Gordon Alex Passmore emailed us all the way from Melbourne, Australia with these photographs of Littlewoods Christmas dinner dance at the Elms Hotel in Morecambe in 1959.

He can be seen standing on the back row – third from the left and in front of the curtain.

Alex writes: "At that time I was probably the youngest employee at Littlewoods - 16 and a half – though some of the girls may have been of similar age. At the end of January 1960, I left Littlewoods for the RAF and subsequently lost contact with my former colleagues.

My first job after leaving The Friends' School in the summer of 1959, Littlewoods was a real eye-opener following the boy's only atmosphere of Meeting House Lane!

Heaving around sides of bacon and turning cheeses every day for £3 2s 6d, not the greatest start in life perhaps, but a sure one with good experiences that I have not forgotten and great colleagues who made it all worthwhile."

Alex says all four men in the group, the three women and single man at the right end of the back row were standing on chairs. He thinks the shop manager was called Mr Bruce – his head is just visible at the left of this row.

When Alex originally sent over the photo he remembered going out with the sister of one of the girls in the photo but couldn't remember her name or that of her sister.

However, he did remember that the sister had been injured in an incident on or near the Beaumont estate by some hooligans with an air rifle. He'd read about it in the Lancaster Guardian while in the RAF some months later.

Alex was determined to jog his memory further and contacted Lancaster Reference Library to try and find the article about the incident published in 1960.

Librarian Paul Hatch came up trumps and was able to send him a copy of the piece.

The name of Alex's former girlfriend was Jeanette Mary Hambling who lived in Peel Avenue, Lancaster, at the time.

Alex writes: "It's absolutely brilliant; I had completely forgotten her name!

I met Jeanette at Sulyard Street Methodist Youth Club in the summer of 1959. We were introduced to each other by Dr and Mrs Long, who ran the club at that time. Our first date outside the club was arranged for an evening when I had told my folks I was going to a Conservative meeting held in favour of the aspirant Humphrey Berkeley at the 1959 General Election! I wonder if Jeanette or her sister are still in Lancaster?

The sister is standing behind the woman in white in the second row and directly behind the front row girl with the puritan style collar."
This second photograph of the same event was taken just prior to dinner - and the young lad is Alex.

If anyone on the photo remembers this dinner dance and would like to contact Alex, you can email him at footsteps@bigpond.com