Wigan Album

this brings back memories no wonder i started smokiing young look at all the cig adverts

Fantastic picture !

Great photo, brings back the memories.

the only thing that has'nt changed is the weather by the looks of those very dark clouds,i really could not remember streets like these without this great pic

That sky is awesome too though I doubt it was the photographer's first thought.

fantastic picture , brings back so many fond memories

im only 45 but i remember taking a leek in them green toilets on the bridge and playing in the old TA building up the road happy days

Your right Julie, on TV and in newspapers aswell. Do these cigarets still exist...Park Drive, Woodbines, Players No6, Embassy Regal and Senior Service?
Good photo Aitch.

This is the newspaper shop that I mentioned in my comments, in the previous photograph of Greenough Street, Entered by Scholes ?.( Sorry). Mrs Dickinson was the proprietor. A great amount of water has flowed under the pictured bridge, since those days. Both of you have given the Scholes folk. some very fond memories.

I cant take the credit for the photo, having scanned it out of a book, but if they stir the memories, then I am well pleased, at least other people are seeing the past the same as I am, and I have a load more in this particular book, and if there are no objections, then I will publish more.

Great photo, Aitch! Brought back memories of when I was a student working for Royal Mail at Christmas back in the late sixties. We worked in the Drill Hall where all the parcels were sorted. Happy memories of a great town back then!

On the right at the top of the picture is the Drill Hall, further down just out of shot The Co-Op store, it was great loss to the town when we lost The Co - Op. Pity it did'nt relocate elsewhere in the centre of town.'

carry on Aitch, no probs.

More please, Aitch.

Tom Walsh ,did the Co-op not move into the Gallaries before Index on the lower level?

Tom Walsh and Alan Lad:
The Co-Op moved to The Wigan Centre, where The Galleries is now. There is a photo on the Messageboard General thread about Argos on December 12th.

The Co-op moved to the site that became the JJB superstore. you could park for free if you spent a few quid. Is it now Gala Bingo?

This really does bring back memories !! I remember my mother walking me down past those horrible dark green toilets on our way to the market - I would be about 4-years old.

Great photo Aitch ,I wonder if it was taken through a car windscreen looks like a windscreen wiper in the bottom r/h corner ,probably never know.

Living on Greenough St: I have many fond memories of 'Dickinson's'! Going back to school: this woman had all exercise books available. Later, she would have all the comic annuals in stock, early as Septmeber! She later, with a host of individual fireworks!!! The fireworks were under a glass counter; you chose which one you wanted. They ranged fron 3d - 1/6: of course in old money. How many times my friends and I would go in there and, stash fireworks for 'bommy night'! This following a night with 'the penny for the guy'!!!!!! Anyone around remember these times?

Tony, I didn't live in Scholes, but I remember being able to buy individual fireworks with names like Golden Rain, Traffic Lights and Thunderflash. We made a Guy out of my Dad's old overalls and sat under the papershop window in the dark October nights saying "Penny for the Guy?". On the actual day, we raced through our prayers at hometime, (4 o'clock in those days), at brakeneck speed, one eye on the darkening sky outside the classroom window, and by 6 o'clock we were outside, ribboned plaits covered by hand-knitted bonnets, and there it was on the night air....cordite....the unmistakeable smell of Bonfire Night! Dads, full of importance, lit the "bommy", and set fire yet again to the backyard gate with a Catherine Wheel, and the first rocket brought a "Whoooooo!" from all the neighbours, children and adults alike. Mams supplied treacle-toffee and we sat on an old sofa, which eventually joined the flames, and then we stood with our fronts burning and our backs freezing until the fire died down, and one by one we turned our back to it and went indoors, grubby, sticky, tired and happy. It was always misty next morning and we searched for spent fireworks in the damp grass....treasure to us children in those less-sophisticated days.....before we turned our thoughts to Christmas. Happy Days!

we had our guy on maidwells steps

Don't get me wrong I think this is a great photo for all of the above reasons. However, I "question" the dark sky, yes it may well have been a dark and threatening day but having done some "darkroom" techniques myself over the years it seems to me that a little technical improvement has been made to the photo, which I feel adds to its enjoyment anyway.

Thank you Irene for many happy memories again

Tom Walsh....The Drill Hall is on the left of the street.The co-op was round the corner in Standishgate

I took this photograph when I was a photographer on the Post and Chronicle and yes it was taken through the car windscreen as a reporter was driving.
There was some darkroom technique used called burning in. I hated white skies so many times gave the skies extra exposure under the enlarger. I'm afraid it was a bit over the top in this case. Still glad to see it caused so much interest.

Thanks for that info Frank, its good to be able to put a name to the photographer who actually took the shot, I have a few books with good photos, but not a clue as to the photographer, so it nice to be able to give credit where it is due, I have another one with a rag and bone man going over pottery road bridge, same sky, would that be one of yours as well.?

Thank you Irene for sharing such good memories!!! The names of those fireworks brought back so many memories. The of fireworks the paper shop sold where: Brocks and Wessex, never Standard! Don't know why! Always remember she would'nt sell 'bangers'!! Remember coloured matches?
Irene, I have always been lucky to look forward to something following the 5th Nov towards Christmas. My birthday is on the 11th Nov. Then, the nights grew really dark!!!
And, tony k. We went further afield with our guy! I remember, about 1970. Sittng with the guy outside the old 'Electric Showrooms', Standishgate. We made a staggering one pound and ten shillings. This now £1.50. We had a feast in the chippy: 'Eve's Diner', Whitesmiths cafe -it stayed open until 9pm; the next day going in the paper shop, and buying a 'box' of fireworks!!! Thinking today, all that off thirty bob!!!!!

Hello Aitch, yes the picture of the rag and bone man on Pottery Road Bridge is mine. It was in a book that the Wigan Observer did in 2002 for the Queen's Golden Jubilee.
On the day that I got the picture I was actually taking a shot of the Wigan Pier complex in the 1980s when I heard the clip clop of horse's hooves behind me and just swung round as the cart was crossing the bridge and so just clicked away.

Thanks for that Frank,I was right it was a wiper,do you remember make of car ?.

i remember bonfire night on black patch in higher ince, black patch was across the road from empress mill, day after bommy me and a friend went back to find empty fireworks, we mixed them all together making our own fireworks, we could never get them to light, werent pleased at the time, but am now

MyNan lived in a street called Tichbourne Street that was off Greenhough streetI remember it well,she moved in 1968 to a flat at, the then new, Dumbarton Green.....she was dead within a year of moving !!!!!!

panc,The Co-Op, was on the corner Greenough St ,and Standishgate,
In fact there were two enterences on Greenough St.the first to the butchery
dept.the second to the main store,the main ennterence was on Standishgate

tom greenough street stop at the bridge the co op was in powell st

Fond memories revitalised. We used to go to church (the Mission Hall) .It was down Water Heyes...just to the left of the Vauxhall Velox travelling towards Standishgate. The building just past the bridge on the right was later used by the Evening Post. I was reminiscing earlier this evening and then came across this photo. The shop on the left used to have a Beech Nut chewing gum machine. It used to dispense an extra packet every fourth coin. We would watch and wait --- spy our chance then dash across the road to get the extra packet. Incidentally the evening post later used the mission hall as offices and photo production. Probably Frank could verify this.

I used to look out of my bedroom window as a child down onto those green gents toilets. Closest picture I have found to a picture of my home on the other side of the road. So many memories.

Looks like we are in for a storm? Walked down here many times on my way to Central Park Happy days

Memorable picture, really takes me back.
I think those green toilets were so big so as to accommodate the comings and going of Central Park Crowds.
The first building before you got to the the Drill at one time was owned by the Santus family, I think they made car or bus bodies or something similar.
There used to be exhibitions in the drill Hall one was Wigan Industry. I remember seeing a model of the proposed new Wigan International Pool and thinking it looked like a Greek Temple. Another stand was either the Wigan Observer or the Evening Post and they had a single piece of lead type for printing with the Lords Prayer in tiny letters on the top, you needed a magnifying glass to read it. Frank might remember this?
We don't have any large indoor spaces in Wigan anymore to accommodate all that went on in the Drill Hall but the existing Market Hall would be perfect for such events and more. Why on earth are they pulling that down along with the clock tower to build a few flats?
There was a (sewing) factory across the road from the shop on what is now the Oak Hotel, one of our neighbours on Harrogate Street worked there, they made amongst thing Teddy Bears and she came home one day with some of those squeaky things you put in side, we drove people mad with them.