Not Every Memory is a good One.

Doug · 16-07-2004, 23:49

Not Every Memory is a good One.

This one is perhaps more for those who have moved a way form home and have like me, some very distant memoirs that are starting to surface. Sometime as they do the waters of time cloud them and has they clear we either smile longingly for our lost childhoods or we cry for the people gone from life hardly remembered....

I came home a couple of weeks ago for the first time in 20 years, although its 30 years since we left. When I arrived back up Fern Gore I met and talked with a very nice lady (good looker) who now lives in my old house…Although she grew up in other areas of Accy she knew of some of the places that I played in around the area and the names of some of those I played with.

Two of those people (of my Age - 44) have died, I knew nothing of there deaths until this month. One Ivor Lloyd was a School mate who past away six years ago (A kind lady on this site was able to confirm this for me) but I still don’t know why. And a childhood mate who grew up on the same street has me, Butch Ball. This guy was either very good or very bad, but always a good friend.

The point of this Thread is to give those who wish to, the opportunity to remember and share some of those memories that until now have lain dormant or forgotten and perhaps more importantly, seeks confirmation of some memories of those who where with us at the time……after all, not everything we may remember was how it actually was…

Gobsmacked · 17-07-2004, 00:12

I'm sorry to hear of the death's of two of your old friends. I'm a little older than you so I don't know the people concerned but the death of anyone so young is a tragedy.

I lost two good friends and a family member (all in their 50s) in a two year period so I can sympathise with anyone having a similar experience.

I probably see Accrington through rose coloured glasses as I spent the happy years of my youth in and around the area. I've been back a few times and seen the changes in the town I once knew, some for the better, some not so good. It is strange to accidentally meet people one hasn't seen for a few years and see how much they have (or in some cases have not) changed.

Time does play strange tricks on the memory. I think it was E M Forster who said 'the past is a foreign country - they do things differently there'.

Doug · 17-07-2004, 00:43

To true my friend, I thank you for your kindness of thought….Your not on your own when it come to Rose coloured specs….The Town I left is half the place I came back to, Church especially hurt me. What’s gone can never be brought back the way it was that’s why I bang on about preserving what’s left, one day we will wake up and it will be to late, these places of our childhoods and formative years will have gone and we will have a new Accrington, bland and character less…

When people ask me where I come form, I tell them with Pride “down Church, over at Accrington” and every time I remember the grimy black stained stone buildings, worn flag stone pavements without cracks and cobbled streets….with pride, something I have never said of this s*** hole I have lived in for 30 years.

Nadine · 17-07-2004, 16:16

Oh my goodness Doug - this is Nadine from Canada

Was Butch Ball's first name - Steve - I seem to remember a Butch Ball who used to chum around with my brother Paul Nixon and myself. I have posted on the find family and friends (Hello from Canada) if you want to read my posts but this is the first name that seems to ring a bell.

Doug · 17-07-2004, 17:53

Hi Nadine,

Butch was Steve; if it helps he had red hair and lived on Miller Fold. He had an older Sister Linda and a younger one whose name escapes me, both where very good looking girls. We where friends up to me leaving for Blackpool in the early 70s. I lived at 21 Miller fold on the same side but the opposite end. I believe that his dad still lives on Miller Fold….any loss is a sad affair, but when you’re the same age group (I’m 44) if shakes you up a bit……

Do I remember you ..........I'm not sure.

Nadine · 18-07-2004, 16:15

Oh, goodness it is him. I was going to ask if he had red hair - I do remember that about him. We lived at 18 Broadfield Road. I don't remember his sisters but I sure do remember him. We used to play marbles in the street. Also a fellow named Alan Beardsworth and Nigel O'Brien. I'm trying to pull out some names from school - Christine Rushton, Judith Austin....I'll keep trying.

My dad, Walter, just recently passed away. I was kicking myself for not finding this site earlier because he would have loved it. I have posted under lost friends. He died very, very suddenly on June 11 of an apparent blood clot that caused heart failure. I'm having a major problem trying to deal with this - he was my best friend.

mez · 18-07-2004, 16:28

hi, nadine did you know jim& steven carr? if so jim runs the plough pub on fielding lane osw

Doug · 18-07-2004, 18:00

Hi Nadine, Sorry, it was a shock to me has these guys where the people I was hoping to meet again after 30 years......Can you remeber Fred Silvester, Tony Quinn & Steve Turner all from Miller Fold. !966 - 1970.

steve · 20-07-2004, 17:55

Hi Nadine i was at school with steven ball [butch] so you must of been in the same class as me, as judith austin and christine rushton was. :engsmil:

Nadine · 20-07-2004, 19:26

Oh my goodness - not what is your last name - I can remember a Steven Hayes - I also remember an Eileen Fitzpatrick. I wish that I had some written memories of back then. Judith Austin was my best pal - we kept in touch for many years after I left. The last I heard from her though was many years ago. She had married and her last name was Clarke

Doug · 20-07-2004, 23:53

Hi Nadine,

It’s Malcolm Alan Douglas. I lived on the other end of Miller Fold. I was the ugly kid with the broken specs and wild black hair. We had a 68 MK 2 Jag until my dad b******* off, then we had b******* all, but we still loved him and got on with it.

I've got better looking as time past, "he's says hopefully" the hairs gone grey an d has been cropped as to not cause further embarrassment than necessary. Other than that I still a kid with dreams and ambitions still unfulfilled

steve · 21-07-2004, 14:13

Hi Nadine no not steve heyes but close me him and shaun whitehead all used to mate around. :engsmil:

Doug · 21-07-2004, 14:18

Hi Nadine do you remember Derick Wheatcroft.....I believe he's up Clayton somewhere

carole · 22-09-2004, 16:41

Christine Rishton (not Rushton please..) is my younger sister. I take it the school was St Oswalds. I remember Judith and Eileen too although they were much too young to hang around with us.

pendy · 23-09-2004, 15:27

I can remember that it broke my heart to leave (although I was living in Blackburn by then) even though I was going off with my new husband. We moved to Staffordshire, which was an awful shock - what I thought were hills in the distance turned out to be slagheaps! I suppose that I was fortunate to realise long before I left how much I love Lancashire, not so much the towns to me, as the wonderful country, the beauty of the Ribble valley, the wildness of the moors, and the fact that wherever you are in the town, you can always see a hill without houses on top. THAT is what I missed most in London, and I used to come up just to see a few hills without houses on top.

This site has brought back old friends to me, as well as making new ones. Mez has put me back in touch with friends from my childhood, which is wonderful.

Not all the memories are good ones, I lost my mother when I was 19, my father having gone years before, which was a very sad time for me, but I have so many happy memories of a childhood of freedom and space .... unfortunately, my children couldn't have the same in London.