Photo-a-Day  (Friday, 7th May, 2021)

Seems to be permanent tailbacks there. I know someone who lives about three hundred yards down on the left will know better than me.

It's become the norm everywhere.. happening that much it's taken for granted. Where on earth are they all going to... work, home or any shops that are still left, who knows? Sometimes it's easier to walk at least there's no hold- ups, it's worse still with buses.

Good photo Dennis, it's nearly as bad as our place. Irene will have some interesting comments about this one. Is it the top or the bottom of Abram ?

I'm here, Broady! It comes in fits and starts....sometimes the road is clear. The queues tend to be round the time that the children are going to school and tea-time. Very often, road works in Platt Bridge or Spring View are the cause of the problem. There always seem to be road-works somewhere. It is now 8.35 am and the cars are whizzing past our house.

Since the lockdown started to easy this photo of traffic chaos is all over Wigan and indeed the Country.

this photo is depressing dennis

I wouldn't like to live in a built up place like Abram, that's why I'm living up here in the traffic free countryside of sunny Shevy.

I wish I could post a live view and the sounds that I have of the bird songs, and the views of Parbold hill, Ashurst and the distant Winter hill this morning

I have commented, Standisher, but my comment hasn't appeared as yet. I put it on at 8.35 and commented that the traffic was whizzing past our house at that time. Maybe I just missed the slot for comments as I see yours was at 8.32. It's odd in Abram....sometimes the traffic is dreadful, especially around teatime, and sometimes not. Occasional roadworks in Spring View or Platt Bridge add to the problem as it is always the traffic heading toward Wigan that is crawling...the traffic going towards Golborne never seems to be a problem. It is fine at the moment.

Apologies for my duplicated comment everyone, and my apologies to admin too.. I thought it had been missed, which has happened a few times recently so I repeated it.

Of course there's no busy roads in Shangri- la Shevington either at the top or the bottom of the non- descript village. Nothing happens in back waters, apart from the rusty screech of the toll bars at the top and bottom where the border control sit in little wooden cabins playing Monopoly with real streets and houses.
No wonder Mick has to 'gerron 'is bike ' at the crack of cock crow! ;o)

Mick, going off the photo-a-day of Shangri-La, (Shevington), the other day, I would hardly call it a rural idyll. Abram is a lovely village and we are surrounded by fields and woods. Warrington Road is simply the main road that runs through it. I am amazed that you stopped and had a rest on the seat up near The Buck's Head recently if it so appals you....I would have thought you couldn't wait to leave. I assure you the birds sing in Abram too. Please feel free to bypass our much-loved village next time you are this way....I wouldn't like to think we offended your Shevington -biased eyes or that you might fall off your bike with shock at what you seem to think is The Bronx. If your home village is so beautiful, I can only wonder at your daily wanderings to other places when you seem to live in Utopia.

I go through Abram a few times in the week and it does not help with double parking. Hgv's/buses get stuck behind parked cars then when they get through it is then a convoy of vehicles. Again this happens every where not just Abram. Got stuck in traffic above once in sunny shangrila oops I meant Shevy

Irene , whatever you say it won't bother the Shevvy bike mon as he make believes the sun shines out of all the resident's bottom ends, but in his case it's fog at the top end. Anyway what were those old 'Scholes shops' doing at the top end of the village ? I can only surmise they must have been taken brick by brick from Scholes in the sixties...

If 'Sunny Shevy' is so lovely I wonder why he has to get on his bike every day to leave it,he makes me laugh with his crackpot remarks.

Come, come Michael Your house is 100yds from the M6 there are houses front back and both sides. If you can see views you must be sat on the roof haha hoho haha

I'm sure the residents of Shevington are lovely people and I agree it is a nice place....my remarks were aimed at Mick. He knows full well that I always speak to him civilly but I am capable of holding my own when necessary. Even though I mentioned The Bronx as I know it has a reputation, it is Home to a lot of people and is probably dear to many of them. We all have a right to love the place we call Home, whatever it's like. I think he must have been so shocked at the state of.my home village that he kept his eyes shut, which made him fail to see that you can also see Winter Hill from Abram as well as Shevington, and whilst it's a nice view, it's a hill with a television mast on it, not the eighth wonder of the world.

Maybe Mick's other battery powered toy is a drone

I see a Handymans Store van. I think the diy shop was somewhere in Bickershaw, if it's still going that's a wonderful survivor. I remember buying something from there years ago, must be at least thirty years ago.

Irene you say Abram is a lovely village and that you are surrounded by fields and woods, but you dont mention that its next to Platt Bridge and close to a prison and the Gypsie camp
We are lucky up here in Shevy because we have our own council, who have recently bought woods and fields that used to surround the ICI factory, that have been turned into state of the art sport pitches and changing rooms all of which can now be used by the villagers.
Also we have green fields in between us and Wigan, Standish, and even Appley bridge and Orrell, so we are out there on our own.
We also have two pie shops one chip shop, dentist, two chemist a cafe , a music school, two junior schools, one high school, a gym, a youth club, a scout troupe, a recreation ground and a park which are both in the centre of the village, three churches, two pubs, two bowling greens ,two allotments, a golf course, a railway station, an award winning modern doctors surgery, four mini roundabouts, two pelicon crossing, and an access point to join the M6 motorway

It may be depressing janet, but it is a twice daily experience for people all over the country. Trying to get to work and back or taking the kids to school and back is a nightmare. Fortunately, I’m retired and in no particular rush to get anywhere.

Mick, how do you keep managing to turn a blind eye to that great, wide chasm that runs through the middle of Shevington? Surely you must have seen the mirages in the petrol and diesel haze that forms over that big hole on a warm, sunny day? Do you ride your bike over the bridge with your eyes closed? Are you deaf to the roar and thunder of an endless convoy of forty ton lorries? Do you not lie awake on foggy nights and think of all those cars that have smashed together in the valley below?
It’s still there Mick, it won’t go away just because you ignore it.

Mick, you forgot to add a campsite to your list of Shevy's attractions...but of course it could be just over the border crossing & be in Gathurst !

Mick. you may have a rec, a chippy, a chemists, a scout troop, a park. two schools, a bowling green and a partridge in a pear tree but we have all we need here in Abram, INCLUDING the above. The gypsies don't bother anyone and the prisoners are INSIDE the prison, which is in Bickershaw, not Abram. If you don't like Abram, keep away. Anne, The Handyman Shop is in Platt Bridge. They stock a huge amount of goods and they give a brilliant, old-fashioned customer service. Whenever I go in, a member of staff will rush to hold the door for me as I leave, and if they are all engaged with customers, the man on the till will jump off for a moment to get the door. And yes, Mick.....that's in PLATT BRIDGE!

Helen thanks for the reminder about the camp site, which is actually in Shevy, because the order is just on the Orrell side of the river Douglas
Irene I also use the Platt bridge handyman store because like you say you get good old fashioned service and I also use Pauls cycle centre which is best bike shop in Wigan.
Two things I did forget to mention about Shevy is the library and a Coop, and also what makes Shevy so appealing to visitors is all the amenities. are in walking distance from one another.

Poor Dennis has gone out to give us all a photo of some of the towns and villages we live in, once again it's all about Mick's snobbishness and his Milly-Molly- Mandy village in the foothills of Shevvy on Shangri La.
( He does it on purpose!). Good photo Dennis as usual.

I was born in Ince and left when I got married but came back almost 20 years ago so I know Ince very well them shops are awful I wish they would demolish the lot but of course it’s only Ince so it doesn’t matter we seem to get left behind with everything but wonders never cease they have started cleaning up the grass up the side of the church bridge and painting the railings.Just a little message to Elizabeth are you Elizabeth Hurst that worked in the History Shop if you are a big thankyou for giving me those old school photos of Ince Central. (Jean Fishwick)

sorry everybody about my post on Ince I should have changed over to yesterday’s photo

Good photo Dennis, like Irene says, this is the main Rd through A Abram.It will be busy at peak times,its a nice place, I think Mick just likes to get everyone's blood pressure rising.We have to rise above it.(Shangri-la) Shevvy is nothing to shout about.

Jean, don't worry....it is easily done and I am always happy to read and talk about Ince. Abram has been my home for 47 years but I was born and brought up in Ince and it will always hold a very special place in my heart. I went to Ince Central too.



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I cant see one bit of snobbishness coming from Mick, the way I see it, he is only trying to explain why he would like to live in a built up area like Abram,
And if you go back and read what some of you have wrote, you will see that its all coming from the same people who wake up everyday trying to put Mick down.
I wish some of you could learn to comment with out using the name MICK

Yes Jean,that's me ! How lovely of you remember the photos of Ince Central,like yourself and Irene,I loved growing up in Ince and couldn't have had a happier childhood. Hope you and yours are keeping safe and well,and thanks again.

Elizabeth thanks for replying to my post,do you remember Raymond Unsworth i am related to him in a roundabout way and he came to my home a few years ago and he could name every child on our class photo taken about 1956 when we were about 5 or maybe 1957 when we were 6.All my family are fine and I sincerely hope yours are to.

I always speak to you civilly, Mick, even though many, (understandably), don't and I have always tried to be polite and to inject a bit of humour into my answers, and I ALWAYS make a point of saying that I agree with you when that is the case, as it sometimes is. However, I will also DISAGREE if I feel you are wrong. This is NOT personal but I am not going to sit here and see the place where I live rubbished. I certainly don't "wake up every day trying to put you down" and never will, but I am a human being and have every right to reply to your comments as I see fair. I'm glad you love the place where you live but it doesn't give you the right to put other places down. Home is not Abram or Shevington or any particular place....it's where the heart is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abram,_Greater_Manchester

I was intrigued with the teapot, milk jug and cup on the Welcome sign, there is a lot of information about Abram on the link above, however no mention of what these and the cotton reel signifies - did Abramonians of old like a brew whilst sewing, maybe Irene will know, I never knew that Abram could boast a list of famous folks, though I did know of Mick Burke the mountaineer.

Mick - you forgot one asset in Shevington - the Cobblers!

Cyril, Not sure but I think it has something to do with the Morris Dancers. There is a Maypole upPark Lane.

Mick, I wish I could post photo’s of the Eagles and Ospreys around our area on a daily basis. Or maybe the deer in peoples back gardens. I could lift my head up and see the Bow River flow past with the Rocky Mountains in the background.

Cyril,
I think they have something to do with the Morris Dancers. They have a Maypole down Park Lane which is at the other end of the village.

I was born and bred in Platt Bridge, it was a different place then. I would describe it as a self contained village. two cinemas, a billiard hall, several grocers, butchers, hair dressers ,shoe repairers ,three banks, numerous pubs and clubs, doctors, even a blacksmith. There certainly were no traffic jams in fact very little traffic !

The sign is to do with The Abram Morris Dance, Cyril, but I am a bit hazy on the details, especially the "teapot". I feel I have heard the story but can't recall the details.

Hello Jean,yes I remember Raymond Unsworth,he was in our class,although I never knew you were somehow related.What a great memory of all that time ago ! Take care and keep safe Jean x

Irene, the prison is in Hindley. Just saying. As was Platt Bridge.

Thanks Rev. I forgot about our cobblers, funny thing is I was in there this morning.
Broady why dont you take some photos of the wildlife you see in Canada and post it on WW message boards and your rejected friends forum.
Yes Irene I must say you do always speak to me civilly, but a lot of your friends dont, have you not noticed.

There was also a Raymond Unsworth in my class St Josephs Wallgate,

The prison is in Bickershaw.

Perhaps if your attitude changed people would not react to your belittling comments to where other people live. The comment at 12 14 is one example.
Not to mention comments about council estates.

Thanks Irene and Broady.
The Abram Morris Dance, though it is only a preview with the full article available online from a library or school. It does however explain what is depicted on the Welcome to Abram sign.
https://go.gale.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA646310822&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=05319684&p=AONE&sw=w

There's another small preview from the Journal of English Folk Dance and Song Society. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4521013

An original paperback book is on sale at Amazon UK, though it's £32.70.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Journal-English-Folk-Dance-Society/dp/B0915J834V/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=Journal+of+English+Folk+Dance+and+Songs&qid=1620487244&sr=8-4

Well researched Cyril, very interesting. I did wonder about the teapot.