Holiday Times Past

[William R]

Hello Forum, I`ll try to get back to Holiday Times Past with a bit of nostalgia (Oh No, I hear you cry). Lets start with the Wakes Weeks when whole streets and communities migrated to Blackpool from Bolton, Wigan and all the other cotton towns. All the holiday trains came down the slow line towards Leyland station, and always "held" at the signals by the railway crossing know locally as The Forty Steps, joining Denford Avenue with Bent Lane. We always gathered by the signals and along the railway banking where the trains waited. Holiday makers were always in a generous mood and were asking "Where are we?" we told them and were rewarded with bars of chocolate, toffees, cakes. I remember one time when a lady leaned out and asked us to deliver a rolled up newspaper to a house in Denford Avenue, we were well rewarded for this. When the train had gone we used to pool all we had got from them, and waited for the next one coming down the line. There would possibly be ten or so between ten and twelve o`clock, and this was for about six weeks of Wakes Holidays. They never stopped on the way back to the Cotton Towns so we never got any Blackpool Rock! Sometimes the engine drivers used to throw a big piece of coal to us, with "Take that home to yer Mam," generous indeed.. The year? about 1935/6. Cheers, Bill.

[brian]

I was the proud owner of a Cyclemaster when I was 16 years old in 1961 or 1962. It was grey and 28cc. I remember frequently having to clean the spark plug which was always very black except when I used Jet petrol and it was an ash white colour. With ordinary petrol I could achieve 30 mph on a flat road but with Jet petrol I got 33mph. There was a man at Moss Side who repaired them in a garden shed and I spent many evenings in that shed talking motor bikes with lots of others who congregated there.
Brian

[Caroline]

Bill, Mum remembers them throwing out coal from the trains, but not the treats. And sliding down the bannister at the Forty Steps.( She reckons there weren't really forty) I wonder if there's anything left of them, I used to go there myself.
Going down to London meant we could buy clothes and be ahead of the fashions in the shops upt'North, as the big trendy clothing chains hadn't arrived yet!

[William R]

Hello Martin, I don`t know where this one fits so I`ve put it to "Open", its a bit of thinking back. Can anyone remember at the beginning of the war on Sunday night at 9pm the radio used to play the National Anthems of all the Allied nations, we used to listen to them. Then the Russians joined in, and the National Anthems stopped because the Russian one was The Internationalle, and it was somehow forbidden to play it. The Russians very shortly afterwards introduced a new anthem "Unbreakable Union etc", the BBC began playing the anthems again, I`m sure I`ve got it right. We remember the V sign as well, and the messages in code to the Continent, just like in the wartime films we see now, Anyway, it was just a thought, someone may remember. Cheers, Bill.

[anacortesdamp]

Caroline:

There were a lot more than forty steps, probably closer to 75 down and the same number back up the other side.

American acquaintances find it hard to believe that we had grade crossings for pedestrians where trains were doing better than 80 mph, without headlights! I find it a bit incredible myself! I remember going home from Grandma's on winter evenings, across the foot crossing at what is now Hargreaves Avenue and listening VERY carefully for approaching trains. Those coming from Wigan towards Preston were the most dangerous.

Bill:

I guess Forty Steps is no more. Maybe my brother can remember when it was closed. Certainly, the crossing at the blind end of Hargreaves Avenue was replaced by "Howe's Mound" during the time we lived at number 29. I think the 40-steps crossing diasppeared about the same time, maybe about 1965?

Regarding old time holidays, Bill, I remember going to St. Annes for our "Wakes week". We used to hire a Singleton's taxi to take us from home to "Mrs. Burt's" boarding house. It was just on the Blackpool side of the main intersection in St. Annes, right across from the entrance to the park. I think we went as a family in '47, '48 and '49.

I think the taxi's normal duty was funerals. It was a long-wheelbase Austin 16, with jump seats aft of the glass divider. One year we arrived in St. Annes ealier than the recognized check-in time, maybe because there was a funeral in the afternoon!.

We left the luggage at the boarding house and headed for the beach. Within 5 minutes, I stepped on the base of a broken beer bottle and needed about 7 stitches in the bottom of my foot. The rest of the week, I was the star attraction at the boarding house in my wheelchair. The price was paid when Dr. Cank took out the stitches at home a couple of weeks later!

Nowadays, when we're not coming over to England, we go on holiday in a motorhome. We have a 26 ft MH, a 1985 model, with a 7.5 litre engine. It only gets about 7 miles to a US gallon (I'm trying to make that better), but we don't have to put our two Labradors in boarding kennels at 30 quid a day.

It's fun wandering around, even when we only do about 125 miles a day. There's so much to see in Washington, British Columbia and Oregon, I figure another three years before we venture further afield.

For anyone who wants to visit a scenically incredible part of the world with a climate like Cornwall, give Washington a try. The scenery is like a combination of Switzerland and Norway. It's easy to reach from Manchester, with direct flights to either Seattle or Vancouver BC. We told one visitor that the area was "very pretty". She accused us of lying. She said "the South Downs are pretty - this is absolutely magnificent".

Frank Damp
Anacortes, WA, USA

[LDunlop76]

Frank writes "listening VERY carefully for approaching trains. Those coming from Wigan towards Preston were the most dangerous."
Well, anything coming from Wigan is a bit risky! []

[William R]

Hello Martin, Possibly Peter may find a spot for this in his collection of small pieces, form the days before cars, television and just post-war. Newly married we decided to have a day of our annual holiday on a day trip down the coast of North Wales.. It started with a smart walk to Leyland Station to get a train to Wigan, change at Wigan North western to the low level station for the Manchester to Liverpool train.(There were plenty of trains in those days. Once at Liverpool, I can`t remember whether it was Exchange or the other, it was a very quick walk down to the Pier Head to catch the St.Tudno boat. The sail was down the Mersey to the Mersey Bar and the open sea, then going very leisurely down the coast in sight of land, they were lovely views from the sea. The boat called at Llandudno to let some passengers off, and pick some up, then onwards down the coast to the Menai Straits stopping at Beaumaris. We were allowed about one and a half hours ashore to see the place and get something to eat, before going back on the return sail. Finally we would arrive at the Pier Head and begin the mad rush to get the trains to Wigan and then Leyland. The final walk home from the station was a time to recall all that had gone by since the early morning walk, truly a day to remember before motorways and rapid transport which we have today. The catering on the boat was very good considering it was just after the end of Rationing, but still in a period of austerity. Memories..... Cheers, Bill.

[rocketmanjohn]

The other steamers on the Menai Bridge run were, St Ceriol and St Trilo, pardon my Welsh spelling. I think there may have been a fourth. I used to stay at my Aunts in Menai and loved to watch the steamers struggling against the current. HMS Conway was anchored at Menai Bridge and used as a Royal Navy training ship. The Conway was one of Nelsons ships, I believe, and was burned out in the 1960's. Not really Leyland stuff, but good memories.
John

[Caroline]

My aunt and uncle, plus children, used to CYCLE to Wales from Leyland for their annual camping holiday. I think he was in good trim from cycling to and from the nursery on Yewlands Drive where he was caretaker.

[William R]

Hi Caroline, You`ve started an interesting thread on cycling to Wales for a holiday. Me and Fred Pritchard (lost track of him) used to leave work at Leylands on Friday night heading to Wigan, Warrington to stop at Delamere Forest Youth Hostel near Tarporley in Cheshire. Males were housed in a converted hen house, girls were in a dorm in the main house. Do your own cooking over a Primus stove (very basic) and do your mandatory "task" before the Warden gave you your Membership Card back duly stamped. We had very basic road maps and took emergency ration cards, which were not much use to except as means of identification with our Identity Cards. We used to get as far as Conway Valley where I had an aunt, good meal and make our way back. We used to stop at a shack near Holywell on the way back and pay 1/6d for a night. Accomodation was on old armchairs or sofas with water for a wash. Visited at night by local police checking who was stopping there and why, were we vagrants? Back home in Leyland Sunday night, Fred lived by the river at Penwortham. there were no road signs, army trucks all over, Military Police checking on you wherever you went. Those were the days, or were they? Cheers, Bill.