Wigan Album

Demolition of Masefield House was delayed a couple of months, because of a tenant called Freddy, who refused to move. He declined all offers of alternative housing, giving trivial excuses, for not liking any of the properties offered to him; eventually the council took the matter to court to get him out.

I had become friendly with Freddy at the time and found out that the real reason he was being awkward with the council, stemmed back from when the flats were first built.

Freddy and his parents were asked by the council to move into the flats because their house was demolished in the slum clearances of the 1960's. The council had apparently said that it would only be for a few months, and that they would then be moved into a council house.

Freddy said that the council then reneged on this promise, and refused to rehouse them in a council house. He saw both his parents die in Masefield House, and he felt hard done by the council. And it was his way of getting justice, for the memory of his parents. (1991)