FORGOTTEN CORNERS

[Cathy]

.No Stanley you are not wasting your time with these pics, I save quite a few of them.

[Travis]

I don't think you are wasting your time at all, and the photos and information are so interesting to an Offcumden....

[Stanley]

Thanks Kids....



King Street in the snow in 1982. It was a heavy fall.....

[Nolic]

Comrade, if I miss everything else I always look at this topic and What Grabbed Your Attention so please keep them coming. Nolic

[Marilyn]

I enjoy them too...
I was just on the last page looking at the miserable faces in the 1885 pic.
Why the misery I wonder? Historically, 1885 was a prosperous time...plenty of work for both Mum and Dad, and expansion to the town/ mills/housing etc...yet those faces reflect much trouble...any thoughts, Stanley?
( top row look fairly healthy/ normal/ cheeky even...but they get a bit more miserable on the way down! And so many fringes trimmed by Mum...Ha!...one little fellow in the middle looks particularly underfed and under loved.)
Actually, several candidates for future axe murderers there...and possibly Lizze B herself...

[Stanley]

Thanks to both of you. Maz, even in relatively good times there was always poverty, bad health and dirt about. I can remember going down a back street in Stockport just behind the main shopping street, Prince's Street in 1940. It was winter and I saw a child in bare feet and wearing only a vest. My first school, Hope Memorial had part of Brinksway in its catchment area, a notorious slum district and it was quite common for pupils to miss school because their boots or clogs were being repaired. My sister found a letter from the headmistress, Miss Hogg, requesting money for boots from the education authority who evidently had funds for this purpose.



School group pic taken about 1921 in Barlick. Newton Pickles is fifth from the left on the front row. NP was born on March 10th 1916 and he looks about five here so this would be 1921? The school would be Gisburn Road I think. Newton was from a relatively prosperous family but what would a casual observer make of him in this pic?

[Cathy]

I think they all look healthy and happy, lots of chubby cheeks there and it's obvious that their Mum's took pride in them with bow's in the girls hair and all children look warm and well dressed. Most of them look genuinely happy to be having their photo taken.

[Stanley]

I think you're right Cathy. I love the frilly Edwardian blouses the teachers wore. It seemed to be standard uniform as my teachers in 1940 dressed in exactly the same way.



I did this pic of School Lane in Earby in 2003. Anyone got a pic of what it looks like today?
Here's the same scene in about 1900.

[Julie in Norfolk]

The 1911 census finds my grandad age 7 living in Earby at 28 Grove Street. they could only have been there a short while as a younger brother Harry (age 1) was born in Padiham, as were all the rest. To my mind this photo is brilliant, grandad would have seen the view. Thanks Stanley. In fact with the eye of optimism, is he one of those lads?

[Wendyf]

Here's a screen grab from Street View....it's changed a bit!

[Stanley]

I went back in 2002 and did as near as I could the same picture. What interested me was that the leaky gutter on the Con Club in 1900 was still leaking!

[Stanley]

One of the things that has vanished over the years is the ornate ventilators on 19th century buildings. They could be seen on many buildings and chapels in the town and on engine houses as well to reduce temperatures. The original impetus for them was the late 19th century theory that all disease was transmitted in the air and anywhere where large numbers of people congregated had to be well ventilated. Can anyone remember the controls on the wall for the outlets to the ventilators that had a handle which was a cast iron hand holding a gross bar?

[Stanley]

Calf Hall Shed in 1978. Another ventilator, this time on the engine house.

[Stanley]

I can't remember who this is but this is the essential Cub Scout on a visit to Hey Farm in 1977.

[Stanley]

Just as important round here as the Cub Scouts was Kelbrook Young Farmers. They caught them early, here are some of them in 1977.

[Stanley]

Margaret tells me that the girl between her on the right and Janet on the left is Susan Moorhouse.

[Stanley]

I asked the question and Margaret tells me it was Robert Balfour who was the cub scout. The Balfours lived opposite us on Manchester Road when we were at Hey Farm and the kids were great friends.

[Stanley]

Barbara Balfour, Vera and Daniel Meadows in 1976 at the November 5th bonfire in the orchard at Hey Farm. Tri-X was pretty good low light film!

[Stanley]

Clough Yard in 2004

[Stanley]

Monk House in 1984. The outbarn (now a cottage) is still there and the lady's outfitters next door. Only 30 years ago.....

[Stanley]

Chapel Street in 1982. The monkey Puzzle tree is in Edie Barlow's front garden.

[Stanley]

Forgotten corners come in all shapes and sizes. I like my pot of coffee in a morning after the first pint of tea... I used to brew it in a thin Pyrex glass jug that was once part of a coffee machine but a few weeks ago it succumbed to repeated thermal shock and developed a crack round the bottom. More expense! But then I remembered my old brew can sat on the shelf and brought it back into service out of retirement. Just the job and it pleases me that there is still a use for it. By the way, I brew my ground coffee by scalding it with a small amount of hot water and leaving it to mash, then top up with boiling water when you need it.
At one time there were millions of these in use, easy to clean, almost unbreakable and you'd find them in work places and even on the foot-plates of locos on the railway. The contents stay hot for a surprisingly long time and if they are stood on a hot surface for even longer. The lid kept the dust out and served as a cup. One of the most useful pieces of domestic kit ever invented.
I've just remembered another bit of brewing kit that was common. It was a double ended tin with tight slip on lids. One end held tea and the other sugar. It slipped easily in your pocket or bait tin and given boiling water you always had a brew handy. Compare with a Starbuck's Latte for about £4! Times have changed.....

[Stanley]

Christmas 2014 is now officially a forgotten corner. I wonder what we'll see before 2015? Could be an interesting year....

[Stanley]

Brook Street in the 1970s. Completely changed with the demolition of the Ivory Hall club which, in its later days had a very seedy reputation but started life as one of the early Friendly Societies and was a hotbed of Left Wing politics in the 1930s. By the way, my Old Lancia Fulvia sat there grinning, that’s another forgotten corner!

[Nolic]

I wonder if my old cricket wickets were still chalked between the two drainpipes? Nolic