Photo-a-Day  (Thursday, 17th December, 2020)

What a beautiful scene ! My memory of the River Douglas back in the 1950's was of muddy water, dumped shopping carts, dead dogs, old sacks, and whatever other garbage you can imagine. I am absolutely delighted to see this incredible improvement.
The poor condition of the Douglas back then was the dreadful effects of the Second World War. It is wonderful that today's Wiganers have produced such an improvement.

Bless you all !

Alan

Beautiful scene Mick, proper autumn feel is that. One of our neighbours over here in North Yorkshire comes from Appley Bridge I'm sure she will like this also. Good photo -well done.

That's a lovely scene. I am never sure where the Duggy flows except for the bit that goes past Wigan Little Theatre! The bright green growth by the side of the water makes me thing of Spring and new growth.

That's a lovely photo, thanks Mick. It's good to see the Douglas looking like a proper river.

A very pleasant scene, it would be nice to walk around there.

Nice to see it cleaner these days. When i was about 11 or 12, 1952 ish, a group of lads used to walk from Standish to the Bleachworks at the bottom of Rectory Lane, we would go to where the Duggy passes under the road at the bottom of Red Rock brow (that's another place you can see it Irene) on the way down we would each have a guess what colour the river would be that day, it would depend on what colour of dye they were using at the said Bleachworks, red, blue, green, yellow usually one of those, terrible what they were allowed to do in those days, the Green Party, had they existed, would have had a field day !!!
Veronica, look at yesterdays P A D please, regarding re - animate.

To everybody who commented on yesterday’s photo this weeks Wigan Observer shows artists impression of the re development of the Galleries and Makinsons Arcade is still there let’s hope so because if not people will be up in arms about that.

Alan (on Vancouver Is)
The Dougie is very clean now, , but you still get shopping trolley, bikes and dead dogs dumped but only in the vicinity of the council estates.

Roy the Dougie changed its colour with what ever coloured dye they were at the bleach works

River dougie is that clean fish have been seen in it

Lovely autumn photo,I wonder has the Duggie which runs to the side of Tesco ( Central Park) been cleaned up like this.I haven't been passed for a while, but last time I did it was a disgrace.There was all kinds of rubbish dumped in.

" I am never sure where the Duggy flows except for the bit that goes past Wigan Little Theatre!"

And a Wiganer too ?????? Say no more.

MICK, that's what i said in my posting !!!!

Allegedly the main source of dye in the river came from the Pincroft dye factory in Adlington.

Mick,Its not just in the vicinity of council estates that rubbish gets dumped in the duggie. There has been a lot dumped just at the bottom of the old camels hump.Were the new houses built there now cost a fortune.You seem to be insinuating something!!!!

Yes, James, I AM a Wiganer and no-one is prouder of it than I am. I have probably passed The Duggy on numerous occasions and in different districts of Wigan without actually KNOWING I was walking past The Duggy. And I'm glad you've decided to "say no more" because you've said enough.

James, I originate from Ormskirk and nowadays I live in Orrell. To me, Wigan is local to both Ormskirk and Orrell. I know where the River Douglas comes from and goes to. Are you aware of it's other name? I guess Irene isn't?

Irene Im the same with all them canals

I'd put money on you knowing the canals like the back of your hand Mick.

I'm Hindley born and bred but I'm very familiar with Wigan and the surrounding areas. I've fished the Douglas many times at many points on it's course.

I didn’t / don’t know the vast majority of information so kindly provided on here , by those who do know . On the other hand , I once got a standing ovation from the crowd at Central Park , for a try I scored at a Wigan game curtain raiser . Did you ever ?
We each have our qualities but perhaps in different areas .
I have known men, who had so many brain cells ,that it seeped out of their ears like lava , yet frequently they walked into lamp posts .
Happy Christmas to All . Stay Safe . Hope the New Year is better than this one .

Bloke on a Bike, I do know the canals like the back of my hand when Im on them, its when I see them from the bridges in different districts of Wigan that I get confused

Edna,if I had a pound for every time he's mentioned ' Council Estates' I'd be rich.He seems to have a phobia about them, I'm sure some therapy would help.

Thankyou gentlemen. John, I didn't know the Douglas had another name and I would love to learn what it is, please. Like Harry, I have learned a lot that I didn't know about our town on photo-a-day from the people who have commented and I am always happy to learn more. I grew up in Ince and now live in Abram. The Duggy doesn't run through those districts and it's hardly surprising that I am not familiar with its course. Surely a person can call themselves a Wiganer when they were born and bred here? They don't have to be a walking encyclopaedia on the subject. I am always happy to contribute what I DO know on here , but am equally happy to learn what I DON'T from our other members.

HARRY, i never had a standing ovation at Central Park but i did kick a couple of goals in a curtain raiser, a Wigan Schoolboys trial match in 1955, we played up to a couple of minutes to 3, we couldn't get up the tunnel because of the 2 teams, Wigan and Barrow, waiting to come on, i can still see Willie Horne the Barrow captain for the day at the front of his team, ball in hands. There were 30,000 in the ground that day, so i probably played in front of 28,000 or so, the other 2,000 still in the pubs finishing their ale. Barrow were a good team those days, they won the challenge cup that year.

IRENE, i suppose you'll get plenty of answers to the the River Douglas question and mine probably wont be the first, but nevertheless here goes. It was called the River Asland or Astland.

MAUREEN, IRENE, or anyone, how can i get in touch with Ron Hunt ?

Roy , l thought that was a clothes shop .

Roy, email me ron@wiganworld.co.uk

Not quite Dave, i think that was Island, lol.

Thankyou so much, Roy. I had no idea about that!

Well said Irene.. I was very familiar with the River Douglas from days when we used to walk along there from Greenough St up to Haigh Hall, never knew it had another name, it was always ' The Duggie'.

I agree with you Maureen, he seems to be obsessed by Council Estates.

He told me he lives close to a rough council estate in Shevington. Said he had to keep his bike safely locked up at night.

Not all private housing estate's are Top-Notch, some of those are quite rough as well, and in this day and age no one in their right mind would not lock things up at night.

Mick talks about Shevington as though it,"s somewhere in a stockbroker belt area or something ! He needs to get over himself and get a grip over his phobia about council houses and their tenants.

Well said Edna..x