A happy memory of growing up here.

[ossy kid]

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

[entwisi]

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 )

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

[garinda]

Lovely post Entwisi.

[susie123]

Originally Posted by entwisi

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

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

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

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!

[entwisi]

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....... ) ) 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)

[Margaret Pilkington]

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?

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by entwisi

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....... ) ) 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)

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.

[Eric]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

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?

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, 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.

[Margaret Pilkington]

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.

[susie123]

Originally Posted by Eric

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, 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.

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.

[Margaret Pilkington]

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

[susie123]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

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

Noooooooo - had to be John!!!!!!

[MargaretR]

Originally Posted by susie123

Noooooooo - had to be John!!!!!!

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

[Eric]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

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

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

[garinda]

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.



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.