Wigan Album

I have a copy of this book, i'ts a great book with some fantastic photographs of the Wigan we loved. You can buy it at the newsagent in the Market Hall and the History Shop.

' Johnny Moggie '. that's the name that we knew him by. His grandson Ian, or to give him his nickname, ' dopey Sam ' ( if you're reading this Ian, I'm sorry mate, I'm just telling it as it was ), attended the same secondary school that I did. Most of the stuff that he sold dated back to pre Napoleonic times, although he wasn't prepared to part with it at pre Napoleonic prices. The place was jammed with stuff. When you entered the shop, his face would unexpectedly appear, framed in a 10" x 12" gap between the piles of boxes of screws and other items of hardware that were heaped up to the ceiling from the counter top. I still have nightmares about the vision to this day. To his eternal credit though, he would never sell any of us kids air gun pellets. In fact, I don't think he ever really sold much of anything to anyone. An interesting fact about the shop, is that the Millingford brook ran directly underneath the cellar of the place. Still does in fact, as one would expect.

I also have a copy of this book I can recommend it to any Wiganer, young or old, For the 'old' it is pure nostalgia and for the 'young' you can see Wigan how it was before the Council ruined it.

Well put Willy Wackum. Where can I buy the book.

Lots of hand drills and cycle tyres on display although this was probably the last place you would go to for tools or cycle spares. My parents used tosend me here with a tin can to get a quart of parrafin for the lamp in the outside lavvy.

Garry you get get it from Franks rydings newsagents in the Market Hall and the History Shop

I remember Johnny Moggy's shop from when I worked in Ashton in 1969. I remember the windows were full of what looked like junk to a 17-year-old girl, just haphazardly chucked in, and at Christmas he just flung a piece of holly on top of all the stuff....that was his Christmas Window Display! I THINK , (unless I'm on the wrong person), that he had a car which had the old-fashioned indicators that stuck out from the side of the car, rather than lights, but instead of the usual shape, these were shaped like hands! The book is already on my shopping-list for my visit to Wigan tomorrow.

i bought my 1st set of darts from jonny moggies. the rest as they say is history.

The woman with the Silver Cross pram is wearing the height of fashion of the time a crocheted 'Poncho', the shop reminds me a bit like Tickle's on the Wiend - an organised chaos, though anything you wanted he knew exactly where it was.

Another good Book is,WIGAN Fifty Golden Years.My Daughter got it for me one Christmas not sure were from think Internet.Lot of kid's & Adult's I remember.

I remember the first time I saw his shop,I reckoned there would be lots of cheap tools,I was wrong,most had the war dept mark on,but the price was the same as a new one,I did buy quite a few tools though,he had some spanner sizes,and other tools unavailable anywhere else,I still have some,50 odd years later,and I well remember the bob hole,and a single light bulb with no shade.

The pram is not Silver Cross its got a plastic hood as opposed to a fabric one and the the pram is not as deep as a Silver Cross which was more rounded. That pram is very similar to one I had bought for my first child - quite trendy if I recall- but not as good as a Silver Cross!

Quite simply a wonderful photograph, congratulations Frank.

The pram is a Kensington Navy, coach built by Silver Cross, with a fully folding chassis.

I stand corrected Garry seeing as it's got 4 wheels! But it's not the original Rolls Royce of prams that Silver Cross built and which can still be bought by the more discerning with plenty money at their disposal. Regards Vb

No problem Veronica.

The Silver Cross pram we had in the early 60s was nothing like this one,the body was deeper and more curved,and two of the wheels were a lot bigger than the other two,a much nicer pram than this one.

The two small wheels of your pram would have been ideal for the steering axle of my trolley Maurice, whilst the larger ones would have been attached at the rear, giving the vehicle an aerodynamic aspect. I suspect it must be highly unlikely at this late stage, but if you still have the wheels, I'm sure I could make room for them in my shed. It's been my lifetime ambition to own a trolley with Silver Cross wheels. The addition of a Fyffe's banana box to the vehicle would be the icing on the cake. I'm salivating here. I do realise of course, that my targets in life have never been set particularly high.

Bought Volume one of the book today...fantastic! x.

Irene, could I ask where from and how much..please.

Maurice Silver Cross made more than one pram. This is the better one.

Thanks Irene and everybody else for buying the book. I will be publishing further volumes covering the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s and other volumes on the amateur sport scene, leisure and music scene and another book of older pictures throughout the year.

Garry the book is on sale at Rydings news stall in Wigan market hall and the Museum of Wigan Life in Library Street priced £15.99 with 240 pages and 570 pictures.

Alan,the pram in the photo is nowhere near as nice or better than the one we had.

Garry, Frank has beat me to it with the answer. I assure you it's worth every penny! Frank, it's brilliant. I was amazed to see the photo of Edna Ashurst making pies in the bakehouse in Belle Green Lane, Ince. Before it was Ashurst's it was Cain's and a friend of mine who is old Mr. Cain's Grandson has been after a photo of the shop for YEARS! I was so happy to be able to tell him about the photo and I'm pretty certain he will buy a copy. I don't suppose you have any more pics of the bakery, have you? My friend would ne thrilled to see any shots of the shop, inside or out.

Many thanks to Irene and Frank.

Great memories of Ashurst pies and cakes, and later Cains, really nice and a little further up B/Green Lane on the left, Boardmans shop.

The was also a little wool shop on the same side of the pie shop. Can't remember who owned it. It's all flooding back, great!! I'll buy the book.

I think the little wool shop in Belle Green Lane, Ince might have been Annie Capper's.

You will love the book, Ann, and the shop you can't recall the name of was Annie Capper's. x.

Sorry Irene but I don't have anymore pictures of the bakery. I still go into the Observer office at Martland Mill to do research so I will keep an eye out for any pictures.

a superb photo, for sure. there is a modern craze for 'street' photography, but this fantastic image shows you were well ahead of the game!

Thankyou, Frank. I have clicked onto the envelope symbol you have left, but it won't give me your email details. If you do come across any pics of the bakery, please put a note on this thread, so how long in the future it is. It will still be on The Album and I will look regularly.

That's the one, thanks ladies x.

Irene - re the envelope email symbol, on Frank's post - if you let your cursor rest on the symbol, and then 'right click', you get the option to copy the email address, which you can then paste into an email address box.

The book looks an interesting read. Does anyone if it contains any other interesting past photos of Ashton, ie long gone buildings, streets, Gerard St, etc, or is just mainly Wigan town centre related?. There are some interesting photos of Ashton on the Francis Frith site, just wished they'd include them in a book instead of charging a fortune to buy a single photo. Better still they should be made copyright free, but that's gonna happen anytime soon. Wish we all had some of those interesting photos instead of poorly processed boring (to us Wigan worlders) family snaps of people we never knew.

Many thanks, Mick!

Ab, there are 18 other pictures relating to Ashton and Downall Green in the book. The book does cover other areas of Wigan besides the town centre. The Wigan World site does have a couple of pictures of Gerard Street and other parts of Ashton if you click on Wigan streets.

There are a few photos of Ashton and Gerard St, but not much from the 60s. The Francis Frith site has some interesting street shots of Gerard St and Bryn St from the early-mid 60s. A book could be made with these photos included.

It's kinda funny that shops had phone numbers listed on the front, yet even in the early 70s many people still didn't own a phone. That stuff would be a goldmine today for that TV antiques bloke Drew Pritchard. He'd make an absolute fortune with the things he would find in there. I wonder what happened to all that stuff when he died?. I heard he lived down Warrington Rd and also ran other business/shops.

A friend of mine, who happens to be about 8 years older than I am and who was on good terms with Johnny, reckons that after his death, the entire contents of the shop, including Johnny's car, were purchased by a company from Glasgow. He also substantiates Irene's claim that the semaphore arms on the car were moulded in the shape of hands.