Who Remembers ...Accrington Observer

jimmi5bellies · 01-07-2005, 10:05

When the pages was that big you had to sit on the floor to read the paper and turn the pages. Can anybody remember what year the resized the paper. I was telling my son how big they was and i dont think he believed me when i said it took half a tree to print one paper

garinda · 01-07-2005, 10:11

Don't remember.

Do know l had a letter published in 1981 when l was sixteen, which resulted in a brick through my parent's window at our old house and six death threats to little me. lt was still foolscap size then.

jimmi5bellies · 01-07-2005, 10:57

Ohhhhhhhh dear about the brick and the death threats !

Am i showing my age now about the large observers ?

WillowTheWhisp · 01-07-2005, 11:05

I remember them. They were even bigger than the LET used to be weren't they? My Dad used to be able to hold one and fold the pages into quarters to read it but I never could.

garinda · 01-07-2005, 11:16

Don't know if it was bigger but it was defo on the floor reading for me. It was such a treat to read then, and wasn't available until Saturday morning, and none of this Thursday afternoon nonsense.

The Midweek Observer then, was better than today's poor facsimilie.

I think it was still independent then and not part of a large group.

cashman · 01-07-2005, 11:17

i don't know when they changed,but i remember the paper bag was ruddy heavy,trudging up the topof avenue parade on sats,happy days lol,used to have to go back to bilsboroughs paper shop for the second half of my round on a sat.

Doug · 01-07-2005, 11:24

I think they just got smaller as we got bigger. I remember that you could cover the fire hole with one sheet and then wait for it to catch light. I also remember that one Observer could keep you in good quality loo paper for a good week. “Read and wipe” not something you can do these days. lol.

WillowTheWhisp · 01-07-2005, 11:25

The print didn't come off on your ............ fingers either the way it does today.

Doug · 01-07-2005, 11:50

They where the days, long drops, White washed walls, Tillie lamps, spiders and rough torn four by fours hanging off a six inch nail.

The chips stayed warmer in printed paper “which was a blessing when you had to walk all the way down to Ormerod Street for them” and you had the chance of getting the front page of the Observer if you where quick. Yes we where that poor, I walked up and down Willows Lane to Green Howarth with two pages of the Observer in my shoes for six months. When winter came we changed over to the waxed wrapper off a Mothers Pride medium sliced. Anyone remember the Bread man coming round.

Doug · 01-07-2005, 11:54

Off Subject I know.

Does anyone from around Fern Gore/Willows Lane area remember the Polish chap that use to come round with the Mobile Shop late 60s early 70s. He drove an old “and I mean old” Volvo. He was a nice chap allowed us to have goods on tic.

lettie · 01-07-2005, 12:27

Oooh, I remember sitting on the floor reading the old Observer. It was massive and brilliant for wrapping chips in. We had a chip shop and always used the Observer for wrapping. You could wrap 2 sheets several times round a portion of chips and it would keep them lovely and warm. I remember when the journalists used to be able to spell too...

jimmi5bellies · 01-07-2005, 12:46

Yeaaaaa you all remember ...started to think i was just imagining it

The Tuesdays edition was good too. I think Rochdale still get a mid-week edition.

JohnW · 01-07-2005, 13:32

I think most papers at one time were printed on what they called 'broadsheet'. They have all gone 'tabloid' over the years.

pendy · 01-07-2005, 13:44

I can remember, twice a week, my auntie Nellie wrapping her copy of the Observer tightly into a brown wrapper, and then me taking it to the postbox in the wall of the Stag to send off to my auntie Agnes in Manchester. Sometimes, strictly illegally, she would fold a letter inside the Observer before wrapping it - illegal because the wrappers were "Printed Paper Rate". I seem to remember that if I posted it Wednesday morning, it would arrive in Manchester by Wednesday evening's post - and we think communications have improved!

I can remember, as well, putting a sheet of the Observer over the blower to get the fire going, and the lovely roaring sound it made. Had to be careful it didn't catch, though. Anyone remember making "paper sticks" out of the Observer? And there was a lot more in it in those days.

cashman · 01-07-2005, 14:28

paper sticks-we used to call them guns,roll the old observor up tie it in a knot,like a gun then put 4 or 5 in the firegrate to gate the fire up in the morning,but when it was really cold the observor came to the rescue again,lol got a couple of pages fill it with slack from the coalnook,it would keep the fire going all night, memories lol