Haslingden Old and New...

Haslingden derives from Hazeldean or Valley of the Hazels. It lies 19 miles north of Manchester in the County of Lancashire. A area at one time noted in particular for its Stone, it also played a big part in the Woollen and then later Cotton Industries from the 18th and through the 19th and early to mid 20th Century... It is steeped in Local History and can also boast to have one of the most beautiful Natural Valleys around, where thousands come and visit annually

Friday, 27 November 2015

Haslingden and District Snooker League

Haslingden & Dist Snooker League Fixture Handbook 1958-1959

It was a thriving snooker league back in the 1950s and 1960s and thankfully I was able to attend some of the Workers (Haslingden Workingmens Club) matches whilst supporting my dad's team.......

In email conversation only this week we have been privileged to receive several photo contributions from Geoffrey Heap who I personally can remember from when he was with the St. Peter's Scouts. But I also mentioned to him that I thought I could remember his dad playing for the St. Peters Church Snooker team, at times playing against my dad on the opposite team.

He confirmed back that this was the case and memories came flooding back for me and obviously for Geoff as well.

I am not sure how old I was but would have thought perhaps about 12 or 13 and although I wasn't allowed to go to the Clubs that sold alcohol, my dad did used to take me along to watch and support the Workers when they played at alcohol free clubs such as: The Liberal Club on Park Street, and St. Peter's in one of the schoolrooms at the back of the Church, and rarely we would catch the bus to Rawtenstall and then another bus over to Townsendfold Social Club (with this last one! was I supposed to be there or not!! - alcohol or non alcohol?)

They were cracking nights watching my dad (the team Captain), and his mate Jimmy Collinge, Bob Fisher, Jimmy Heald (who also played the piano at the Workers), Joe Clarkson and George Garnett amongst others. I think they were a pretty good team and always did well in the league as I remember.

At the Liberal Club I remember some of their players which included Josh Knowles (Brian's dad), Mr. Duxbury (the Auctioneer) and later his son (also Auctioneer), Veril Riley, and one guy who stood out to me, he seemed a great player and ever so young for that team and that was Ernie Taylor (carpets etc) at St. Peter's I can only just about remember Mr. Heap, but remember better a really tall chap with glasses who was another friend of my dad's in snooker and that was Frank Riley (lived on Townsend Street)

It was great to hear a couple of stories from Geoffrey about when he also used to go and watch his dad playing with the St. Peters Snooker team. I have printed the tales here for all to enjoy....

The following tales are submitted by Geoffrey Heap:

Yes my dad was captain of St. Peter's Church Institute snooker team and I also used to go with him to watch the team play, when aged 13 and 14. I then played for the team when I was 15 and 16 and yes a Frank Riley played for the team.

I have a couple of vivid memories of those days - I remember us playing an away match against The Irish Democratic League, a game the team needed to win to finish top. My dad and I arrived at the club early and the only other person there was the Steward, who happened to be playing the one armed bandit, which was one of the old tic tac toe machines. As usual dad wanted a drink and the steward had to leave the bandit in order to serve him. At most matches, my dad used to let me have a few tanners to 'lose' on the bandits and this night was no exception; as soon as the steward walked away from the machine, I began to feed it with tanners, three or four coins later the jackpot dropped, well ten bob in tanners did, the rest of the £5 had to be collected from the bar. I walked quickly towards the bar, with a broad grin on my face, to be met by a stony faced steward who very ungraciously paid me the £4.10s. I then asked my dad what I should do with the pocket full of tanners and he suggested that he would keep hold of them until our next away match. I agreed but asked to keep a few back as I had not had much of a play on the machine. By this time the IDL team had arrived and we could see the steward in deep conversation with them, no doubt expressing his annoyance at having to be pulled from the bandit to serve my dad and by rights the jackpot should have been his.

I walked back to the bandit and proceeded to try my luck again, fully expecting to quickly lose the lot, unbelievably I hit the jackpot again, this time I dispensed with the broad grin and sheepishly asked the steward for my winnings, if looks would kill I was lucky to leave the club alive, needless to say I remained at dad's side for the rest of the evening. To cap it all we won the match, thus denying the IDL the title. By the end of the evening the atmosphere felt quite tense and we thought about asking for a police escort when we left the Club!

A match against Loveclough Printworks is also etched in my memory. This club used an old set of snooker balls, the colours of which were very faded, green and blue looked the same colour, the reds all looked like pinks and so on. Dad was in the middle of a nice break when he nominated "blue" and potted it; to our amazement the referee called 'foul stroke five away', dad asked why and the ref, pointed out that the green ball had been potted. Dad lost his temper and eventually had to go outside to calm down and have a fag.

(Click over scans to enlarge)

Wednesday, 25 November 2015

St. Stephen's - Grane

St. Stephens - Grane - A Brief History

(Reproduced from a document named "A Brief History"

The first church of St. Stephen's, Grane was completed in 1867. It's site at Crowtrees placed it in the centre of a then populous and thriving community.

In 1883 however, in the year the church was finally consecrated, the Bury and District Water Board began to purchase land and properties in order to extend the catchment area of their Grane reservoirs. Over the next twenty-five years many farmhouses, cottages and three cotton mills were demolished or left to decay into ruins.

Many of the populace moved out of the area. The church was left isolated as attendances declined and it eventually fell into disrepair. It was felt necessary by the parishioners to have a place of worship at a more convenient site nearer Haslingden. In 1910 a piece of land measuring 723 and 4/9ths square yards was purchased from Holden Wood Bleaching Company for £120 11s 8d (£120.58p). The Mission Room was then built at a total cost of £1,800 and opened in April 1911. The Mission Room immediately became the centre of church life. Services were held in the upper room whilst a lower room was used as a Sunday School, a Men's Institute and a social centre.

The first memorial to the sixteen men of the parish who died in the 1914-1918 war was a framed series of photographs centred by a photograph of the church. Underneath was written - "In memory of our lads who have fallen in the war 1914-1918". This was unveiled in the Men's Institute on Sunday 10th August, 1919 by the Mayor of Haslingden, Councillor Halstead. (N.B. There is now no trace of this memorial.)

In February, 1921 Major D. Halstead, acting on behalf of the directors of the Holden Wood Bleaching Company, gave a one acre site at Three Lane Ends, near the junction of Holcombe Road with Grane Road, to the parish for the purposes of building a church. (The site, known as "Bincroft", was used as a football field at the time).

They had two conditions to the gift. Firstly, the church was to be built within five years and secondly, a stained glass window in memory of the sixteen men of the parish who died in the 1914-1918 war had to be installed in the church.

In November 1923 a commisssion set up by the Bishop of Manchester recommended the removal of the church from the Crowtrees site and re-erecting it at Three Lane Ends. A tender of £6,150 to carry out the whole of the work was accepted from the Haslingden building contractors, Thomas Tattersall Ltd.

Demolition of the church began in May 1925 and was completed by September, when the corner stones were removed. Each stone of the church was marked with a course and stone number and transported to the new site. A similar method was used when dismantling the interior. Additional costs for a new top for the steeple, a new vestry, the memorial window, etc., brought the original total to over £8,000. The site of the old church was marked by a stone cross.

***

Original site of St. Stephens - Dedication Service after the Church had been removed (Click over photo to enlarge)

Bishop of Blackburn - Opening Church after move to Three Lane Ends (Click over photo to enlarge)

St. Stephen's Grane (Click over photo to enlarge)

Photo:kindly contributed by Marjorie Corbridge

Haslingden Choir at last service held at St. Stephens Church - Grane (Click over photo to enlarge)

St. Stephens Church Mothers Union c1950s (Click over to enlarge)

Thanks to Pauline Emmett Dagg for correction of title and also for adding some of the names as follows: Evelyn Emmett is mid row 3rd from the left. Doreen Hamilton is on the back row 2nd from the right. Edna Duckworth is on the back row 2nd from the left. Alice Jennings back row 5th from left. Alice Seymour back row 3rd from left. Mrs. Keir back row 6th from right. Mrs. Hamer front row 3rd from the left.

I can remember the gentleman sat down at the front who I seem to remember was the Curate Mr. Turner at St. James Church when Mr. Fred Bamber was the Vicar. Also thanks to Elizabeth Smethhurst who has also added the following names:

Back Row 1st right is my grandmother Elizabeth Holden, nee Taylor and third from right is her sister Emma Wiggins. They were members of St. Stephen's M.U. for many years.

Photo: uploaded here on 10th December 2015

Interior of St. Stephens Church, Grane (Click over to enlarge)

Photo: Kindly contributed by Alec Taylor and uploaded here on 8th April 2016,

An event at St Stephens, probably in the church hall, in the 1960s. From the left at the back, the names I know are: Alderman Bert Bussey, the Mayor ( directly in front of him is Mrs Bussey), Fr James MacDonald, Curate, Bob Barnes, Canon Fred Bamber, Unknown, my mother Kathleen Blomeley.

Photo and text kindly shared by Michael Blomeley