HAPPY days working in the Eagle Mill, Balderstone, have been recalled by Bygones reader, Frances Hall.

Mrs Hall, who was Frances Evans before her marriage, was one of a group of workers who made the daily journey from Wigan to work in the Queen Victoria Street mill.

It was in the 1950s and a long time before the M62 was built.

"We set off from, Wigan at 6.30am in time to get to the Eagle by 7.30am, when we clocked in," she recalled.

"We finished at 5.30pm, so it was another hour back to Wigan and gone 7pm by the time I finally got in the house.

"It was a long day and hard work, but I really enjoyed it.

"We were like just one big happy family at the Eagle.

"I worked as a doffer at the Eagle for five years before I left in 1958 when I got married.

"Most days we had our lunch at work, either in the canteen or eating the food we brought from home, but I remember that every Friday we went into Rochdale town centre to visit the market.

"In the mill we produced some excellent cotton, making absolutely top class towels and tablecloths.

"But the mill was also a very noisy place and we either had to use sign language or lip read above the din.

"But it was part of my life that I never forget and often think about my time at the Eagle Mill, Rochdale, even now, well into retirement as I am."