FORGOTTEN CORNERS

[Cathy]

That’s interesting Plaques, I thought the pimpled pattern at bus stops was there to help to stop passengers possibly slipping as they got on and off the bus.
Helps sighted and unsighted people I guess.
Good to learn something new every day.

[Whyperion]

however then the paving was done in yellow pimple concrete squares

Pimpled and other patterns are usually placed as an aid to visually impaired pedestrians. Each pattern conveys a meaning eg: pedestrian crossing, pavement edges etc. Most normally sighted people don't take any notice of this tactile aid because they have no need to but they are useful to those who do need them. Tactile pavings.

Sorry, I am a softy, they hurt my feet and rip the wheels off my trolleys and wheeled suitcases.

[Stanley]

True Kev and sometimes specified today on expensive builds but on the whole the rule of thumb is accurate for 19th century builds. Same applies to mortar, lime mortar became redundant as soon as the new steam mills put ash pans in and started grinding lime and clinker into grey ash/lime mortar. It had the great advantage of being capable of being revived by knocking it up again with water as it dried out.
You're right about the quantity of slate it takes to cover a roof. That's why the old grey slate needed such heavy roof timbers. Blue slate is a comparatively lighter and gave a great saving.

[Stanley]

In the interests of keeping members up to date, here's the new flagpole base in the lawn opposite Ladbrokes. Thanks to Kev for confirming what it is.

[Wendyf]

Please explain to us out of towners where Ladbrokes is.

[PanBiker]

It's going to have some of the new "better" paving stones round it like in the town square when it's finished. I have to say that I think that is a much better place than in the planter in the square.

[Big Kev]

Please explain to us out of towners where Ladbrokes is.

It's in the old Post Office building, Wendy. Station Road/Fernlea Avenue junction. The flagpole will be Fernlea Avenue/Welhouse Road junction next to the war memorial.

[Stanley]

The thing that puzzles me is where is the funding for all this work coming from? So many services are under funded and yet we see high cost 'improvements' like this spreading like a rash. I don't object to any of the things that are happening, particularly since Kev reassured me that the new paving is Rossendale stone and as such has been used in the town for years, but I wonder about priories. Must be a different budget than basic road maintenance.



Albert Road in 1982. A Forgotten Corner now. I have to admit that the present layout is better and more open.

[PanBiker]

The town square refurbishment, moving of the jubilee drinking fountain and the relocation of the flagpole are funded by the Town Council.

[Whyperion]

Jan/Feb 1982 I got snowed in in Cardiff for about 10 days. Interesting weekend, able to walk and part cycle into work - only me in - on the monday doing radio reporting for the bus services that were/not running. Dont think anyone was interested they did not really want to travel anyway. I was stuck in part as the coach depot was at the bottom of a hill on a narrow road that Cardiff city council had given up on gritting or clearing, we shovelled at bit at least got the key services running .

[Big Kev]

The town square refurbishment, moving of the jubilee drinking fountain and the relocation of the flagpole are funded by the Town Council.

The town square refurbishment costs are a joint venture between the Town Council and Pendle Borough Council.

[Stanley]

Our new plastic flagpole on Fernlea Avenue and the state of the flagging in the Town square.

[Tripps]

Now you've has a major 'straight edge' thrust upon you, I think you've found your new niche - 'Photographer in residence'. No wages - obviously.

[PanBiker]

Our new plastic flagpole on Fernlea Avenue

When you quote "plastic", is it not more likely to be fibreglass or carbon fibre.? Either are considerably lighter and stronger than wood and will not rot which was a common feature of wooden poles.

[Stanley]

Agreed but to keep it simple I have three categories, Wood, Metal and Plastic. I think plastic covers this one for most people.
David, I have been doing record shots in the town now for 60 years. No real scheme but all archived. That's why I can usually pull up a then and now pic when required. It's so easy with modern fast computers and big hard drives.



Here's an example, Manchester Road before road widening in 1965. The old bloke is Gara Pickles whose father used to sell spring water door to door before the mains were installed. My old barn is there and some of my heifers grazing in the croft of Hey Farm. As I say, I had that sense of recording 60 years ago. Definitely a forgotten corner.

[Big Kev]

Agreed but to keep it simple I have three categories, Wood, Metal and Plastic. I think plastic covers this one for most people.
David, I have been doing record shots in the town now for 60 years. No real scheme but all archived. That's why I can usually pull up a then and now pic when required. It's so easy with modern fast computers and big hard drives.



Here's an example, Manchester Road before road widening in 1965. The old bloke is Gara Pickles whose father used to sell spring water door to door before the mains were installed. My old barn is there and some of my heifers grazing in the croft of Hey Farm. As I say, I had that sense of recording 60 years ago. Definitely a forgotten corner.

I have the shot of the 'newly' widened road somewhere, taken by the engineer who did the job. I'll dig it out.

[Stanley]

Can't have too many Kev!

[Stanley]

I was thinking about my dad yesterday and this pic came to mind. The Home Guard was always the butt of a lot of humour but in fact was a well organised, hard working body of men, First formed as the Land Defence Volunteers this was soon traduced to 'Look Duck and Vanish' and perhaps for that reason soon had a name change. Today it is usually Known as Dad's Army thanks to the TV series. It was followed after the war by Civil Defence which grew out of the Air Raid Precautions organisation of wardens and I always thought it was a mistake to abolish them in 1968. (LINK) I can think of many circumstances where such an organisation of volunteers could still be useful but unfortunately they, like the Home Guard, are now a forgotten corner.

[Tizer]

In that motoring book I'm reading I've reached the chapter on WW2 and learn the important unofficial role the Home Guard played in keeping vehicles on the road (among other things). As well as military vehicles, there were the emergency ones and also those used by people like doctors, vets and civilian officials. The Home Guard members included people from various backgrounds and trades and they acted as a conduit for a lot of material and information. If petrol was needed, or new brake pads or some welding had to be done, for example, they'd know where to acquire it or to get the job done. They kept the country running behind the scenes!

[Stanley]

That still happens today. Much of my writing about Barlick is centred round the fact that we grew into a very self-sufficient place by the mid twentieth century. There were very few skills or services that couldn't be found in the town. That's a forgotten corner now aided and abetted by the government who see centralisation as efficient when it is anything but. A crisis like the present pandemic highlights the failings of central planning and the efficiency of local resources. Question is will this lesson stick and be remembered? I doubt it, Westminster sees control as the important principle and devolving responsibilities to local systems beyond their control is anathema. Hence the starving of local politics of funding and the moves towards 'Unitary Authorities'.
Local autonomy and a wide spread of resource in the town, any small town, is a forgotten corner.

[Tizer]

Hence the starving of local politics of funding and the moves towards 'Unitary Authorities'.

That's happening here. The plan is to merge the local district councils with the Somerset County Council. Locals and local councillors are not happy but the present shortage of funds and the need to cut costs will drive it through.

[Stanley]

Too true Peter and if you read PE you will find plenty of instances where setting up the new authorities is seen as an opportunity to make money, particularly in the field of outsourcing services to local firms. Too often councillors are directors of the ones that get contracts and there seems to be a lack of competition and scrutiny.
I am sure there was an element of opportunism in the 19th century councils that guided Barlick through its big expansion. We even had a loose fraternity who were called 'The Forty Thieves' and Harold Duxbury once admitted to me that there used to be some truth in that but I think even they would have baulked at the costs and salaries involved today. Pro Bono work for the community by Councillors is, in many places, a forgotten corner.
I don't think Barlick is too bad in that respect but we too suffer the effects of outside reformation efforts as Ian has pointed out.
It used to work the other way round. When Conservative Ribble Valley suddenly found it had a Labour MP because the fast growing district of Nelson was included it it they dropped Nelson like a hot potato, split the constituency and regained Tory control in the valley.

[Stanley]

Many years ago I used to be puzzled by signs I saw all over the country showing the route to 'Buffer Depots'.
"From French dépôt, from Old French depost, from Medieval Latin dēpositum, from Latin, participle of dēpōnō, dēpōnere. Doublet of deposit. "
I eventually found out that these were government supply depots containing emergency supplies that could be used in any national emergency. In the case of perishable items they were constantly rotated to ensure they were useful.
Old Colners will remember that there used to be an enormous pile of scrapped looms on a piece of spare land near the railway viaduct. Owned by Rushworth's, the engineering firm that became a major player in the scrap trade with the closure of mills it was disliked by the old textile workers as it was a constant reminder of the death of an industry. I remember there was particular revulsion when the firm put a Union Flag on it when the Queen visited the town in 1955.
During my researches I found out the real reason for the pile. It was a stock of textile cast iron financed by the government as a reserve in case it was ever needed for national defence manufacture. There were many such reserves all over the country.
All these measures were abandoned as we moved into more settled times and the need for precautions like this receded. Like the Civil Service, this strategy became a forgotten corner.



I found this poor pic on the net of the loom pile.

[chinatyke]

Old Colners will remember that there used to be an enormous pile of scrapped looms on a piece of spare land near the railway viaduct. Owned by Rushworth's, the engineering firm that became a major player in the scrap trade with the closure of mills it was disliked by the old textile workers as it was a constant reminder of the death of an industry. I remember there was particular revulsion when the firm put a Union Flag on it when the Queen visited the town in 1955.

When I was 4 to 10 years old I lived in the next street to that pile and we'd sneak into Rushworth's yard at night. We knew the crane well. Happy days living and playing in the slums of Colne!

[Stanley]

They made a lot of money out of scrapping mills. George Rushworth owned a lot of land round Whitemoor and ended his days when he was found dead face down in a stream on the moor. Theory was he was having a pee and had some sort of fainting episode, water only a few inches deep but the cause of death was drowning.
He was once refused a drink at the Greystone pub, Bob, the landlord had gone to bed as there were no customers. George was so mad he told Bob he'd buy the pub and evict him. He did. He bought the pub but never evicted Bob and his wife and when he died there was a clause in his will that they had to keep the tenancy as long as they wanted it. It wasn't until Bob died that another firm bought the pub and converted it to a restaurant and road house.