THE FLATLEY DRYER

[Stanley]

In the 1940s in Stockport the 'Corporation' reigned supreme. In those days it was a Metropolitan Borough and the councillors controlled everything. Stockport Town Hall was a magnificent Wren-like structure, always reminded me of a wedding cake!



Contrast that power with today's regime. Mind you it's part of the Manchester Metropolitan Area now and under the new regime has a lot more control.

[PanBiker]

Venue for the Swing Cat's Ball, an event we have attended on a few occasions. Magnificent main hall, perfect for a big band and 600 jiving and Lindy couples.

[Stanley]

A wonderful example of the municipal self-confidence of those days Ian.
Flock wall paper came to mind yesterday.... Can you remember when every Chinese restaurant was decorated with it? It gave rise to conspiracy theories that the uniformity of design and decoration was evidence that they were a fiendish Chinese plot to undermine British values. Ludicrous now but at the time it was a widely held opinion. Nevertheless an executive of a wall paper company told me it killed a very promising market for it in the UK.

[Stanley]

I was thinking about communications and how things have changed. I the days when I was on the tramp (finding my own loads and going wherever they took me) I was usually away from home during the week. I could usually get a load at weekend which meant I could spend a day with the family but we had no telephone and when I set off, usually on Sunday evening, I was out of touch. I always used to tell Vera not to worry because no news was good news and bad news travels fast! They were hard years and one consequence is that when someone mentions a name in Barlick and says "You must know so and so" I have to tell them that despite living in Barlick for over 50 years I spent that much time away that whilst I recognise people, I know nothing about them.
How different it is today! Cell phones mean that everyone is on the end of a piece of string 24X7! In those days, when I set off I was captain of my own ship and nobody, not even my boss Billy, could get hold of me. That suited me down to the ground and I don't think I could get on at all with today's regime......

[PanBiker]

I have been in Barlick longer than you Stanley, being born in the town, but have a similar problem. Apart from the last few years with part time jobs I have never worked in the town. I knew a lot more people and houses in Earby in my first 20 years of work. Then my employment took me to Colne for 10 years and then Burnley for another 10. An added annoyance is that I can be vexed if asked where some of the newer developments are. There are streets in Barlick that I know nothing about as they have all been built while my back was turned.

[Stanley]

I know the feeling Ian. Despite having spent so long researching the town I still have to look up some of the more obscure street names..... Mind you, there is another side to it. I have spent so much time roaming round the mainland that I have a seemingly unlimited store of knowledge about places from Lands End to John O' Groats that can surprise at times.

[plaques]

In some respects Barlick is lucky that very little has changed that is up to now. New housing and street names may be a problem for the 'oldies' but there are still a lot of old places to fall back on. I've just started my own 'reminiscing' write up of Rosegrove, (Burnley) from about 1945-55, virtually every factory. wharf, church/chapel, School, Cinema, Pub and the larger shops Co-op, Redman's etc has either been demolished or converted to housing or small retail outlets. Sad but that's life. Just try making a list of what Barlick has 'lost' and you will know what I mean.

[Stanley]

Constant change P. Barlick's biggest accidental benefit was that being an outlier it was never the subject of the 1950s 'improvements' by re-developing. The 'sub-standard' back to backs and small cottages survived and are now some of the most sought-after properties in the town.
In many larger towns the Luftwaffe was, in the end, the trigger for rebuilding. We escaped that as well. The only redevelopment I don't regret is the replacement of the jerry built slum housing. Some terrible crimes against humanity were perpetrated when workers housing was being thrown up during the Industrial Revolution. One of my strongest memories is the smell of a bombed out slum property after a light shower of rain. A funny, earthy, sooty repellent smell that has always stuck in my mind....

[Stanley]

Some of the happiest times of my life were spent in Bradbury's cycle shop at Moor Top. I'd be about 11 or 12 years old. It was run by an old reprobate called Sid who on reflection, had had a colourful life on the outer edges of criminality in Manchester. I picked this up from the stories he told me. I helped him do cycle repairs in the wooden shed at the back and learned a lot, especially about the art of lacing a bike wheel up with new spokes and truing it in the frame we had mounted on the bench. When I got my replacement Raleigh Clubman bike in about 1949, helped by Sid I soon upgraded it with dérailleur gears, Italian hubs and new wheels with Michelin racing tyres. It wasn't a bad frame and by the time I had finished it was a very passable 'racing' bike. That was the time I became a bookie's runner, a heavy smoker and a very fit young rider as well as a useful cycle mechanic. A strange combination when you think about it.....

[Stanley]

My first bike was a Royal Enfield 'sit up and beg'.



This was the logo. We used to add ....and twice as heavy! The top bar of the frame broke after a crash and a brazed repair filed so it was restrained with a plug of wood driven into it. In the end my dad gave in and bought me the Raleigh.......

[PanBiker]

Same with the motorbikes my first bike was a 1958 single cylinder 250 Royal Enfield Crusader. Built like a tank, I bounced it down the road once at about 60mph, I was a lot more broken than the bike, just a lever bust on that.

[Stanley]

You've reminded me of the bike I once saw in a little wooden shed in the Lake District many years ago. I think it was at Gilpin Mill. The bloke and his son had built it from scratch using a big JAP engine. They took it to Bonneville to try it out! I remember it had one of those star washer and fibre disc adjustable shock absorbers on the steering to damp out speed wobble.... The man took me for a ride round the lanes and it was terrifyingly fast!

[Tizer]

Royal Enfield is now owned by an Indian car manufacturer and the bikes are popular over there for their robust build. Joanna Lumley had a ride on the pillion of one in the recent TV series of her touring India. LINK

[Stanley]

I once rebuilt an old British engine for a canal boat (I forget the make) and was surprised when the owner supplied good quality replacement parts made in India where the originals are still made.

[Stanley]

The name of that Indian engine was nattering me so I went for a search. It was a Petter diesel and here's a LINK to the company that still makes them. The parts we got were excellent quality as well, nothing inferior about them at all. Like the hydraulic rams, there is still a market for good older technology. A lot of these modern engines run on vegetable oil!

[Stanley]

The back boiler in the domestic open fire was surprisingly efficient at getting a cylinder full of hot water but was a nuisance when the fire had to be lit in summer. I can remember when we had our first electric immersion heater which was a boon, no fire or damper to tend and always on, hot water at any time. Are they still used or too expensive in energy usage these days....?

[Bodger]

Still use sink // bath immersion along with Stanley solid fuel

[Tizer]

When we had a new HW cylinder a few years ago it included an immersion heater in case the CH boiler failed. Cylinders are much better insulated now so they don't use as much energy, therefore they wouldn't use as much leccy as in the past. But leccy is still about 4 times more expensive per unit energy than gas.

[Stanley]

There is a lot to be said for the HW cylinders with a heat transfer coil in them connected to the boiler. On demand gas systems with no cylinder are very wasteful as everything has to be heated before you get the hot water at the tap. That's why I took the handle off the hot tap in the kitchen.....

[Big Kev]

On demand gas systems with no cylinder are very wasteful as everything has to be heated before you get the hot water at the tap.

I have to disagree with you there, the 'on demand' combi boiler will only heat the hot water you use. It takes a lot of energy to heat the water in a cylinder and then you may not use it all. I noticed a significant drop in gas usage going from a conventional boiler and cylinder to a combi. The extra space freed up by not having a cylinder and cold water storage tank was a bonus too.

[chinatyke]

...are very wasteful ... That's why I took the handle off the hot tap in the kitchen.....

Honestly Stanley! If you only wear one sock a pair lasts twice as long!

[PanBiker]

Yes our Worcester Bosch Combi Plus is on demand you only have to wait for whatever is in the pipe to clear. On energy provision the gas is by far the lesser of the two tariffs, it's frightening watching the monitor with the toaster, kettle, microwave, I have moved it out of the kitchen so I don't have to watch it.

[Tizer]

Kev wrote: ` the 'on demand' combi boiler will only heat the hot water you use.' Doesn't it have a small tank that is kept heated so that you get hot water immediately?

[Big Kev]

Kev wrote: ` the 'on demand' combi boiler will only heat the hot water you use.' Doesn't it have a small tank that is kept heated so that you get hot water immediately?

Mine doesn’t...

[Tizer]

Do you have a back up for hot water if the electricity supply fails? For example, an electric shower?