NOT surprisingly perhaps, given that she was the girl who put Rochdale on the map, Gracie Fields has been photographed many times by this newspaper, mostly on her frequent visits to the town of her birth.

But few could have captured the charm and obvious delight she took in performing official functions than this portrait, taken by the Observer's former chief photographer, Jim Rowbotham, in October 1970.

The singer and film star had received a rapturous welcome from a crowd of more than 500 who had stood in pouring rain for nearly 90 minutes to watch Gracie use a golden hammer to knock a silver nail to a brass plate fixed to the wall of a new factory built just across the road from the house she used to live in, above a chip shop in Molesworth Street.

In fact Gracie, who had travelled from her island home in Italy, was greeted with a Capri-like scene when she alighted from a sleek blue Rolls in front of the British Vita factory, Vitool Ltd.

Beach umbrellas were dotted about and the official platform had a Mediterranean look about it, according to an Observer report of the occasion.

"Get back, get back," the crowd had shouted as a dozen presss photographers surged forward, blocking the spectators’ view.

BBC and ITV cameras captured the scene in the drizzle.

But the furore didn’t put Gracie off one bit.

Smiling broadly she jumped up on to the platform as the by now well soaked band played "Sally", the song long considered to be Gracie’s theme tune.

At the age of 72 Gracie launched into "Sally" while hanging on to the side of the platform, now crammed with camera crews.

It was an emotion-charged moment, lump-in-the-throat stuff, as she shouted "Got to keep the old girl dry" as she ran inside.

But soon she was back, floating over a gleaming red carpet, bouquet in hand.

Later she went on to tour the factory. The general impression she had left behind was that she still had what one elderly woman described as ‘star quality’.