Wigan Album

Woderful

Give me back those days any day. Ron, you put up so many wonderful pictures that hold so many memories. I for one am sincerely grateful.

Mormons shop.

Brings back childhood memories was brought up in Victoria st in wallgate

Ron. What year would this be?.

Sorry Mortons

Albert I would guess late 60's early 70's?

Thank you Ron..I have lovely memories of Wallgate..being brought up in Great George Street.

Maureen you should put your memories down on paper why you still have them.

You're so right Mick..Mortons shop where I used to go for my Mam..the shop next door was Sawbridges the butchers..I went every weekend again for my Mam to get her leg of lamb..(which I would never eat) being served by either big Jim or Billy..Dawbers second hand shop next door to them..then going down after Mortons was Mr Davies the Chemist ..a lovely man,most times you could tell him your symptoms and he would know what to give you..then the fireplace shop where we got our first tiled one it was lovely..nip over Pitt Street to another Butchers then Theresa's fruit and veg,.Sherringtons Diy shop where you could buy two nails if that was all you wanted...Mick I could go on and on going down Wallgate but it would probably bore some people..someday I will put it all down on paper.

Is that a fishing tackle shop next to Mortons

Jack..it looks like fishing tackle doesn't it..I wonder what happened to their huge chopping board.

Maureen. There was a lovely cake shop on your side of the road, passing further on than you have mentioned. I bought my wife's twenty first birthday cake from there. It is so long ago, I can't remember the name of the shop. I remember one day, I was on Wallgate front beat, 1960/61, a little lad's leg was crushed by a bulldozer, and I had to apply a restrictive bandage around his thigh. It occurred on a building site, somewhere down Princess Street. In later years I was told he recovered well, and went swimming in Wigan swimming pool.

I used to love going along that stretch of Wallgate on the bus, it always seemed so lively and the shops always looked interesting.

Albert,the cake shop was Prices where I would go with my Mams instructions to pick half a dozen cakes,they were put carefully in a white box and tied up ith a ribbon like tape..all for 3/6d..the lady that served you lived in Warrington Lane where we at one time lived after I was married..I knew her as Mrs Jones..a very nice lady..the little boy incident I can't bring to mind Albert..but years earlier when I was only a child..two little boys got killed on Wallgate by a bus....I do know their names,do you recall anything about that....or anything at all Albert I would love to know...

A.W. Wallgate used to be alive,and the people were second to none..When I crossed the road every morning to go to School,the Bobby that took us all across used to say to me "Don't forget when leave School you're coming to join us" years later I met him..he told me that he'd been to quite a lot of places in his role as a policeman but nowhere had as many characters as those in Wallgate..and he loved the place..

The cake shop was called prices delicious cakes

Maureen, you could never bore anyone with your childhood memories ! I love hearing them, and a lot of the time they remind me of growing uo in Ince.

Maureen. my hubby worked in Sawbridge's Butchers as a young lad, 1966-69, beginning in the Wallgate shop with Jim and Bill, then it moved to Commercial Yard. I met him when he worked in the Commercial Yard shop. He was 17 and I was 15! He remembers Morton's well.

The fishing tackle shop has JAMES LYNCH on the sign.

Aww Elizabeth..that's lovely of you to say so..I'm looking forward to seeing you next month..x
Yes Irene..I remember reading that somewhere..I bet Peter enjoyed working with them,they were lovely.x......soon be the 6th.
Spud...I'm sure to know you..I only lived a cock stride from you..did you go to St Joseph's or St Thomas's School.

A big thank you to you Ron for allowing me to take a memory filled trip down my beloved Wallgate.

Maureen, Peter says was The Grapes Hotel opposite The Chemists? And do you remember Dr. Ratchford's Surgery? Peter delivered meat to the Ratchford family He also says that when the above photo was taken, Sawbridge's Butchers had moved to Commercial Yard.

Irene,The Grapes Hotel was further down on the right hand side..more or less where you can see the white van in the photo.
Dr Ratchford was further down Wallgate together with Dr Hall and Dr Rosser ..I was in the waiting room one morning with one of the children when Dr Ratchford came in ..a bit late..I later found out that the night before he'd found his little girl..I think it was...drowned in a garden pool..I supposed it was his way of coping by coming into work..I found it bixarre.
tell Peter that facing Davies Chemist was a barbers..that's where my Uncle took my lovely little Brother to have his platinum curls chopped off..my Mam didn't want them to go so you can imagine her response when she saw him..and yes Irene..Sawbridges did go from Wallgate to the Commercial yard..I can only assume they knew that the shops lives were numbered.

Maureen. I cannot recollect the incident involving the two children. It has come to me, the date of the bulldozer accident, 2nd June, 1962. My eldest son was born on the same day, at Billinge Hospital.

Maureen I went to st Joseph's school then to st Thomas more we moved to standish lower ground when I was 12 years old

Maureen. One vivid memory of working the front of Wallgate beat, on late turn, was having to get the factory girls safely across the road, opposite Miry Lane, before the motorways were built. I can hear them now, in their good humoured banter. "Get thi hand up. Wi want get wom, un wiv a bus fot catch." It was always a place of hustle, and bustle. People, like that of Scholes. "Salt of the earth."

Where was Cholertons photographers from here Maureen? I recall my mam and brother having their photo taken there? I was left out for some reason but I went to pick the photos up it would be about 1956 I think.

V.B..Cholertons was further up Wallgate facing the North West Station..next to what was Pooles pies..my Mam took me every year in my teens to have my photo taken..I still have a couple of them somewhere..
Albert,I'm not surprised you don't remember two little boys getting killed on Wallgate..I only got told about it..I should have said that it happened when I would have been very young..it was I believe a very Nasty accident..

Vb..I must have seemed insensitive re the photos..but you probably as a youngster didn't want your photo taken,but forgotten about it..there must have been a reason.

It was Cholertons photographers where my Dad had his photo taken in his army uniform.

I think it was a case of a mother and son photo Maureen ....I still have it and it is really good. My brother looks as if 'butter wouldn't melt' and my mam is just as she was. I am glad now that I have it to look back on. I think I have told you before that she came from Grt George St and went to the Blue Coat school and later to Gidlow school.

Vb. You could put the referred photograph on W.W.A., as it has been mentioned on W.W.A., and it is there for posterity

I suppose so Albert but I don't have the equipment. My brother was cosetted a bit more than me as they nearly lost him to pneumonia. He was in and out of hospital as a youngster ....I was the robust one! When the photo was taken he'd had his appendix out and was off school so my mother spied her chance whilst I was at school! He was always her blue eyed boy! Hahaha!

Sorry about that Vb. It was just a thought.

ron, your aunty joan was the manageress of mortons when it closed. She was the first female manager of any of the morton's shops. They were credit grocers with all purchases entered into their ledger and settled the end of the week. They had shops all over Wigan.

Thanks Graham I knew she worked at MORTONS but I didn't know which shop?

Around this area was Ronnie Hayes Chip shop. Ronnie Junior was the Manager at Peter Pells in 1968-69 anyone remember him?

Hello Albert,
Are you by any chance Albert Short from Blackpool who originally came from Ince . IF by any chance you are i think you knew a friend of mine Graham Worthington from manley street. You may have gone to spring view school with him .

Ron,I seem to remember as a child a Joan that worked at Mortons..and an Edna.

Yes Stuart, you are correct. I was a great friend of Graham's from early days at St Mary's junior school, Ince. He certainly enjoyed his music. For years he played an instrument in a brass band, wasn't a bad pianist either. May he Rest in Peace.

The lad who had his leg amputated was around the same age as me. He went to St Thomas's and I went to St Joseph's. I lived down Miry Lane on Yates Street

A long time ago Tony. Does he still live in that locality, if you are aware?. He was a very brave little lad at the time.

Hello Albert, sorry don't know where he ended up, all the houses in the Wallgate area got demolished. I remember the Police phone box near the Pier building. Such a shame that we don't see police officers on the beat anymore Albert

It was at that police box, Tony, later that day, that I got a message from King Street Police Station, that I was now a dad.

That's brilliant Albert! Great days

grey cab taxies started off from an office just out of shot before moving across the road where the fabric shop is now.

Hi. I remember most of the shops everyone has mentioned, Oh what lovely memories. Cholertons photographers did our wedding album. I lived in Miry Lane and went to St. Joseph's school then Thomas more. I loved wallgate and my upbringing there, so much fun making fab memories.

Thank you so much for putting this up. James Lynch was my grandfather.his daughter my mother was Helen Green ne Lynch. I only met him twice as I live in Australia. Somewhere I have a photo of him at the counter. I will put it up when I find it. Again thank you.

Ron, how can I buy a copy of this picture as this was my Grandad's shop x