THIS TAPE HAS BEEN RECORDED ON THE 16th OF FEBRUARY 1979 AT YORK HOUSE, THE HOME OF THE INFORMANT ON LINKS ROAD, ST ANNES ON SEA. THE INFORMANT IS GEORGE FORRESTER SINGLETON, RETIRED SENIOR PARTNER IN THE FIRM OF G F SINGLETON AND COMPANY, ESTATE AGENTS, OF BLACKBURN. THE INTERVIEWER IS MARY HUNTER.
Well, Mr Singleton, when I was here last time, we were talking about general things: about family life.
R- Yes.
And what I thought we perhaps might do today in try and see how much you can remember about family life outside the home, social life outside the home perhaps would be a better term, outside the home. Can you remember playing outside the house? Where you played outside the house?
R- Yes. Well now, but what age you see because at nine and a half my family left Darwen and went to St Annes so in my mind they are distinct chapters you see?
Yes well….
R - If you want to know what happened before I left Darwen yes. Well we lived in the residential part of the town near a park and there were many
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open spaces. So we, children of the neighbourhood, played together many of whom went to the same Dame School run by my mother’s aunt, if you remember see?
Yes I do.
R - And so we’d happy times together, and we got plenty of exercise and of course in those days the games, the popular games were Hoop, that’s with a wooden hoop or an iron hoop, and Hopscotch, Marbles, Chequers and Trust was another game and Hide and Seek of course. But we enjoyed ourselves.
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Tell me how you played Chequers.
R - Well Chequers were cubes of about half to three quarter inch and I forget the details but I think we had some form of hopping over like Draughts but that’s about all I can remember. But that, we didn't do much of that but…
But were the cubes numbered?
R- No, they weren't numbered, no.
No. Don’t worry yes. And presumably Hoops, the idea was to follow them along with a stick, yes?
R- Oh the idea, with a stick. A wood stick for a wooden hoop and a piece of iron for an iron hoop you see? Of course the iron hoops were usually played with by the older boys. They were supposed to be superior.
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And I suppose quite a bit heavier?
R - And heavier, yes.
Yes. And that was, you raced with those presumably did you and things like that? Yes. And Marbles, would that be the same game of marbles that's played by the youngsters today?
R - Well there are various ways of marbles. You, in some cases you have a ring, you put them in the centre and take it in turns to knock the marbles out you see? Another way was to take it in turns to see if you could hit a marble from a distance and so on.
Yes. And presumably you were always wearing holes in your pockets from carrying the marbles around.
R – Well, yes. Oh but the marbles were of earthenware.
Oh yes.
R- But there were also better quality marbles known as Glass Allies and Blood Allies. And they, the blood allies were literally made out of marble you see? The glass allies were, contained
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some beautiful designs and coloured. I don’t know how they were made, but they wore highly prized, you see? And then if we were short of a glass ally sometimes, we broke the pop bottles which in those days, at the early days of aeration, the liquid was sealed by pressure from within which, which forced up a marble to the top of the bottle with a rubber ring.
Yes I’ve see them.
R - Well we were, if we were short of marbles we broke the bottles to get the marbles, shame. Or some of the big boys did generally.
Yes. Can you remember any prices of any of these things. Like how much the marbles were or anything like that?
R - No. Too far gone, but they weren't much because our spending money was a ha'penny a week. Then when we, then when we got older we could have a penny a week. But for a penny we could get quite a sizeable quantity of sweets.
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Oh dear, dear.
R - And, and mint balls were a favourite, because they lasted longest.
Just, sort of like a mint gobstopper would? Oh dear. Can you remember if there were any children that your parents thought it better that you didn’t play with? Can you, can you remember ever getting that sort of feeling that they were not happy?
R – No. There was a certain amount of class distinction, according to the income and of the family and the work of the husband or the wage earners. But no, there was no strict line of demarcation, and those who went to Sunday School there were no distinctions. Well dressed, fully dressed, they assembled in their classes irrespective of what their parents did. Which was a very good method of mixing society.
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Yes, I agree. Continuing along the idea of what you did outside the home in your free time, did you go for walks? Can you remember going for, setting out for walks?
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R – Well up to ten years of age I should say no. We did a little foraging round perhaps to within half a mile or sop but with having the park an our doorstep, so to speak, and vacant land at the back of the houses, we were quite happy in our play facilities,
Were you as well situated when you came to Lytham?
R - Well it was St Annes on the Sea we came to.
I beg your pardon yes.
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R- It's all right. There, there were, in those days there were two separate Urban District Councils. [They amalgamated and the district became Lytham St Annes] Well the circumstances were different, but again, St Annes had only been incorporated twenty five years when we came so there were - although the town had been laid out - there were many empty spaces. But we were, we lived within a hundred yard or so of the Parish Church and there were very few houses on the shore aide of the church, and the land was level, sandy subsoil, and we had plenty of scope for games. There were fewer children in the area than at Darwen but we attended both day school and Sunday school immediately and made our friendships accordingly.
Did bicycle rides perhaps feature then in your… perhaps as you grew up a bit?
R - Well bicycles were rare machines in those days and children’s bicycles didn’t exist.
No.
R - I remember my father got one. It was a German make, from Bielefeld.
Fancy you remembering that.
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R- And it had pneumatic tyres, but when there was a puncture, when we had a puncture we had to strip the tyre off and ungum it. It was before the days of the…
Inner tube?
R - The air tube yes.
Yes. And what sort of bike was that? Can you remember?
R - I don’t remember the name but I know it was a German. What kind?
Yes.
R - Oh, my father’s bicycle?
Yes. Whether it was a sort of boneshaker or sit up and beg or...
R- Oh no. It was, shall we say a forerunner of the modern style of bicycle yes..
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Yes. Because during the 1890s and up to I suppose 1920 there was quite an upsurge wasn’t there of bicycle riding and they…
R - Oh yes. Well, I would say from the turn of the century, and particularly with the improvement in tyres brought about by Dunlop.
Dunlop yes.
R - It gave a boost to cycling because punctures were frequent, the quality of the tyre was not good, the roads were not good and there were frequent punctures on the old style of tyre, it became an awful nuisance. But when Dunlop brought his inner tube into the market, it opened up a new field and from then on there were large developments. Yes.
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Yes. It was a big thing wasn't it, for the ladies to go out with their riding habits on?
R- Oh my word, and long dresses you see? And they had dress shields you see so that the dress didn't get in the chain.
Yes ... chain. I think probably there was quite a lot of liberation occurred during that period.
R - Oh yes. Because the ladies who went for, went on bicycles belonged to the avant garde.
Oh yes, very much so. Were you ever sent on berry collecting missions or firewood, or fruit from the country?
R - Well yes. At Darwen we used to go, we collected Whinberry.
Lovely.
R - On the moors.
They are beautiful, aren't they? Any other sort, or was it just Whinberries?
R – No, that's all [that was] available.
Did you have a fire at home? You did, didn't you? Did you have to collect firewood for that, or did you run it off coal?
R – No. Now there was a lot of firewood available from redundant timber from the mills. So we weren't worried on that account no.
There wasn’t really a problem no. And presumably the opportunity to collect things like berries or fruit was even further reduced when you came to St Annes,
R - Yes. I remember one farm in St Annes used to have damson trees but of course at the season we went and bought them for jam making.
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Beautiful jam it makes too. What did your mother do with the Whinberries? Just make them into pies?
R – Yes, that's all.
Making more? Yes. Was anybody a fisher in your family?
R – No.
No fishing done at all. And can you remember if your father had any particular pursuits in his spare time - I realise he didn’t have very much spare time but ..
R - No. Before he was married he took an active part in football.
Did he?
R – Yes. In the early days of the Football Association. It was the cradle of football association, in the valley between Blackburn and Bolton.
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Oh well.
R - Including Turton and Darwen. And the Darwen Football Club was the first provincial club to win the FA Cup.
Well well. When was that? Can you remember?
R – I’ve got all the papers upstairs ..
Upstairs yes. Well, I’m sure somebody will know when the first FA. Cup. Well, if you want to ...
It was, if you'll break off…
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Now you, you fetched all these files and things that you have got here. One specifically on the first year of Darwen Rangers Football Club and you have got another one here that has got examples of the Darwen Cricket and Football Times, and in fact you have got the first copy here. Price 1d. And while we were looking through them we discovered this is in fact, exactly 100 years this week, that the thing started, in fact February 14th was the first issue. Yes. And you, and an interesting comment that you made here was the fact that it looks rather, from looking through the records that the players had to buy their own…
R - Equipment. Shirts and…
Jerseys and things.
R- Yes jerseys. Yes, that's right.
Strip I suppose is the proper word today. And, and that's obviously what you worked out from looking at the records is it? Yes. And how is it that you have come by all this information?
R – Well, my father was the, at one time, the treasurer of the Darwin Rangers Football Club and I came across the papers in the family records.
But this certainly is fascinating reading but we'll never get the tape finished if we go on reading all this. And the other thing we found out was that the match you referred to where Darwen Rangers were the first provincial club to win the F.A. Cup. The match was against the Old Etonians was it? [Season 1878/89]
R- Yes.
Yes, and in fact they obviously had several matches against each other over a period of time.
R- Yes. That’s right, that's true.
Yes. Anyway perhaps we'll leave that for the moment and, and perhaps we might come back to it at another stage. So where we started this was that you said that before your father was married, he had had quite a lot to do with, with the football club.
R - Oh yes, that's right. But after he was married of course he had a young family growing up and he’d also many Church and Sunday School activities so that I don't recall him being a member of any particular sports club at that time
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Presumably while he was treasurer and a full member he played as well did he?
R- Oh yes, he was a playing member. In fact he was captain for a period.
Was he? And do you think he stopped because of his commitments or because he was getting older and therefore didn't feel as fit to play?
R - Well I would think that generally it was his commitments. Business commitments and then getting married which is a natural development.
Yes. So apart from this Sunday school thing he didn’t really pursue any other interests after he was married, probably due to a shortage of time.
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R – No, not sporting interests, no.
No. And you can't remember him having any other hobbies particularly?
R - No.
Did you get a feeling when, perhaps when you were in Darwen that he was out an awful lot?
R - Well, he was. His business took him out of town a good deal. And then his church and social work occupied some of the evenings.
On a regular basis?
R - Yes.
Can you remember your mother having any particular interests in her spare time, if she had any spare time?
R - She had no spare time.
True enough. She didn't help her husband with any of the church or social work?
R- Well, not as such but she was an active member of the church and I remember her taking me to several midweek meetings.
And that was Methodist was it? Yes.
R - Yes.
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Yes. Can you remember if they went out together often or infrequently in fact?
R – No, their interests were family and church.
Yes. So that, so there wasn’t the sort of ... dinner parties or things like that? No?
R – No, there was no social life. No no. Oh no. Most of the social engagements were in connection with the church. Both for concerts or parties, as well as the devotional side. Now the church were pioneers in the use of leisure without a doubt.
Yes. That’s an interesting comment that. That's a very interesting comment.
R- Your question opens up a very big subject, but to put the Victorian Era in a nutshell I think it is summed up in the story of the question put to Queen Victoria by an African Chief as to what was the source of England’s greatness. And she is alleged to have replied "The Bible". Have you heard that one?
No.
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R – Yes. Well now, and amidst the ups and downs of society and life I would say that the great Victorian Era was largely inspired by biblical teaching. Christianity was in the forefront of social service, hospital work, education, and general welfare. And members of all denominations made their contribution. And there were during the reign of Victoria, there were movements for social betterment in many ways - for instance the reform of chimney sweeps, the reform of the corn laws…
Public Health Acts as well.
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R - And Public Health Acts. The establishment of corporate bodies for the conduct of local government, and history will show that there was a gradual improvement. So much so that my impression was as a boy, was that eventually things might as well so develop until we reached the millennium. You see?
Yes. And you still hold with that?
R - Pardon?
You still hold with that?
R - Well I’m still looking forward to it but I think we have got off the rails at the present. And the industrial revolution coupled with the evangelical change brought about by the Wesley had a profound effect on the nation as a whole. And although there were many faults and failings, there was the endeavour to improve the welfare of the peoples as time went on. One of the results of the Victorian effort was the introduction of the Education Act of 1870 which made education compulsory didn't it?
Well, it could, they couldn't actually make it compulsory then. It was to make it available for any child basically.
R - Oh that’s right, yes.
I mean it became compulsory later on.
R – Yes. It became, yes, that’s right. And anyhow, in order to be fair to the Victorians, such facts ought to be set against the difficult conditions under which people lived. Does that cover the point?
Yes. It certainly provides the background to why you feel that the organisation of people's leisure time can be ...
R - Oh yes. Well now, another thing. In the family records I came across a book called 'The Hand of God in History’ published in 1848 which graphically described the events of the years, and indicated the guidance of divine help. Indeed in the Victorian period the British were the
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pioneers in missionary work throughout the world. Looking back, many people criticise them for their somewhat naive approach but without those efforts
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there would not have been the development which is taking place. Now much of the fault of colonialism is not due to missionary work, but due to the camp-followers who took advantage of the ignorance of the natives.
Yes, that’s true.
R- Well, I think that’s a thumb-nail sketch.
I wondered if you felt that the teachings of the Bible had guided people in how they were to spend their leisure time. That’s perhaps what I first thought you meant.
R - Oh, well yes. Yes, for instance Sabbath-breaking was considered to be a sin. Have I told you about my father's skates?
I don't think so, no.
R - Oh, well. My father tells me of an incident when, as a boy he went skating on a Sunday and when it came to his father’s knowledge his father burnt his skates.
Yes. I always remember we couldn’t play cards on a Sunday, or go to, say, the cinema or something on a Sunday, it was never thought of. Yes.
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R – Exactly, it wasn’t thought of. And I’m sure we have lost something in swinging the other way too far. I'm sure of that in my opinion.
So even playing games on a Sunday was breaking the Sabbath was it? When I say playing games I mean things like your hopscotch or things like that?
R- Oh yes. Oh we never thought of it. Oh yes, we never dreamt, we never dreamt of playing any games in our generation. We attended Sunday school as well as church, and I would say that about the 1900 to 1910 period that by far the majority of youngsters in Blackburn would be members of some Sunday School, even in those days. The youngsters had to make their own games, formed their own football clubs, paid 6d each to club up to buy a ball and then hunt round until they found a friendly farmer within reasonable distance, and paid him a small rent for the use of his land in the winter.
Really?
R - Oh yes, We all had, we all had to do it.
That’s, that’s entrepreneur isn’t it?
R- What?
That's high class entrepreneurs isn’t it?
R- Yes, well there was no option if we wanted to play football and that’s what we did. And we changed in the barns you see? And we bought our own goal posts and carried the wood up.
Fascinating.
R- No, that’s only in my lifetime, that was a regular thing before the first world war.
As you grew into your teens was there any opportunity given to any of you to not go to church or was it just never thought of, you all went come hail or sunshine?
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R- Well, what shall I say, it was the custom that we went so we never argued about it. There were occasions when we didn’t go, perhaps we might have visitors, or relatives or the weather but speaking generally we went.
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And you had presumably one church that you went to every week, you didn’t hop around?
R - Oh yes, we were normally regular. Then we, in our later teens we used to visit other churches to see what went on and to meet our friends in those other churches.
So in Darwen the church you went to, can you remember the name of it?
R - Yes. Railway Road Wesleyan Methodist Chapel.
Chapel, sorry, yes.
R - I emphasise the word Chapel, because we were called Non-Conformists
And in St Annes?
R - We went to the Drive Wesleyan Methodist Church at St Annes Sunday school, and also there was a Wesleyan Methodist Mission Room at Church Road before the present building of the church. Before the building of the present church, yes.
On this Church Road down here? Yes?
R- Yes. Where we used to attend, it was nearer than the Drive so it was convenient to attend the Church services, but we went to the Sunday School at the Drive.
And did they, the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel at Darwen, have its own Sunday school?
R - Oh yes.
And they were, sort of in the afternoon were they on a Sunday?
R - Oh they had morning and afternoon.
And you went to both?
R - Well, no. Because, you see, I was only nine and a half when I left so I used to go to the afternoons occasionally.
And presumably, every week, come…
R - Oh yes. Yes it was a regular routine and we met our friends, formed our friendships, and speaking generally they were happy occasions.
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I think you have mentioned actually, when we more looking through some of those files, some of the social events that were organised by the Chapel.
R - Oh yes.
Or Sunday school. Can you remember any of them?
R - Well, my memory for those occasions of course refers to St Annes because you see… Oh yes we had an organisation called the Literary and Scientific Society to which we invited people to give addresses on a variety of subjects and we had occasional musical evenings and parties. So our general entertainment you might say was self supporting.
A self help exercise all the way along the line. Yes.
R – Yes, that’s right.
And did you have, well obviously you wouldn’t have trips to the sea- side when you were at St Annes, you were already at the sea-side, but any trips like that, where you all went on.
R- Oh well, we had an annual Sunday School picnic into the country. I remember one at Reah Green, another at Scorton.
Never heard of those places. In a bus would it be? Or was there such a thing?
R – No, we’d go by train, because the field was just outside Reah Green station, you see? And we changed trains at Preston for Scorton and that was it.
Day out. And did you have a special date at the end of the year or whenever was the Sunday School end of year for presentation of ..
R - Oh yes. We had, attendance was registered on what were known an star cards and each scholar had a card on the inside of which were squares for each Sunday in the year, morning and afternoon. And
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as you entered the school you handed in your card to a star card marker who stamped your card.
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