Friday 13 March 2009

George Hoyles, Cordingleys, Mark Barnes - Haslingden's Char-a-banc & Coach Proprietors




Haslingden has had its private Coach/Charabanc Proprietors in the past. I can just about remember George Hoyle's which was based at Coal Hey at the rear of Lower Deardengate behind the Roebuck Pub. They not only had coaches but also had wagons for Haulage. In fact the wagons where still operating long after the Coaches had finished..








This photo on left is of Trinity Baptist Church on a day outing with a Cordingley's charabanc. All the young chaps are wearing cloth caps!. Another main Coach Proprietor who again doubled as a Haulage Contractor was Mark Barnes & Sons Ltd who had their Office at 313 Blackburn Road, Haslingden and their Coach Excursion booking office at Ratcliffe Street. Their garage was called Clough End Garage and was behind Blackburn Road quite near to Worsley Park, in fact the area is now the base for Grimshaws builders (Noel and Bob). The proprietors of Mark Barnes where Fred Barnes and Fred's sister Mrs. Jenny Garside and Walter Barnes who also had his own coach firm at Rishton. I had my first job here running the office at 313 Blackburn Road and I found both Fred and Mrs. Garside really good people to work for.






This photo on the right sadly is the only photo I actually took of one of Mark Barnes coaches, this one was Reg: 370 OTB and was driven that day by Harold Tillotson, although his (usual coach which he normally drove was 824 FTF), and this particular day 370 was his coach, and I took the photograph whilst is was stopped for a break in Chester whilst on a day excursion to Rhyl (although it does say Morecambe on the front).
Besides coaches and haulage Mark Barnes's also had a couple of beautiful Princess limousines which we used for Weddings etc.











This must have been one of the early Haslingden Coaching proprietors - James Kirby looking at this billhead which dates back to 1891.


The old coach on the right photo belonged to Moorhouse & Son of Mayfield. I can remember in the 60s when Moorhouse had limousines for weddings etc. and quite often if we got extremely busy at Mark Barnes we would offer the work to Moorhouse or vica versa......






Just found this very old photo from the 20's showing yet another Haslingden Char-a-banc proprietor in the name of E. Hargreaves of Carr Street Garage, Haslingden. Also photo on right of Anderton & Halsteads works party in 1920 with Char-a-bancs from Cordingley's and setting off from the Hud Hey side (Glebe Cottages) of Rising Bridge Road. I would have imagined that Cordingley's would have had to hire additional char-a-bancs to cater for such a large party...
(Please click over images to enlarge)...




HERE ARE MORE MARK BARNES & SONS PHOTOS: 








Rally at Marsden Square shows a Mark Barnes lorry

Just found this! Old Mark Barnes photo from 1964 (Click over to enlarge)
I must have got someone to take it whilst we were all on a trip somewhere.  Can't just recognize two of the drivers but think the one on the left may have been Peter Hankinson? then yours truly at the age of 16 and to the right Harold Tillotson (Hawkeye) (who drove 824FTF Coach.  Don't know who the other driver is (for now) with his back to the camera 

the late David Cardwell who was a very popular driver at Mark Barnes
on both the Coaches and the Wagons, I took this photo when
we were at the National Coach Rally held on the lower promenade at Blackpool.
Sadly David passed away at a young age.
this photo shows one of the beautiful "Princess" or were they Wolseleys (not sure now so long ago!) limousines which we had two for both weddings and funerals. 
at Mark Barnes and Sons Ltd and I can still picture Fred (the part owner of Mark Barnes)
 polishing these cars with much energy and pride because they
were booked out for most Saturday for local Weddings.  Sometimes
Moorhouses down at Mayfield, Helmshore would book out the vehicles from us.
The photo shows the bride who is Hadrian Taylor just getting out of the car at the Parish Church. 
thanks to Alec Taylor for kindly sharing this photo with us

*******************************

Added 18th March 2009: I was speaking to Jack Cordingley today (now aged 91) and he told me that it was his Grandfather that started the Char-a-banc business and that they had two vehicles. One was a Thorneycroft and one was a Daimler and the business and garage was ran from Queen Ann Street.