What’s good about Accrington/Hyndburn, what makes you proud?

[KIPAX]

Very hard to be proud of a place I wasnt born in... I like the place enough to want to live here by choice and prefer it to my "home town" and by choice will not be leaving

[JohnW]

I see I've just lost two karma points for my little post about "handbags at 20 paces"

How pathetic. Care to take two more now for my mentioning it again?

[Darby]

QUOTE: so presumably its you (sorry i meant darby) who doesnt like the landlord and landlady which is a bit strange.

?????????

[mez]

sorry been told wrong information again, i apologise profusley to the person ive slited by the landlor/lady thread only going off wot i was told //

[KIPAX]

Darby....JW just got the thread back on topic and I responded accordingly... Can you start another thread or take it private please...lets keep this on topic

[mez]

he he he , yer like little tigers when yer all rattled, makes for good reading though, he he he

[KIPAX]

Mez.....anyone who mixes up a mesageboard with real life has kinda lost it.. pinch of salt and all that just hope darby isnt really going to murder me......hahahahahaha

[yerself]

Originally Posted by JohnW

I see I've just lost two karma points for my little post about "handbags at 20 paces"

I lost two for upsetting someone by starting a poll about the Arndale Clock. I wonder who could be doing this? Who on here does not accept any opinion that does not coincide with his/her own?

[Darby]

Back to the topic:

Howard & Bulloughs use to be a symbol of Accrington; Engineering and Cotton. Besides being the largest employer in the town, the building stood out, especially approaching from Blackburn or Manchester by train. Another outstanding thing was the cotton mills, most being in Church or Ossy. You couldn't miss the chimmneys, and the people who worked in them were absolutely representative of all Lancashire folk espouse.
Being brought up in Church and Accy, and my dad's family being well known in Ossy, I had a special view of our area, and was very close to its heart.
Nothing exciting seemed to happen, during "Wakes Weeks" the town centre was like a morgue, and you had to go into the town centre (outside the Maypole) to buy a daily paper.
I can't honestly remember any exciting event occuring in Accy during my childhood. Naturally, as a kid I didn't read the papers much, and relied on my parents or word of mouth from my mates at school.
I spent most of my time playing either on Nelson Square or down the Dunkenhalgh. Parts of Accy were almost foreign to me. Woodnook, and Baxenden in particular could have been on the other .
side of the moon.
The town centre was always kept clean, and I loved the open market and the Market Hall in particular, as my Auntie Ruby worked on Trickets Ice Cream stall, and always gave me a "free" cornet when I saw her.
Accrington was...nothing special, nothing grand, but a small average working class town, with working class aspirations. The Coppice was more like a memorial than a landmark and that is what I can always remember seeing first as I came home from the Far East, USA, or Africa.

I was proud to say that I lived in Accrington and that I was an Accy Lad.

[Doug]

Originally Posted by JohnW

I see I've just lost two karma points for my little post about "handbags at 20 paces"

How pathetic. Care to take two more now for my mentioning it again?

Why has this man lost two Karma points....He did NOTHING WRONG..........Now give him them back are I'm not Playing.......

[mez]

hey i remember the maypole now youve mentioned it ,my how one forgets, does any one remember going to the first ever i think little mini market up back abby st it was called sauls & everything was in cardboard boxes , my mum used to drag me there every sat morning , i hated it, but that was part of my old accy & a memory

[KIPAX]

Thats the whole thing about stuff that happens when your young.. you dont know at the time they are going to be remembered events...if you see what I mean? Take a camera everywhere is my advice

[Doug]

Good point KIPAX.

[Darby]

In them days cameras were a rarity.

We only had a Box Brownie, and only my dad could use it. I would have probably broken it. My camera is in my head, and I have very vivid memories. Pity I can't download them!

I remember Sauls, my mum use to shop there, again on Saturday mornings before I went off to the Odeon. A Jewish man owned it and my mum kew him and his brothers from Whitefield in Manchester during the war. It never got us anything cheaper though.
Another point of interest to me was the local Parks; Oak Hill (of course), Milnshaw Park, Rhyddings Park in Ossy, and my favourite, Gatty Park. Yes in them days Accrington had quite a few decent Parks that always had beautifull flowers, and well tended Bowling Greens. And quite a few thick bushes to chase the girls into!!! I'm sure Mez can remember them!!

[Doug]

I do too Darby. Milnshaw Park was my local when we where up at church, Rhyddings Park I passed though every day, twice a day as we walked form Miller Fold and School and back (always had to walk).......Bullough Park was the last of them for me. I loved watching a local Archery Club on a Sunday morning "****** I never got around to taking it up". Great days only 30 years ago, but a life time away