FORGOTTEN CORNERS

[PanBiker]

This is the correct place to report anything that is LCC related. Even stuff that Pendle Borough are responsible for such as footpaths, stiles etc. Any reported faults are directed to the relevant folk that fix them. Works for everything regardless of who's responsibility it is.

LCC - Report It.

[Stanley]

Funny how I managed to get the fault logged even though I did everything 'wrong'. Now let's see if any of the lights get fixed!



The Corn Mill in 1982. Lots of things have changed. We have lost the gasholders of course, they were still being used when I did this pic. Another thing that has changed but isn't evident from the image is that you could still get a bag of hen grub or pig nuts at the Corn Mill. I think Hoyle's were still just about in business. If they weren't, they had been shortly before. The corn mill stopped milling corn for flour long before, probably as soon as the canal reached the town. From then on it was a retailer of flour but not a miller. They concentrated entirely on animal feed.

[Big Kev]

Funny how I managed to get the fault logged even though I did everything 'wrong'. Now let's see if any of the lights get fixed!

Have LCC acknowledged the fault or just the Fixmystreet website?

[Stanley]

"Highways Service, Customer Access Service, Lancashire County Council"
These people responded by sending me an email. Is that good enough?

[Stanley]

Take your pick, 'Stick No Bills' or 'All stray dogs will be shot'. This notice was on a barn door belonging to Horton Hall and stood on the edge of the Green. I picked the milk up in Horton each morning and there was always something of interest down there.



Dick Lancaster from Paradise was perhaps my favourite ('Small wife large family') On this day he had come with me down the country for a load of hay. George Heaton on the Green was always late and used to bribe me almost every morning with a pot of tea and a bacon butty! His wife was a much loved teacher in Barlick. John Thwaite at Horton House considered himself superior to everyone else, it was him who had the notice on his barn door.
I hope it's still a forgotten corner and hasn't been changed too much.

[Stanley]

Paradise Farm, Horton in Craven in 1969. Dick and I had just landed back with the load of hay and we were about to unload it helped by his live-in farm man. Two things about the image. I can't remember when I last saw a full load of hay or straw in small bales. This was the standard load with small bales, eight courses would fit under most railway bridges, on some roads you could get away with a rider on top but not many. You might think this load looks a bit untidy, that's quite usual for hay bales, straw bales are usually more square and tidier so you can make a better looking load. Hay bales are softer as well and it isn't as easy as it looks to load eight courses and keep them straight on the flat!
Dick had a live-in farm man and this wasn't unusual in those days. It was a lot easier to deal with the early starts on farms in those days if you lived in, especially on dairy farms.



This was how business was done then. Dick signing the cheque for the haulage in his office.

[Stanley]

Today's forgotten corner is not local and very few people will ever have heard of it. Scuderia Manning was a one man band run by Harry Manning. He specialised in Lancia cars insofar as he ran the Lancia club and Lancia in Milan used to ask his advice about the more complicated aspects of maintaining and repairing their cars! They even included Harry's advice in their instruction books.
I was introduced to Harry by my mate Roger Perry when he sold me my first Fulvia. Roger said that anyone who had an old Lancia needed Harry and he was right!



Three Lancias at Roger's cottage near Diss in 1984. Mine is the red Fulvia at the front. I was down there to put Roger's Stratos back together again so he could go and play silly buggers at Silverstone with the Stratos Owners club. Having one of the classic Lancias in those days was like belonging to an exclusive club. Only fools and romantics attempted to run them. There was always something wrong with them but despite that anyone with a soul who has driven one of the old ones will tell you it was breathtaking.
When I got this Fulvia I rang Harry Manning and asked him if he could look up the chassis number for me. Notice it's an 'R' registration. It turned out to be in the last batch of Fulvias ever imported from Italy. Happy days, on a good day driving one was pure bliss!

[PanBiker]

Mine is the red Fulvia at the front.

That's like a Ted Lowe description for a Pot Black snooker tournament when that was shown in black and white.

[Stanley]

Yes! But at least you know now what colour it was.
That was my second Fulvia, I ran the one I bought off Roger until the bodywork was falling to bits. I got the red one for scrap price even though it was so young because a seal had blown in the engine that demanded a complete and very expensive strip down. That didn't bother me because I had a superb power unit and gear box in the old one. It burned no oil. So I got my men to scrap the old car and put the power unit in the 'new' one. As we had it out I thought it would be a good idea to put a new friction disc and pressure unit in the clutch with a new tail bearing. The lads rang me and said I'd better have a look while they had it split. After I saw it I rang Roger and told him the flywheel was like a lace curtain! It had holes drilled all over it. Roger said he always knew there was something about that engine but didn't know what it was. He said it was an engine that had been rally tuned by Lancia. He said all the pistons and connecting rods would be weighed and matched and all the other internal clearances taken to the minimum. This is why it did so many miles. That's today's forgotten corner for me.



The first Fulvia at the New Garage where it had gone to be scrapped. RIP!

[Stanley]

Forgotten corners can surface in very unexpected places. I have just read an account of the building of the Whitelees Engine at Ellenroad and according to that it was mainly the work of a man who never came near it. Very strange how 'truth' and 'facts' can shift over the years. Ah well! I suppose that's what happens when you get old and become one of the forgotten men.

[Stanley]

Dr John Wilfred Pickard taking his ease at Hey Farm while I serviced his camper van for him in 1976. John Wilfred was what used to be a stock character in any small town like Barlick, the slightly eccentric but well loved local General Practitioner. Earby had Dr Jagoe! There are many stories about these men but it struck me, thinking about our modern circumstances, there is no room now for 'characters' and 'eccentrics' in the modern medical profession. I'm afraid men like these are forgotten corners.

[PanBiker]

Dr Robertson, (JD) was my doctor from being a kid and became our family doctor when Sally and I got married. He took the trouble to read all of Sally's medical records when she was first pregnant with our Carla, she was an off cummed un being from Carleton. He found out that she had never had German Measles and so ordered up and organised plasma injections for her. He had experienced the effects that German Measles had on the children of unprotected mothers before. He came to Barlick during the war and spent his entire career looking after Barlick folk.

June 30th 1944

There is a large advertisement on the front page of the local paper:

A MAN'S LIFE MAY DEPEND ON YOU

Enrol for the "SECOND FRONT" as a volunteer Blood Donor
at the First Aid Post
Bethesda Sunday School
Blood Transfusion Sessions will be held
3.00 - 5.00pm and 6.00 - 8.30pm

July 7th 1944

There is a report about the excellent response to the Blood Donors appeal. A total of 121 pints were collected from the donors that attended. R.N.V.R. Surgeon Lieut. Craig acted as Medical Officer in charge, with local Dr. J.D. Robertson in control of the First Aid Post.

[Tizer]

All that about Scuderia Manning and the Lancia enthusiasts had direct parallels with Alfa Romeo. In the 1980s we bought a beautiful white 1600cc Giulia GT Junior coupe from Richard Banks in Norfolk who was the leading Alfa restorer in the UK. A lovely car to drive, with a sweet revving engine and slick gear change. Many of his restored cars were raced by their owners. I did a quick google and found that he's still at it, now with his sons Maxim and Andrew in a business called Alfaholics Alfaholics Our car was the coupe version of the convertible shown at the bottom of that page. An Alfa restorer called Richard Norris was in with Banks at the start of Alfaholics but after 4 years set up his own business called Classic Alfa. There are lots of good photos on that company's web site and details of personnel: Classic Alfa I like the bit about Fred Baker, now in his 90s, who helps them part-time and has owned his 2000 GTV since 1974!

[Stanley]

They were sub-cultures that very few people ever knew about Peter. The entry fee was owning one of the cars and once you did that you had full privileges. Funny thing was that none of the people that ran them ever got wealthy. It was as though making money wasn't the object of the exercise.
And yes, Alfas were in the same league as Lancia.

[Tizer]

I remember us going to a meeting of classic Italian cars in London, I think at Syon Park. It was the first time we saw the Fiat 500 Abarth racers lined up with boots open, ready to go! Pocket rockets! Cars like these (photos form the Web)...

[Stanley]

My mate Roger had one of them for a town car but I have an idea it had an even more powerful engine in it which started life in a Haflinger off road vehicle. (LINK) He had great fun burning off expensive sports car owners at traffic lights. It was so light and powerful that it was unbeatable from a standing start.

[Wendyf]

I loved my bright yellow Fiat 500.

[Big Kev]

I tried getting in one once...

[Wendyf]

I have a photo somewhere of my brother driving mine with his head out of the sun roof.

[Big Kev]

I have a photo somewhere of my brother driving mine with his head out of the sun roof.

A sun roof would have definitely helped me

[Stanley]

I was thinking about you this morning Wendy as I went for my second walk.





How would this suit? It is beautifully finished inside and has brooches on the safety belts! The Fiat Bee Happy.

[Wendyf]

The modern ones are about 3 times the size of the originals, and I bet you don't have to double declutch..... My 2 favourite cars have been Fiats, the 500 and later my Panda 4 wheel drive which was a wonderful little workhorse for me. Sadly, both rotted away very quickly and Colin has always put his foot down hard when I have gazed longingly at them since.

[Wendyf]

The only photos I can find of my 500 are slides and I don't have access to a suitable scanner at the moment.

[Tizer]

I can't see the head rests on that modern white Fiat but most of them seem to have circular head rests rather than the usual shape.

[Stanley]

Thinking about forgotten corners and cars brings the East Lancs Road back to me. I doubt if it's even called that now but in 1934 it was the first modern inter-city road in Britain. (LINK)
I suppose I was a normal child and was always fascinated by the conversations of adults. I can still remember things that were said. I can remember discussions about whether the roundabouts on the road were 'safe'. I have an idea it was the first time they were extensively used on one route. The road was prone to fog and there were lots of accidents due to speed and bad visibility. I remember in particular the drivers of American trucks during the war had to be educated, they had never seen roundabouts before. Incidentally the GM six wheelers they drove had single line air brakes which were so much better than ordinary brakes that they had to have a notice displayed on the rear, red lettering on a white background: 'Danger Air Brakes'. A common complaint was that the road 'was too straight'. I can remember my dad once describing it as 'a good 50mph road'.