sharing the photo, the girl pictured, or anyone who might know who she is, will get in touch so the pair can reminisce about their Italian adventure.

Mr Strickland said: “I was looking through some of the photos the other day and I came across that one of us dancing, we actually came first in the competition.

“We did meet up a few weeks after the holiday, the girls came to Liverpool to see boys. We kept in touch for a little while and then of course we lost touch.

“It would just be nice if one of the girls from Bolton who remembers the holiday to get in touch – you get a bit nostalgic as you get older.”

Mr Strickland and the friends all went to the Italian region from Liverpool.

The whole group flew from Liverpool airport to Albenga, a small city on the Italian Riviera.

They stayed at the Hotel Mediterranee in Pietra Ligure, a province roughly 40 miles southwest of Genoa.

The hotel, which is still in business, had a disco in the basement that drew the whole group down in the evenings.

Speaking about the trip, Mr Strickland added: “It was an 18-30 group holiday and pretty much everybody was from North West England.

“We stayed at the Hotel Mediterranee in Pietra Ligure. There was a disco in the basement every night and that’s where we gravitated to in the evening.

“Another reason I remember the holiday is that one of the girls was from Bolton and she was taken ill during the holiday and was confined to bed and she wasn’t able to fly home with us. She was terribly fed up.

“She had a steady boyfriend back in Bolton, if she hadn’t had a boyfriend I would’ve asked her out.”

Mr Strickland, who moved to Anglesey 15 years ago, is keen to reunite with any of the girls from the trip.

There were people from Liverpool, Wigan, and Bolton all enjoying the time away.

The girl who was taken ill, who is not the woman pictured, flew home a few days after the rest of the group.

Anyone who remembers the trip, or thinks they know someone who went on this holiday, can email stanstrickland09@googlemail.com to speak to Mr Strickland about the experience.