Places   (Help with places, streets and buildings in Wigan.)

Timmy blue, Can you actually buy that cd? Does anyone have any pics or memories of the old Ince Central School that aren't already on The Album?. I was only there for the "Babies Class" as we called it then, as the new school was being built. We used to take threepence every week to pay for a brick for the new school, and the teacher used to mark our payments off on a little pink card. I am still in touch with Miss Ashurst, (she later became Mrs. Johnson); we got in touch after she read an article of mine in Past Forward about Ince Central. There were two rows of smelly toilets in the old schoolyard, and each toilet was just a round board with a hole in it. We had a coal-fire in the babies' class, and a little stone lobby where we hung our coats. Does anyone have any memories of the rest of the school?
Our Joseph, you were talking about the smell of beer coming out of The Engineers Arms; the smell of beer as you passed by pubs seemed so much stronger than it does today. Perhaps it was, as we lived right across from The Long-Neck and sometimes off-key renditions of Nellie Dean or "Honly a rose hi give yoooooo" would float across to our house! They used to have a singing-room with a piano,and they used to "blink" the lights at closing-time and shout "'Av yer getten no woms t'go to?" at chucking-out time. Neighbours and elderly people could relax then; any trouble or bad language would be nipped sharply in the bud by the landlord, but there wasn't much to stop; people had respect in those days, and wouldn't use foul language in front of women, children or the elderly.....not like now! I only have memories of The Long-Neck......any more Ince pub memories, anyone?