Accy Characters

[PurpleLass]

So is he still alive? Wonder if he's still eating cigarettes.

[cashman]

was still alive last summer,saw him from a distance.fortunatly

[lindsay ormerod]

Your Michael Jackson impersonator is still alive and well too! he lives in Blackburn which is why we see a lot less of him now,and thankfully he doesn't know where I work now.He was a right pain when he kept coming into Our Price;though the novelty value was entertaining for a while!

[Debbie J]

Does anyone remember the little old lady(she seemed it then) who had the chippy accross from the old Accy baths? she always had a smile.
Then there was May who lived at the bottom of Stanley St with her dolls & pram who if you knocked on her door would chase you wearing swimming goggles & pushing the pram (much to my shame)
Another Character was "Parky" who used to go through the bins on market days along with Rumple

[Mik Dickinson]

Remember the little old lady at the chippy.The other ones are news to me .

[cashman]

Originally Posted by Ernie

I'm sure most of you remember "Dancin' Billy"and co, who used to hang out round the front of the market hall, putting the world to rights over a bottle or two of cream sherry.

And Sid, Accringtons horseracing tipster who used to sell newspapers outside Redmans in the early 60s.

dancing billy,knew him from late 60s when he came back from america,was some sort of electrician,but never knew him work here,apprently took to drink after a family bereavment,always putting the world to rights,but never harmed a fly.he died a few years ago 4/5,the vicar was amazed that somebody of his nature should get over 100 mourners,which i doubt if i will !

[maccawozzagod]

what about the Michael Jackson Impersonator 15 years ago. Used to moonwalk in front of the Market Hall, now oining folk in Blackburn

[VALJExx]

Remember Joe Morts near the railway arch? dance place , he always had his alsation dog at the top of the stairs, you had to climb the stsirs to pay and enter the dance place, it was very dark lol but there were lots of Characters who went up Morts.

[VALJExx]

we always went everyWednesday because it was free if you got there before 7pm

[Tybow]

Yes, I remember trying to get there before 7pm. You'd get a "stamp" on the back of you're hand, if you wanted to go out again.
If my memory serves me correctly, when I first went there (1959?) there was no men's toilets, they had to go across the road to public ones. I was there the night they announced that Big Bopper etc had died in a plane crash.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Sadly, I never made it to Joe Morts...though all my friends went.....Knowlemere Street too. My mother had these places down as Dens of Iniquity,and I was left in no doubt as to what would happen to me if my mother ever found out I had been to either of those haunts.
Her dislike of those places made them seem all the more intriguing. Made me want to go more than ever.....but I was always sure that she would find out some way if I ever went...so I never did.

[MargaretR]

Originally Posted by lettie

Oooh Grego, I remember Spaghetti woman. An extremely abusive old ??Italian lady who used to eff and blind at everybody....

I think that this lady could have been Katarina Azzapardi (Maltese). I know her name because of my job (as was).
I once stopped my car in a side street to allow her to cross -she slammed her furled umbrella on my bonnet as 'thanks'.
The scene was a bit like the famous 'Granny and the air bag' on YouTube, except that I stopped voluntarily and didn't pip my horn, and air bags hadnt been invented then.

[Ianto.W.]

Joe the Pole was like that Margaret, he used to step out in the road, he wouldn't get away with it today. He used to sit in the bus shelter at the as was Grammar School on Blackburn Road.

[chrissy]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Sadly, I never made it to Joe Morts...though all my friends went.....Knowlemere Street too. My mother had these places down as Dens of Iniquity,and I was left in no doubt as to what would happen to me if my mother ever found out I had been to either of those haunts.
Her dislike of those places made them seem all the more intriguing. Made me want to go more than ever.....but I was always sure that she would find out some way if I ever went...so I never did.

Was the one on Knowlemere street called the `arts`. I remember going there when I was about 12/13. As I walked throught the door `Out of Time` by Chris Farlow was playing and the atmosphere was electric. It was the first time Id ever been anywhere like it. Also the Disco over the top of Catlows fruit and veg, you got a stamp on the back of your hand there. Also if you hadnt rinced out all the soap out of your tights, it would show up all patchy, and white because of the blue lights they had on there.

[accypete]

Originally Posted by Darby

Does anybody remember the old Polish or Ukrainian guy in the 60's who always wore wellies and a dirty raincoat (summer and winter), carried a black plastic bag, and walked on the sides of the pavements, and then would jump quickly into the road to face an oncoming car, and then just a quick jump back on the pavement.  He would then smile at the amazed and annoyed motorist, bow and say "Thank you".

He was really harmless, but would bow to people, or give them a Nazi salute if he thought they were formal.  he talked to himself a lot, as if he always had a companion.

Once in the saloon bar of the Commercial Pub, he walked in, bowed to the assembled drinkers.  Asked the barman for "A Pint of Mild, Please"...the barman (who was new), pulled a pint, and put it on the bar.  Old "joe" or whatever he was called, simply bowed, said "Thank you" and promptly walked out ;D ;D

He was still jumping in front of cars on Blackburn Road nr the Sacred Heart and shooting them with his walking stick in the mid 80's