Wigan Album

Looks like Donald Cornes, 3rd from left, 2nd row up.

Alan Goodman standing in front of man second from left on back row, possibly?

Bottom row third from left..Derek Mcloughlin(not sure of the spelling)sadly no longer with us...he was a neighbour of ours.

Colin, can I take it you are a relative of Tommy, I worked at the Observer from 1973 to 1988, quite a few in the photograph still worked there. On the back row from left Cliff Roper, Harry Stopforth, Les Fishwick, Tommy Harlow, Harry Parker, Cliff Webb and Peter Fishwick. In the middle Peter Hooton, Donald Cornes, Eddie Farrimond, Cyril Goodman, Frank Collins, Alan Rimmerand on the front Derek O'loughlin and John Fairhurst. The Observer was a brilliant place to work but unfortunately after John Dakeyne retired it all changed and not for the better.

Hi Geoff, it's nice to hear from you. Yes I'm Tom's son, Colin. It's great that people like yourself can put names to some of the staff on the photo. I would say after Rowbottom Square, the Wigan Observer really came to life at Woods Street with John Dakeyne's guidance. Without dout John was the linch-pin at the Observer, he was tireless to make a success of the paper. History shows, the great years at the Observer was the Woods Street era, they won every award in the newspaper game, infact, the Observer was the only paper in United Newspaper's group to print Colour by web offset. Sadly the Observers not printed in Wigan after almost 140 years, its now printed in Preston. The paper seemed to blossom and then die. Back to the photo, quite a few have sadly died too, but one things for sure, they all made their Contributions to the Wigan Observer and indeed Wigan.

Love those early-sixties dresses and hairstyles. My friend Christine and I (we would have been 10 in 1962) used to love to watch the local teenage girls getting ready to go out...sticky-out dresses, Bel-Air hair-laquer, (the smell was enough to strip paint!), mascara you had to spit on, and poppet-beads from Woolies.We couldn't wait until we were old enough to do the same, but the beehives and winkle-pickers went out, and the Mods came in, before we had a chance! Can't see my old mate Geoff Shryhane on this pick, and I know he started work at the Ob. in 1960; did you miss the coach, Geoff?

Colin thanks for the reply,your dad was a real gent, I worked in the page makeup dept not the press room but saw your dad every day. You certainly have a good knowledge of the history of the Observer and I have really enjoyed the photographs you have posted, thanks. IRENE I have 'missed the bus' many times in my life but I started working at the Observer a few years after this photograph was taken.

Hi Irene, Geoff Shryhane would have missed out, he started work as a junior reporter in Sep 1960, at the age of 15, a little young maybe. Looking through my archives of Observer photos, Geoffs not on any works outings I have, but he's on many reporting for the obby. I Spoke to Geoff a few weeks ago and he's fine...51 years at the office and still going strong, What a gent.

Sorry Geoff, it was GEOFF SHRYHANE I meant, who does the Ob's Wigan World page and the theatre reviews.He has been a friend of mine for around 25 years now, but I didn't know him when he started out as a young reporter in 1960.

Geoff, I have some photos that was given to me by Derrick Smith's wife, Clarice. Derrick worked on the press and he and Clarice knew of my keen interest in the history of the paper. Many are from the Woods Street days, but one or two are from Martland Mill. If I post them maybe you could put names to faces...I take it you moved to Martland Mill after the closure of Woods Street.

Could that be Bob Dean 3rd left on back row?

Colin, I knew Derrick Smith very well, I can remember in my days before I started at the Observer he worked at a commercial printers and was an official in the Wigan branch of the National Graphical Association which was the print union at the time. Yes I did move to Martland Mill, things were never the same after the move, I would love to see your other photographs I am sure I could put some names to the faces.

I think the lady on the far right is Nellie Melling we used to live across the way from her in Aspull

Colin, did you know Fred Dove? He used to be a neighbour of mine.

Hi Nev, no I didn't know Fred personally, but of him. Fred was the Wigan Observer's editor at Rowbottom Square and then at Woods Street, he retired in 1973, his assistance editor Jack Winstanley took over from 1973. When the paper went over to web offset printing in 1966, (the very latest in printing technology) fred used to call it web upset.

The very lovely lady third from the right(next door but one to Nellie Melling)is my Mum Mrs Edith Keane.She left the Observer office when it moved to Woods St.

I couldnt believe what I was reading! The Obs printed in Preston! Give me strength! How many who actually know Wigan work there I wonder. Having said that, my father's death announcement had to go in twice because none of it made sense, both times. We gave up in the end trying to explain. It wouldnt have happened at Wood Street. There would have been hell to pay.

I'll try and give more history to the Wigan Observer. The paper was founded by Thomas Wall in 1853, it came out once a month and was printed on an old Stanhope press at Rowbottom Square. In 1884, the Wall family bought a used printing press from the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo for £1,000 (in todays money that would cost around £50,000) it could print a 8 page broadsheet paper. In 1905, a year after the death of the founder Thomas Wall, another printing unit was installed so that it could print 16 pages at 8,000 copies an hour. It was also one of the first presses to have a folding facility and it kept on rolling until it printed it's last copy on the 21, January 1966.
The Wigan Observer was acquired by Provincial Newspapers in May 1965, after many months of negotiations and it must be said reluctantly by John Dakeyne(MD). It was John's great regret that the paper was sold in the months before the new press rolled for the first time at Woods St. Well over 50% of the shareholders wished to accept the offer made by Provincial Newspapers, it was a very difficult time for all, though most of the burden really and naturally fell on John. However, on the 28th January 1966, the Wigan Observer had quite literally turned over a new leaf, having news instead of advertisements on the front page and being printed on one of the most modern presses in the country. As the years went by, Woods Street became the flagship of Provincial Newspapers umbrella, winning everything in the newspaper game, colour pictures started to appear and remarkable top quality printing known as web-offset. As the years went by Provincial Newspapers became United Newspapers, Woods Street started printing other papers from the Utd-News stable, ie, Chorley and Leyland Guardian. As newspaper buy-outs became big business for Utd, Woods Street became too small. In the 1980s the Reporter freesheet came on the Wigan scene, that was started in St-Helens. Woods Street sadly closed in 1984, and a new printing works and publishing plant was formed called Central Lancashire Printers and Wigan Newspapers, later renamed Lancashire Publications Ltd. The Wigan Observer was made tabloid and a new freesheet Wigan Leader was launched to fight off the Wigan Reporter, in the end, the Leader was a nothing paper and stopped printing it, and Utd bought the Reporter Group. Central Lancashire Printers continued printing the Observer and many North-west titles. Now under the name of United News and Media, another plan was on the horizon, to close Central lancs printers at Martland Mill, this would be around the late 1990s and move to Broughton Printers that was formed in 1988, in Fullwood Preston. United News and Media sold it's regional papers in 1998 to Rigional independent Media and now Johnston Press plc.
Broughton Printers Preston, operate eight printing presses, producing around 11 Million newspapers per week, making it the biggest printing plant in the North-West. Commercial printers really or contract printers. The publishing part is still there at Martland Mill. The Liverpool Echo's not printed in Liverpool anymore, its printed in Oldham, so is the Rochdale Observer and the Manchester Evening News. For me, local newspapers should be in the heart of the town, printed and published there from people who live there. People use to say, "It must be right its int thobserver". How can you write or edit a story from a town you don't know?

I am second from the left on the front row.Extreme left is Norman Fleming who sadly died at quite a young age in 1968