A happy memory of growing up here.
 

Don't panic!

Not another maudlin Saturday thread.

Why not share a happy memory we have, about growing up in this huddle of northern towns, surrounded by wild moorland?

I remember one fantastic Sunday afternoon, when l was about ten.

It has snowed heavily the day before, but this day was startlingly blue skyed, and clear.

As ususual for Sundays, we'd been to church in the morning, and to Nan's afterwards for lunch.

Dad decided it was a good day for an 'adventure', as he called doing something out of the oridinary, such as walking to Rishton on the canal path in the pitch black, or sledging over Brookside in the moonlight, which are just two more examples of our many 'adventures'.

The roads were too bad to drive on, so we set off from Stanhill on foot. Warmly dressed in thick coats, hats, and gloves.

Eventually we got up on the moors, above Haslingden Old Road, and started to climb higher still. Avoiding the massive boulders, which had been rolled thunderously down the hills, after the recent bursting of the reservoir banking, a year or so before.

We climbed higher, and higher. We never saw another soul. Just us four adventurers. Dad, Mum, my brother, and me.

It was so beautiful, it was breathtaking. Literally, being so icy cold.

I remember feeling so happy to live somewhere so lovely, and felt so safe, and secure in our little family unit.

For some reasons we took a camera. Must have been film needing to be used up after Christmas, before it was taken to the chemist to be developed.

Even stranger are the photographs.

No 'Smile lads', 'Now you do me and Dad', posed, cheesy grins.

None of us are looking at the camera.

All are looking back, down the moors. Me pointing something out, whilst my brother looks at whatever it is through his binoculars. Mum, looking young in a brown wool maxi coat, and knitted cloche hat. Julie Christie dressed by Bessie Bradock. Dad, in a black coat, his legs hidden by a snow drift.

Reject photographs, from some seventies band album cover.

I haven't seen the photographs for years. Dad's been dead for nearly eighteen years. My little brother has two children older than we were then.

When I think what fun we had that day, the beauty I saw, the love I felt, it feels like it happened yesterday.

What happy memories of growing up in this part of Lancashire have you?

We've all got at least one...hopefully.

So spill...

:)

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

Have many happy memories of 5 of us setting off fer the day, goin oer the coppice,to Gamblers Caves, was a great adventure fer young lads, used to set off after breakfast wi butties n a frozen jubbly, play Japs n Commandos or Cowboys n Indians when we got yon, 4 used to have a swin in the res next to Gamblers,(not me couldn't swim in those days) n finally returning home about 6-00 ish to be screamed at,yer teas in the oven, your fault if its dried up, it never was though me nan was a liar.:rofl38::rofl38::rofl38: sadly only 2 of us left now.

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

I remember weekends spent at Cockerly Farm up Fielding Lane.
We slept in a romany style caravan. I played 'house' in the empty pig styes and made daisy chains, with the farmer's daughter.

My parents made friends with the family at Skirwith farm Ingleton, and many happy weekends spent there. - bottle feeding baby lambs, playing in piles of hay, sleeping in a feather bed, going to bed by oil lamplight.

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

I remember going to Ewood with my Grandad when I was only four, sitting in the Riverside stand then walking back to Blackburn calling at my dads cousin near the Infirmary

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

Canal bike rides...which I still go on now with my daughter. Funny how the best memories are usually of the simple things.

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

EVERY Sunday my gran used to take me and my sis for LONG walks...we'd go through Jacksons farm, cross over the canal bridge at the bottom, walk on through the other farm Jacksons owned at the bottom and before the motorway was made we'd then carry on through the Dunkenhalgh, through Rishton, into Great Harwood, back through Clayton, up Church lane and back to Dill Hall, sometimes we where thankful when gran only wanted to go on a short walk, we'd cut out Rishton and Harwood and go up by the G.E.C, up through Hygeine and onto Mercer park, that was before Mercer park Hall had been done up, one Sunday i remember being in Mercer park sheltering from the rain and lightening in the hall, i think the building wasn't used then and it had a little opening that you could stand in, maybe i'm wrong....i was only about 6/7

i don't have many memories of when i was little, not so many photos, thats why i take Reece all over the country and take huge amounts of pics, i want him to have lots of childhood memories, they are precious, you never get your childhood back so make sure your kids do memorable things

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

Groove has really enjoyed these posts, especially Rindi's which seems to capture the mystical magic of youth.

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

Sounds like you lived near where i did Flashy -that was our haunt as kids for playing out!

Sunday mornings were "our time" with dad while mum got Sunday lunch ready. Usually we'd pop round to his mum and dad's on Haywood Rd and if we were lucky there'd be something left over from Saturday in the bakery. Then we'd go round to the side of the Coppice -can't remember the road name and then set off up the Lane through Spire's Farm which was still a working farm and on up to the cottages beyond. Sometimes we'd stop here and play with some other children who lived there -their father was a colleague of Dad's. I remember being told how Spire's Farm and the cottages had bells which had been used as an alarm to warn the town's people of attacks (from the Scottish? possibly) hundreds of years before.
Then we'd go right over the top of Hambledon Hill - I remember it always being windy but never remember getting wet. We'd sometimes come right back over the Coppice and down to Avenue Parade, there were some sort of trenches up there which we used to be in and out of. Me and my sister probably walked twice as far as dad with all the toing and froing. Unfortunately there are no photos of these walks but we did them throughout the year in all seasons.

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

It's great you're a parent who decided to give your child, something you don't have many of yourself, early childhood memories.

He's a lucky lad.

Precious memories are treasure we can draw on for a lifetime.

Without being soppy, your dad, and your mum, will have been proud of what a good parent you've proved yourself to be.

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

My happy childhood memories also revolve around things which cost very little.

A play tent made for us by my dad......I can see him now, treadling for dear life and guiding the fent of white twill cotton through the sewing machine. Yes my dad could sew!
That play tent was used during the long summer holidays.....it was, in our imaginations, all manner of things....an indian teepee(cowboys and indians) a field hospital, a house. It was limited only by our imagination.
I remember paddling in the brook at the back of Highams mill, catching tiddlers and sticklebacks with a loop of wire covered with an old stocking and stuck in a bit of bamboo.
I remember sitting in the kitchen in winter, by the light of the fire drinking cocoa and eating toast done on the coals, while listening to Dick Barton on the radio.

I remember picking blackberries in the autumn......arms and legs covered in scratches from the spiky brambles....mouth purple from eating the luscious fruits, unwashed? Of course they were unwashed. We were told that we had to eat a peck of muck before we died.

I can remember Stantons pop van coming every Friday teatime, and us pestering to be allowed to buy a stone jar of Sarsaprilla........dark like Guiness, with a creamy bubbly froth on top. Pop? No of course it wasn't pop...it was the champagne of pop
I can remember sitting on the back stoop with a twist of paper with sugar in it and a stick of very sour rhubarb from the allotments. Dip and bite.....it was so sour it made your bum wink.

I have so many memories of my childhood.....we were poor in terms of spending power, but rich in experiences...and for that I am truly truly grateful.

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

I lived in Clayton as a youngster but had no sisters or brothers so i spent a lot of weekends and holidays at a friend's house of my mothers, were there was three children two girls and one boy all older than me but only by about one or two years.Me and the son Harry went all over Accrington Gatty Park The Coppice, Peel Park ,Oakhill Park,We spent a lot of time fishing stood on the concrete jetty on Ewbank Lodge catching gudgen putting them in a bucket taking them home where they all died(now we know short of oxygen)
These friends lived in the last house under the railway arch in Bull Bridge which was behind a tall wall with a lot of steps (all the row as since been pulled down for the new roundabouts) we could climb up the shale side which was at the back of the house up on to the railway line which we did often to walk to Burnley rd. we would also play on the building site which now is Broadway. There way green painted boards at both sides with the river going under in a tunnel which again we made use of going back home.
In the evenings we would play with some of there friends from school in there house at murder (no tele) and going to bed it was 4 in a bed 2 up and 2 down waking up with some ones toes under your nose.
When i stayed in Clayton it was football in the school yard until Bob Simmons chased us that is Jack Simmonds dad Jack played cricket for Lancashire and finished as Chairman I taut him all he knows! spent a lot of time in the ruins of the old mill at the bottom of Mill st playing in large pools of water sailing home made boats Good days but always missed and still do brothers and sisters.

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

Flashy, your post mentioning the Hygeine just brought a memory back, of me going with my uncle to visit someone in one of the old cottages on there, the one's facing the large wall nearly every Sunday morning, we walked not as far as you only from Mercer st

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

me and Reece rode our bikes along Hygeine last year, it took me right back to when i was little

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

Which aint so far,yer still a young un yet.;)

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

young aye ok, tell that to mi old bones

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Playing footy every Sunday morning {after church** between the garages at the top of Hodder St.

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

Playing football on Spring Hill field ( where the junior school is now) during lunchtime with the blokes who worked at TML. It was with my then best friend Paul Neville. They even made us "sweat band" head ties. We were at Junior school so about 8 or so at the time. I dread to think what they'd make nowadays of a group of grown men letting two 8 YO kids play football with them.....

Tennis against Lang Bridges during Wimbledon week...

riding bikes on the back entry down teh side of Rists and onto teh spare land behind Spring Hill club, making ramps out of old planks and Nori's.... My Mum and Dad couldn't afford new bikes so I had this old thing made of of what felt like cast iron it weighed so much and was complete with Rod brakes. god that bike took some abuse, At one point the front forks were so bent due to heavy handings from jumps and wheelies that the rod brakes no longer worked so we had to get the engineering shop on the top of the street to heat them up and bend them back...


mucking about around coal pit lane playing hide and seek in the tree/bushes ( and sneaking through the hole in the wall into the Convent ) :D

Making Dams in the Clough by Pendleton Ave and rope swings over the stream.

you know, we had nowt but they were superb days.....


Boys Brigade..


Playing the Flag game down Bullough park... football every friday night either in the Church hall or up on Bullough park top field if the weather/daylight allowed.

and with the Family....

Sundays down at Edisford Bridge, picnics on the river bank and messing about in our dinghy, trying to catch the little fishes etc

Drives through the Ribble valley to the Trough of Bowland, stopping at many different river banks for picnics etc

Camping holidays all over the country

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

Lovely post Entwisi.

:)

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

Used to love making dams...

And drives out to the Ribble Valley and Bowland... It was always hard work to persuade my dad on a Sunday afternoon to get the car out but those places have stuck in my memory and I'm rediscovering them with my southerner partner having recently returned to this part of the world.

Whalley Abbey, Clitheroe Castle, Slaidburn, Downham, Dunsop Bridge, Kemple End... I could go on.

Picking wimberries when you could find them, and wild flowers. My mum knew the names of every one.

We live in a lovely part of the country, but don't tell anyone!

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

its daft Rindy, there were no computer games to speak of ( OK Pong and early Atari/Sinclair things were just about out there if you had money ) but we had so much to do then.

I forgot me and all the neighbours/mates crammed into someones vestibule whilst it was chucking down outside playing "Top Trumps" or messing about with Star wars figures... ( Mark Whip, Craig Trenor, Alan Chadwick(Alan was the "rich kid" with all the latest figures....... :D ) ) then when it stopped raining we'd have races from the top of Elizabeth Street to the lamp post outside my house. ( Alan was fastest, then Craig, then me, then Mark!, amazing what silly bits of trivia you can remember when you put your mind to it)

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

I think you are right Susie...we do live in a beautiful part of the country. I think we take much of our lovely countryside for granted too.
When I travel around the country with Ma, we strike up conversations(having a lady in a wheelchair has the same drawing power as a baby in a pram...or a dog on a lead. I suspect Ma would prefer the baby and pram analogy) we ask people if they value the beauty of where they live....some say they do, a lot say they don't notice it. Now isn't that a bit sad?

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

Save up these 'silly bits of trivia' and tell them to your children.
It is amazing how quickly life changes. I look back on the writings about my childhood(in my blogs) and I could be talking about Dickensian times.
My daughters two children find it really amusing. One of them asked if I had ever seen Queen Victoria in real life - and there was me, thinking I was well preserved.:D

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

I live in a beautiful part of the world too ... and what is really starting to bug my ass is the number of young people wandering about texting:mad::mad::mad:, while all around them is a beautiful day, the sun on the lake, ducks, geese, all kinds of birds ... the lakeshore, the Thousand Islands (well, a few of the Thousand Islands;) and Wolfe Island, the biggest of them), the boats on the lake, the beautiful, old limestone buildings, all the life of a busy little city ... and all the little morons can do is send bs messages, and giggle at the inane replies, their attention glued to a little screen .... their lives as empty as their heads.

Maybe Wordsworth had something like this in mind (though, sans modern technology) when he composed those 14 wonderful lines on Westminster Bridge.

I remember the candles in jam jars, conkers and marbles ... the smell of linseed oil on the bat, and of a new cricket ball ...................:)

Oh, and trainspotting ... a thermos of coffee and cold sausage butties with HP on them ... waiting for the Midday Scot.

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

While we didn't have those mobile phones way back in my day....I can't say I took much notice of scenery......people would say 'look at that beautiful sunset/mountain/view' and I would think to myself 'just what are they on about'.
I just didn't see it.....maybe as you get older and see the views...you realise that it is one less sunset you will see again, it starts to have more meaning.......you recognise your mortality.
As a teenager/adolscent/young person...you think that life will go forever....that you are immortal.

Their lives will change...as ours did. Having children makes you see things differently...losing parents makes you see things differently.....falling in love makes you see things differently....and the biggest change is that 'getting old' one.
You look at your contempories and think 'sheesh, the years haven't done you any favours'. Then you look at yourself and realise that you don't look so hot anymore yourself.

Sorry I could be more succinct in my observations. It takes what it takes.

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

I get what you're saying Eric, very much so, but I know that I did not appreciate the beauty of my surroundings when I was growing up. I was too busy... well, growing up. It is only in later life that I have come to look at it with fresh, more appreciative eyes.

It will be interesting to see if the same thing happens with the textspeak generation. :rolleyes:

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

I am so glad you said that Susie...I thought it was just me who grew up oblivious to the delights of natural beauty.
I was more interested in The Beatles...more specifically Paul:)

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

Noooooooo - had to be John!!!!!! :prolleyes::psmile::pcool::iloveyou:

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

I preferred George - especially when he played sitar during his Indian phase.
I wonder why no-one fancied Ringo.

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

I agree with what you and Sue are saying ... and I don't mean to stress the dreamy-eyed poet stuff to the point where it turns us into idle Romantics ... but we did get out and live in the world around us ... it wasn't as alienated as it is now.

Neither John nor Paul turned me on ... Now, Cilla Black and Dusty Springfield:alright:

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

Building dams was fantastic.

Layer of sods, layer of stones, and repeat until it was deep enough to swim in, and hope it didn't break!

Building dens.

Some of ours were as impressive as anything Iron Age man built. Thanks to no longer used dry stone walls, in the fields behind our house.

Archaeological digs, hunting for treasure. Which was deemed a success if we found some bits of broken pottery, and an old bottle.

I won't go into the founding of the G.M. Club, which had it's own clubhouse, song, library, club oath, weekly meetings, membership cards, and it's own secret language and codes, in case you get the idea that I was a control freak, and the other ten members were coerced into becoming members.

:rolleyes::D

Life was so exciting. As others have said, most of it cost nowt, but was so much fun.

I do hope today's children find the world as an exciting playground as I did.

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

Don't know if you watch TV Margaret but there were two programmes about George on BBC2 this weekend just gone.

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

I'm really glad you preferred John........I wasn't going to share Paul with anyone.
John was just too........I don't know, clever..sure of himself.
Anyway it is all academic now.......John is no more(sadly) and I wouldn't warrant a second glance from Paul.(boo hoo....well,no he has uglified a bit as he has got older...but then haven't we all?)

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

Come on Eric, of course you're a dreamy-eyed poet - you can tell that just by loooking at your profile picture... :cool8:

Nothing wrong with being an idle Romantic...

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

And Eric, it would be more in keeping for you to have a 'thing' for Cilla or Dusty.

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

Think it wasthe glasses what did it...

Never went for the baby faced look ... and boy has he ever uglified as you put it. Perhaps just as well John's dead, he might have too.

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

Yes,he might...and wouldn't that have been a disappointment?
Anyway Paul has a new lady in his life now. She can have him. I'd rather keep a parrot!

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

'Ere, you pair pack it in, it's happy memories not unrequited fantasies. :)

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

Although not Accy (as I'm a Liverpool Lad) Sundays off out with the family & hounds at Formby beach or Delamere forest in all kinds of weather & seasons.

Nipping off to the cut despite being warned off not to go in :rolleyes: (then going swimming :eek: wouldn't even dream of doing it now)

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

Dusty was a dyke, am getting worried about eric,:eek: i was aware of that on a trip to London wi St Johns School when i was 11. that trip was a very happy childhood memory, but probably not one fer this forum.:D

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

So is Ellen Degeneres ... but she turns my crank too:alright:

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

Oh ... that pic ... I normally look more dishevelled;)

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Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

son, they were happy memories.

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

Remember one snowy afternoon, I'd be about 9, going with my dad from our home in Rishton - up Close Brow, past Star Delph to the New Inns Pub. My dad knew the landlord there as he collected the rates from them. The pub was closed, but we were invited into the kitchen to sit by a log fire and given crumpets to eat. Mum shouted at us when we got back as it was dark - think it was before the war ended as my Dad had his A.R.P. torch with him with a shade on it, as you weren't allowed to show lights.

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

Leave um alone Dave let um fantasize :D

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

Ya I haven't mentioned a school trip to Holland for the same reason cashy:D

Re: A happy memory of growing up here.
 

Okay Ma, I'll wind me neck in then. :)