Wigan Album

Thank you John... I will show my mate that.

Also, that is a brilliant photograph, it does show a tragic event to be sure... but it is still a very interesting thing to see.

What book is it from, would it still be available?

You can buy the books from the Remainder Shop in the Galleries there are three different ones:-AROUND HINDLEY & ABRAM. ASHTON IN MAKERFIELD & GOLBORNE. and STANDISH & SHEVINGTON £2.99 each

I used to belong to this Chapel. Thjis photo is one of a collection which I sent to the Heritage centre for safe keeping. You will find others from there on the Walking day list. My grandad was one of the rescuers.

Just can't place where this is. Is it anywhere near where the Palace cinema used to be?

The palace cinema was further down the road, on the same side as the Chapel. Also, the photo is one of those in the book about the Maypole, I was confusing myself.

THE PALACE WAS ON THE RIGHT GOING DOWN TO THE KING BILLY ,BUT AT THIS TIME HAD NOT BEEN BUILT,

It looks like the 'chapel' to the far right of the picture used to face the little medical centre on the land betwen Taberner street and Woodcock drive. It later became Aldon sportswear in the 70's and 80's (I know because I used to wait for my mam Doreen who worked there) There are new houses there now on chapel street.

In fact if you follow the link below, it clearly shows both 'chapels' with Aldons signage and an upturned lorry. Hope this helps people place it.

http://www.wiganworld.co.uk/album/photo.php?opt=5&id=3593&gallery=Platt+Bridge&offset=0

Russ

Anyone wishing to purchase this book. Maypole Colliery.Diary of a colliery disaster.The I S B N no is 0 9500 280 88.

When this was taken, opposite the Chapel there was a row of houses. My Aunty Nan & her family lived there.

Anyone wishing to read a full account of this very tragic disaster will find it at http://www.communigate.co.uk/lancs/ad/page3.phtm|? I cannot make out whether it | or l at the end.

Maggie... assuming this is the burial of bodies recovered at the time, it would be 1908.

Another very tragic event took place, loosely associated with the collieries of this area,in 1945. I remember it well, I was 11 years of age at the time. It relates to the colliery locomotive The Dolly. Go to STUFF, at the top of this page. click onto it. scroll down to." Wigan Past",click onto it, and anyone interested can read an account of what happened.

this sad event is one of my memories. When I was a child, I used to go & play with friends at the cuttung by Liverpool Road, through which these little engines would go. One was Little Dolly, the other Little Betty. we loved those two engines & it was a terribel accident. Have they ever managed to recover the driver?

Sadly Maggie, Mr Berry's body was never recovered.It was deemed too dangerous to attempt it. The shaft was later resealed.A Service, shortly after the tragedy, was conducted at the top of the shaft. There is a memorial tablet, either on the shaft, or in the vicinity of it.

dennis, those houses opposite were there all the time I was growing up. They were probably Victorian. The medical centre came after.

They were there all the time I was growing up as well. Indeed, I can remember a red LUT crashing into that row when I lived in Gas Street. The end house was where the ice cream man lived. :-)

The funeral was of my great uncle Albert Draper,who was killed in the Maypole explosion 1908.My dad,Sydney Draper was his nephew and he also worked at the Maypole till 1951,when we went to live in Blackpool.Dad died in 2007 aged 99.We all worshipped at Zion Methodist Chapel till 1951.