Photo-a-Day  (Sunday, 4th April, 2021)

A lovely old fashioned gas lamp but drowned with information signs, the two spot lights really spoil the features beautiful design.
Right, now for my last sherry before bedtime, it's late.

George Lyon the Highwayman would have love this place being opened right on his doorstep.

Lovely photo of the church, on this special day.But were exactly is the post office?

What a lovely photo! It reminds me of a scene from All Creatures Great and Small or Home Fires. I love the Post Office sign and the reminders of poems or films of a more gentle age.... "Stands the church clock at ten to three", (or is it ten past on St. Thomas's??), "And is there honey still for tea?". Even Mick's bike adds to the timeless scene, "Spinsters Cycling to Evensong" or the line of bicycles awaiting their owners outside a church concert in the film "Yanks". There were probably cars whizzing past just yards away but the scene is of another time. Thankyou.

great photo Mick. I keep meaning to visit there when I can to look for ancestors

That is most certainly a sign of the times. The sign doesn't detract too much from a beautifully situated church.

Edna, the post office is inside the church.

The congregation and clergy liaised with church authorities and the community to work out how the building could be altered to maintain its links with the past while also serving Up Holland in the 21st century.A community cafe is being created and there will also be a Post Office counter for residents to use within the church building, as well as facilities for the toddler group which meets there. WiFi is also being installed.The church is now anxiously awaiting the further easing of lockdown restrictions to be able to open up the building once more Rector Paul Lock said the new vision for the building was entirely in keeping with the way the church has sought to serve communities throughout its history.He said: “We want to return to the Benedictine idea of the church being a community hub, a place open for everyone. “The changes will help to revive our church by giving us the flexible space to organise many different activities and events there. “It will also help us to establish the understanding that a parish church is a place for everyone because it belongs to everyone in the community. “While the pandemic has delayed our plans for reopening it has allowed us the time to get work done inside the church. “We look forward to welcoming lots of people as soon as we are able to.”Ideas for the future being discussed include a community cinema hosting regular film screenings and concerts taking place in the church.The building is also being considered as a possible venue for local history exhibitions and other performances.It has even been suggested that farmers’ markets could take place in the church, something which was common in the Middle Ages.Long negotiations were required before permission was given to carry out work on reordering the church’s nave.There has been a place of worship on the site since 1307 and there have been major changes to the church over the centuries in medieval, Georgian and Victorian times as well as the 20th century and the spot lights come in handy for illuminating the lovely gardens and graves

Garry, I know what you mean about the spot lights but if they help to keep the church and its grounds safe I would rather they were there than not. I quite like the idea of the Post Office inside the church. I have a "thing" about Post Offices and would hate to see them die out. The church then serves the village with TWO uses and is in use DAILY rather than just on Sundays. I realise not everyone will agree but sadly I don't think churches will ever hold the congregations they once held, except for weddings, funerals and christenings, so let them be of use weekdays rather than standing empty and silent. The "church" activities can still carry on alongside and that beautiful building will be used by the people of Upholland and hopefully will not go the way of a lot of churches are going at the moment, standing empty and derelict.

It's coming to something when a church is used for a Post Office, I never thought to see that day ...I suppose they could pick the licence up for the wedding.

Veronica, can you imagine what Sister Mary Monica would have said, about all this. But I must say its a brilliant idea, to have things going on for the community, like Irene says there are too many churches closing. I'm afraid we are forced to move with the times. But this one would be for the better.

I'm sure they could have put the information signs on a separate post just a few feet away from that lovely old gas lamp. Beautiful photo Mick.

Looks a lovely place.

Will the real James Hanson please stamd up?

I don't think that is a genuine old lamp post. It looks out of scale, extra height added. My neighbour has a rescued one complete with a three foot root buried in the ground.

Edna ....Father Lappin he would have driven 'em all out - just like it says in the bible....
My how things change in some churches.

This is a brilliant idea, I was in last year and they were just starting the cafe off.
But they said some of the pews where going to be coming out and making it into a proper cafe.
The cinema will also go down well with the posher Uphollanders which will show only classic films, just like they do in Posh Parbold community center, Parbold community centre also have classic musicians nights, maybe St Thoms can do the same as well

I can well understand Veronica's feelings but I would truly prefer to see churches re-organised to cater for the community than to turn to damp and decay until they become so unsafe that they have to be demolished. They are still churches and used as such for Services, but, sadly, drastically falling numbers of communicants, plus bills that still need to be paid, have forced so many to close, and the added uses will hopefully bring in money for the upkeep. I am not Catholic but the church I grew up next door to, (St. Williams in Ince), sadly closed its doors last year and there is talk of it being demolished. It was such a part of my childhood....many of my friends attended and I remember Socials and Jumble Sales that we all attended, whatever religion. I would love to see it with the congregations it had in my youth, but that isn't going to happen. I would rather see it re-opened as a church for the few communicants left these days, with the added services of a tea-room and meeting room etc, than see it slowly decay. To drive through my childhood home of Ince without seeing St. Williams there would be heart-breaking.

I thought photo a day was only for Wigan and borough?

Do we HAVE to be quite so pedantic, George? . It's Upholland, for Heaven's sake, not Timbuctoo. It's a short 'bus-ride from Wigan, as is Hindley! . We're not showing pictures of Southport or Blackpool!

Most churches have a community hall which can be used for social occasions i.e. Receptions and concerts and the like, but a Post Office is a new one on me .. but if people have agreed to that it is up to them. The church I attend has coffee mornings and the hall is used for different groups to use. Very much for the community. Perhaps the Post Office is set away from the church interior, and may make money for church funds. It is better than letting the church sink into ruin.
I see we have JH's mate mentioning 'Wigan Borough's ' again why do they have to spoil PaD with their banal queries. Who cares!

George, Photo-A-Day is much better when it is Wigan and district. We tend to see quite a lot of Aspull and Haigh on here, and the pictures & details are interesting. This location at Upholland is only about 300 yards/metres
from the Wigan boundary at Abbey Lakes. Cheers. Ray.

I doubt the Post Office will be in the church proper, Veronica....it will be in a room of its own, I would think. Sadly, Post Offices seem to be closing at the same rate as churches and I think if one can help the other it can only be a good thing. I wish with all my heart we could go backwards in time when both were thriving, but they aren't, and we have to look at a way to go forward, hopefully compromising so that both can carry on. It's brilliant if the church has a separate hall for meetings etc, but it is the church buildings themselves that worry me....they are magnificent but will decay unless kept sound and heated during the Winter. They need to be used by the community and the bills still need to be paid. At one time, the collection plate and donations helped but there are not enough communicants now to sustain that. Well said about the "Wigan Borough" fans! I have finished the book I told you about and will post it to you this week. I'll email you tomorrow. xxxxx

PeterP seemed to take offence at Mick being on Billinge Hill, stating that's not in Wigan.
No-one seems tomindUpholland, even though that's not in Wigan,or Wigan borough, either?

It's time we knew. Is PoD for ANY photo, of anything, anywhere, or is it only for Wigan?

George (Hindley) take a look at the PAD for 17 and 18 March both cracking photos of Hindley one of a shop front and one of a outside lav

I agree Irene who would want such a beautiful stone building to become a ruin. It's far too valued for that. Even if the church was sold off because of a lack of congregation it would still be useful and historic. I know I have ancestors from that area in the 17th Century I would love to see if any records of baptisms/ funerals etc were there regarding them. Thanks Irene for the reading matter.

Lovely photo Mick...cheers!!!

Mick, although I've never used that Hindley Lavvy, I've been in that Hindley shop and bought myself two new buckets. It's not often I use Market Street, apart from visiting the Mahabharat.

Irene. I see you mention christenings, weddings and funerals.
I refer to them as Hatchings, Matchings, and Dispatchings.

Upholland has the Wigan connection, the postcode WN5.

Alan, (on Vancouver Island). that's certainly one way of putting it! I used to love The Wigan Observer when it showed wedding photos and birth announcements. Sadly it only shows "dispatchings" these days and I always turn to that page first....I think you do as you get older, Alan, and feel glad you're still here!

Veronica - the Registers for Upholland are online on the Lancashire On-Line Parish Clerk site:
http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Upholland/stthomas/index.html
Unfortunately, they don't go beyond 1900, for anyone interested in later years. It's up to the local church whether they allow their more recent registers to be transcribed for the site. I don't understand why some are hesitant to permit this....

Thanks for that info, Reverend David. I will make a note although I should have some paper records I got some years ago. Working back from James and Alice Catterall's marriage at the Parish Church in Wigan in the early 1800's as he came from Upholland to Scholes.
Alice came from Yorkshire. I know there were a few generations before him. It was the poorest part of Upholland , I can't remember the name of it.

George, UpHolland has been historically and socially connected with Wigan since time immemorial, also it is geographically close enough (4 miles) to claim a valid association with Wigan.