FORGOTTEN CORNERS

[Stanley]

Viv Barnett, landlady at the Greyhound in 1977.

[Stanley]

Daughters Susan and Janet on a visit in 2014. It was to be the last time I saw them both together in Barlick.
"We know not the hour".

[Stanley]

Heavy horse judging Sutton Coldfield Show 1976.

[Stanley]

Clyde, North Carolina, USA. 1980

[Stanley]

A marker stone from the Vietnam era seen in Clyde NC. The only such memorial I ever saw in rural America.

[Stanley]

John Plummer and Stanley doing an after hours repair of the pipework on the boiler at Bancroft Shed in 1977. Without this the mill would not have been able to run the following day. All forgotten now.

[Stanley]

Peter Birtles, managing director at Bancroft Shed supervising his heavy gang before going home to Stockport. John and I finished at about midnight and started on time the following morning. Those were the days! Long gone and forgotten now....

[Stanley]

The Weir steam injector pump at Bancroft Shed. All UK based land boilers had to have an alternative way of feeding water to the boiler if the normal pump failed. The most popular was the Weir pump because it was absolutely reliable. We tested it once a week by using it as a substitute for the electrically driven Pearn Pump and it never failed.

[Stanley]

Coal stock at Bancroft Shed in 1978. We always had a stock of coal in the yard to give us a cushion in case of industrial dispute or bad weather damaging our productivity.

[Stanley]

When we had a coal delivery at Bancroft there was always a couple of tons that needed shovelling into the bunker to enable the door to be closed for the night. When I had got this image I laid the camera down, picked up my shovel and helped John. I'd like this fair sharing of labour to be known.

[Stanley]

Whenever we got the chance, for instance at September Holidays, we would drain the dam and leave it with the clow open so that the water of the Gillian's Beck running through would quietly cut silt out and send it downstream. Done like this there could be no complaints because we were only letting it go forward at the same speed it had built up.The greater the volume of water in the dam, the more efficiently we could cool the economisers and the higher our thermal efficiency.

[PanBiker]

Probably a forgotten corner unless you are an Australian. Post WWII social history covered in song. This is the Australian band The Waifs, you have to listen to the words.

[Tripps]

I like a "story song" but if I relied on my ears - I'd never get it.
I've a vague idea that I've heard of it though. Did it end well?
Eaiser to read the words

A telegram arrived today,
It is time to catch the Monteray,
'cause' the man I wed' he waits for me,
And the daughter that he's yet to see,
The U.S navy beamed its message,
We'll deliver brides on a one way passage,
It made big news across the nation,
The bridal train leaves from perth station,
All the girls around Australia,
Married to a yankee sailor,
Your fare is paid across the sea,
To the home of the brave,
And the land of the free,
From west to east the young girls came,
All aboard the bridal train,
It was a farewell crossing of their land,
She's gone to meet her sailor man,
no time for sad good byes,
She held her mother as she cried,
Then waited there in the freo rain,
To climb aboard the bridal train,
Well she was holding her future in her hand,
A faded photo of a man,
Catch a sailor if you can,
The war bride leaves her southern land,
All the girls around Australia,
Married to a yankee sailor,
Your fare is paid across the sea,
To the home of the brave,
And the land of the free,
From west to east the young girls came,
All aboard the bridal train,
It was a farewell crossing of her land,
She's gone to meet her sailor man,
this is the story of those starry nights,
Through desert plains and city lights,
Through burning sun, and driving rain,
She wept aboard the bridal train,
All the girls around Australia,
Married to a yankee sailor,
Your fare is paid across the sea,
To the home of the brave,
And the land of the free,
From west to east the young girls came,
All aboard the bridal train,
It was a farewell crossing of their land,
She's gone to meet her sailor man,
***********
Synopsis

In a 2007 interview with Andrew Denton, Vikki Thorn explained the song:
"Yeah, my grandmother was a war bride, after the Second World War. She met Bob Cain, he was an American sailor. And they met in Perth, and after a very brief engagement, married and then he was sent away. She received a telegram at about midnight one night, saying eh pack your things, there’s a train, ah the US Navy is chartering a train to take ah war brides to Sydney, and from Sydney you can board a ship, and we’ll take you to America to be with your husbands, and I just wonder how those women must have felt as they were journeying across their country possibly for the last time you know to go and live in this, in this new place and you know with children, and you know I was…I get a bit emotional still when I sing that song."[2]

[PanBiker]

You have nailed it there David.

I wonder if Cathy has knowledge of this despite being a later arrival to Australia?

[PanBiker]

It's that time of year again and I hope this is not a forgotten corner, certainly wont be in Australia and New Zealand. 110 years ago. Lest we forget.

Eric Bogle originally from Scotland but an émigré to Australia as young man. Lyrics included in this video.

[Tripps]

I've got that on a record by Mike Harding. It's still a hard listen. . . .

[Cathy]

Re The Bridal Train song (released in 2004).
I recognise the singers voice, but not the song. Enjoyed the song, a bit sad tho.