THE FLATLEY DRYER

[Tizer]

My father's handloom weaving ancestors lived in several different houses in the terrace along the road called Seven Acre Brook which runs from Lammack, Blackburn, to Ramsgreave and Mellor. The Cottontown web site has the following information about them:
Seven Acre Brook, 213-255 Lammack Road SD 672 303
An important terrace of cottages built between c1808 and c1825. The deeds of one suggest that these were "Club Houses" erected by a terminating building society. Handloom weaving of silk and cotton persisted here until at least 1881. Physical and documentary evidence indicates 19 original dwellings, 10 single fronted with probable rear loomshops, and 9 double fronted with triple windows. The "steps" do not appear to represent the larger houses as Numbers 213 and 215 are probably unaltered, while 251 and 251A are an early 20th century conversion of a double fronted house.
The best surviving examples of the triple window type are Number 227, which retains two of its loomshop windows, and Numbers 233-37. Evidence of alteration can be found at a number of houses, including Numbers 229, 231, 223, 221 and 219.

What were `club houses' and how did building societies work 200 years ago?

[Stanley]

'Club Row' at Townhead in Barlick. Built in 1828 by the Barnoldswick Friendly Society. The Friendly societies were the working class response to the abolition of trade unions under the Combination Act of 1825. (LINK) It wasn't until 1871 that Unions became legal again. They were set up on similar lines to the Masons (Many used regalia and ritual) and used membership subscriptions to build up a fund which could pay death,sick and unemployment benefit. As their capital stock increased some built houses for rent, Club Row in Barlick is an excellent example and included a shop from the outset. Forester's Buildings in Barlick is another example.
Some of these societies were closed to new membership late in the 19th century after Unions became legal again and were converted to Tontines. This meant that the last member left standing inherited the assets and could liquidate them thus abolishing the organisation. Existing organisations like the Buffaloes, Lions and Foresters stem from the same social movement as did many of the old Building Societies.



Here's the membership scroll of one such society which was converted to a Tontine. A friend of mine is the youngest member and I do not know whether he has collected yet!
By the way, not visible on the pic, the top-hatted man is asking the labourer "Have you got the pass?". This was the password given to time served Journeymen when they were admitted to the society and acted as an introduction to affiliated societies as he travelled looking for work.

[Tizer]

The Club Row cottages look similar to the Seven Acre Brook ones that I mentioned above. I took this photo in 2004; it shows the least modernised one of the Seven Acre row but we can see that the windows were relatively large, it's double-fronted and it has the fancy portico. My ancestors were handloom weavers and didn't want to move into town and into the mills so in the late 1800s some switched to rearing hens and another moved into town and trained as a draper. The ones rearing the hens made the best decision - they were well placed to take advantage of the boom in chicken meat when it came. Of course it will surprise many people now that we didn't eat chicken in any significant amounts until after 1900.



In the late 1940s, early 1950s, my grandma lived in a cottage on Furthergate, Blackburn, similar to the Furthergate one shown in this photo. It had a front room with a range, a room at the back divided in two by a low wall with the kitchen one side and the coal storage area on the other. There was a yard at the back with a couple of outside lavatories to service the row of houses. The other side of the yard was a factory that had doors leading in from the yard. When grandma was there it was the Scholes Rostron `pop' factory but I'm sure it must have been a weaving shed or spinning mill before that.



My Uncle George was a member of the Royal Order of Buffaloes and I have this photo of him with other members at a meeting. He was born, raised and worked in Blackburn but the photo could have been showing a meeting in another town. I didn't get this photo until after he'd died and none of us know exactly when or where it was. He's the young man with dark hair and dark suit standing just to one side of the RAOB sign. He was born in the early 1940s 1920s so I'm guessing this photo was taken in the early 1950s perhaps.

[Stanley]

The two blokes at each end of the front row appear to be wearing remnants of some sort of regalia.

[PanBiker]

Must be later than that Tiz, if he was born in the 40's he looks to be in his twenties which would put the photo early 60's. Looks earlier though with the fashion. There is an interesting bloke right of centre on the second row down as well as the guys on the front row.

[Tizer]

Thanks for finding my error, Ian - I should have written `early 1920s' and I've struck the original out and added the correct version. Yes, there are some oddly dressed characters in the photo!

I'd not been able to work out what all the words and numbers are on the sign in the photo. Here's a clip from the original which is a bit better resolution. Under the `RAOB' is what I assume to be the name of the lodge, then the word `Lodge' below it. It looks a bit like Roberts or Robartes but google searches don't link those names with RAOB lodges.

[PanBiker]

Looks something like Roverestates, I think the last bit is estates not sure about the first bit, could be River.

[Tizer]

I've now found that the letter after the RAOB are GLE and stand for Grand Lodge of England. I've mailed the RAOB using their online and asked if I can send them the photo so they can try and identify the location for me.

[Stanley]

I've always been slightly suspicious of men gathering in groups especially when it involves ritual and regalia. The vicar of St Paul's church on Heaton Moor where I was in the choir, Alfie Jeff, was a prominent Mason and we sang for their services. I was fascinated by all these old men wearing their regalia. I still wonder about them and what drives them to differentiate themselves from the herd......

[Stanley]

They tell us that we live in a wonderful era where new technologies are making life easier for all of us. It's easy to support this view by examples of everything from improved domestic white goods and labour saving appliances and the advances in automatic systems that run our essential government and public services. If this is true, why is it that we live in an age where insecurity and uncertainty about the future dominates our lives? Take one simple example, transport. After 50 years of 'improvements' we still have congested roads and a rail system that gets more and more expensive as the level of service drops. How is this making life easier?

[Tizer]

...I still wonder about them and what drives them to differentiate themselves from the herd......

I know what you mean and I feel the same. I don't know why my Uncle George would have got involved with the RAOB. He was a lovely man, everybody liked him and he was known far and wide, partly because he frequently sang in the George & Dragon in Blackburn. He loved company and the girls loved him. Perhaps he regarded the RAOB as just another way to meet people but I know he would have been the first to burst out laughing at the mode of dress of some of those men in the photo! One of his sons was in the Lions - he built up his own business and I think he used it as a way to `give something back' via the charitable work.

Having talked about council houses I saw this today...
`North Lanarkshire Council pledges to build 1,000 new homes' LINK

[Stanley]

It's a puzzle Tiz. I suppose some people are 'clubbable' and some aren't. I am a very bad team player.... more a lone wolf! In my experience modern management methods involving invoking 'team spirit' are suspect and do nothing to stop back-stabbing in the politics of the work place. If you are a one man band your back is reasonably safe! I class the cubs and scouts in the same category. I enjoyed my days as a cub scout but when the time to move up to the scouts came I think I was beginning to realise the amount of brainwashing that was going on and soon dropped out.
Funnily enough I don't see the same problems with organisations like the Women's Institute.....

[Tripps]

Snap

[Tizer]

I was a member of several professional scientific and technical societies, UK and American, until I retired and found them very useful and supportive. I learnt a lot from others, especially older members with much practical experience, and made many friends both here and overseas. As well as attending section meetings, lectures and conferences I later organised lectures and one to two day conferences. At one stage two of my women colleagues from work had set up a side line in providing catering for small events so I got them to do it for the evening lectures of one society. The catering became much appreciated by the members, as evidenced when one evening the guest lecturer failed to turn up. It was awkward because we had invited another section to attend that evening. I apologised to them all and invited them, having made their journey into London, to instead enjoy the food and wine. The evening went well and at the end we were congratulated for giving them such a good time!

[Stanley]

The nearest I ever got to that was joining the Bedford Drivers Club!
I've been watching a lot of Youtube to escape from the Olympics.... I watched a fascinating film last nigh from Mercedes showing crank shaft manufacture in their facility in Japan. Stunning automatic machinery but what struck me was that all the machine minders did was push the occasional button and watch the machines working. I know that the shafts will be well nigh perfect but couldn't help thinking that they have taken all the fun out of it! Question.... Are such workers regarded as skilled?

[Bodger]

Staley, no obesity among these guys making chain & anchor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_LA_R4ifYk

[Stanley]

Bodge, you can still see chain making demonstrations at the Black Country Museum in Dudley. They have a Nasmith Hammer in the anchor forge as well but don't demonstrate it very often because of fuel costs. You could eat as much as you liked, you never got fat when working that hard. That's why my weight was constant for so many years no matter what I ate, I was burning it off!

[Stanley]

It takes me three months to fill my large recycling bin and it will be collected this morning. My mind goes back to the days of the old galvanised iron dustbins filled with non differentiated waste and ashes before the days of plastic bin liners. There used to be three men and a driver and the only concession to hygiene was the curved sliding covers over the body of the small wagon. A bin man once told me that the clutches on the wagons wore out very quickly due to the number of stops, no automatic gearboxes or large bodies in those days!

[Stanley]

Where did all the knife-grinders go? In my youth they were common, they had a bike that could be put on a stand and a large pulley on the rim of the back wheel which drove a grindstone mounted where the basket carrier would be on a delivery bike.
When I worked for REW in Rochdale I found that there was a man with a van who had grindstones in the back driven from the van's battery. He made a living regrinding knives for restaurants and butchers.
Ernie Roberts once told me that we had a knife grinder in Barlick who had no stone. He used to pop round the corner and sharpen the knives on a handy kerb or flag stone.

[Stanley]

I was thinking yesterday as I walked up Butts that one big change is that fifty years ago there would have been at least one milk bottle on every doorstep. The last job at night was always to put the washed bottles out on the step ready for early delivery. Barlick used to be swarming with milk chaps but now there is only one. Times change. Just off to the Cathedral of Choice for my milk.......

[Whyperion]

I've been delivering stuff to some supposed wealthy areas of suburban surrey, there were a fair proportion of milk bottles ( and express/dairy crest badged white insulated recepticles ) out on doorsteps (ok porches). I guess early rising for the morning train and that milk, etc can be quite weighty is that the delivery cost is still worth paying for.

[Stanley]

In 1972 when I was King of the Road in Barlick with the biggest wagon I had a Gardner 6LX, the famous 150hp engine that was their flagship engine for so many years. At times I was running at over 32 tons. The lucky ones had the 6LXB which ran slightly faster and gave 180hp. With a few rare exceptions this was the most powerful road haulage engine. By the mid 70s Volvo had introduced the F88 and this had a 240hp engine. This signalled the death of Gardners and many of the old wagon makers.
What's triggered this is that I have just passed the wagon delivering greengroceries to Chaudrey's in the Square. It's a 7 ton wagon and has a 180hp engine..... These modern drivers don't know they are born!

[Stanley]

Cabs as well are a bit better! The first wagon I ever drove had a small packing case with a folded sack on it for a driver's seat.....

[Stanley]

Watching the very public proposals of marriage at the Olympics I was reminded about how different my route was. In 1959 Vera and I had decided that we wanted to tie the knot but her mother Mary Agnes was determined that she should stay at home tipping her wage up until she was 21. I decided to cut the knot, I called in at the vicarage one morning and booked a date for the bans and the marriage. Once I had that I had a word with Bunty at the Coronation and got a quote of 7/6 per head for a wedding reception with one free drink (a good deal even then!). I made sure my mother knew the date and only then did I inform Vera and Mary Agnes! It all turned out OK.

[Stanley]

Remember the Robertson's jams Gollywog? It has made a return as the 'Gollydoll' and raised a storm. We were brainwashed in my youth and saw nothing wrong in black face pier end acts or the gollywog......