IN September 1961, the glittering Mecca Locarno Ballroom opened on Manningham Lane. It was to be the venue where BBC television filmed some of its Come Dancing programmes and where in 1963 John Schlesinger filmed part of Billy Liar.

But within three weeks of opening the premier dance hall of the North was under a cloud because management put up a notice barring entry to unaccompanied non-white men on the grounds that trouble might erupt if they commandeered the attention of white women.

The ban was dropped after five months of protests. Bradford Trades Council, Leeds University's Anti-Racialist Committee, the National Council for Civil Liberties and the Musicians' Union all took part in the protests.

So did Bradford plumber and builder Peter Thornton, who died last month (March) at the age of 90. He and his wife Jean, who died last year, had a son and six daughters, including Bradford Labour councillor Gill Thornton, Humanist Janice Thornton and Labour Life Peer Baroness (Glenys) Thornton of Manningham.

She said: "Like Jean he was a leftie who did believe in direct action. Some time in the 1960s the Mecca on Manningham Lane introduced a colour bar. A few days after they introduced it in the middle of the night the front of the building was graffitied No Colour Bar in black creosote.

"That was him and one or two other very respectable professional men who were completely outraged. The Mecca removed the colour bar but did have to replace the whole of their marble frontage since they could not remove the graffiti."

Peter Thornton was born in Spen Valley. His father died of asbestos-related pneumoconiosis when he was a teenager and he was the main breadwinner for his family during the Second World War. He was elected a local councillor in Liversedge at 24, but was expelled from the Labour Party in 1952 along with his wife for being involved in the Peace Pledge Union.

Baroness Thornton added: "He was the one who took us all on the Aldermaston Marches each Easter in the 1960s, the Bradford CND coach always setting off from our house in St Pauls Road Manningham. He fitted out the Left Club and was one of its trustees and supporters with several other Bradford lefties.

"He was arrested sitting down in the road on a Ban the Bomb demo in the 1960s. He helped to found the Woodcraft Folk in Bradford and was a keen Woodie for all his life. He was also part of the group that wrote NO H bomb tests and other CND slogans on various cliffs and rock faces around Yorkshire. A man of passionate principles."