WHEN the mills of East Lancashire were at their height, they represented far more than the source of income for the majority of families in the area.

They were often also at the centre of the social lives of their employees with social clubs and sports teams being very much part of mill life.

This photograph which is probably from around the turn of the last Twentieth Century show the bellringers from Stanley Mills in Colne.

Stanley Mills, which stood in Shaw Street, was owned by Robert Shaw, who lived at New Colne Hall. Like many mill owners, he built a number of houses for his workers around the town after the mill opened around 1870

The six bellringers in their Sunday best, complete with waistcoats and fob watches, were from the left Fred Ashworth, Hartley Duerden, Bob Foulds, Thomas Ashworth, J Ferguson, and Hartley Riley.