TIMES were very hard in East Lancashire during the 1930s and the 1940s.

It was two decades which shock the British isles to its core.

East Lancashire's declining mill industry lead to large portions of the population out of work.

Families also had to taken in evacuees from Manchester and other built-up parts of the country due to the German bombers regular trips to our island.

The price of Thwaites' ale would have been one consolation to the thirsty adults of the day.

A half-pint of 'East Lancs' sparkling pale ale, costing a sixpence in 1935, would have been the equivalent to £1.27 in today's money.

The company's cream stout, would have cost the same and its mild beer, at four-and-a-half pence would have cost around 84p in today's money.

The other pictures on these pages show workmen clearing up bomb damage that had hit George Walsh and Sons Ltd timber yard in John Street, Oswaldtwistle, in March 1941.

Below that is a fantastic photo of the workmen, and boys, at a warehouse in Blackburn, taken in 1936.

New police officers parade around their training base in Hoghton in 1938.

Joseph Harrison stands proudly outside his clogger's shop in Sandygate, Burnley, in 1930.

We can also see readers enjoying a selection of books at the reading room in Darwen Library, in the final image, in 1932.