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Photos of Wigan
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Wigan Album

Mesnes Park

13 Comments

MESNES PARK LEAFLET 1940
MESNES PARK LEAFLET 1940
Photo: Keith
Views: 2,427
Item #: 30681
A Mesnes Park leaflet advertising forthcoming entertainment in 1940. An item recently found in my late parents memorabilia some 78 years later.

Comment by: philip gormley on 4th August 2018 at 20:56

Keith. You've done well to avoid causing further damage to this interesting concert programme. It obviously meant a lot to your late parents, and now means a lot to yourself, and as such, is an item worth caring for. Thanks.
Please deem fair my decision to have attached my poem to your post. I wrote it for Irene Roberts.

"The Forties - Revisited."

Hubby's dressed in Forties' style, and learns of ration gripes
He knows full well the buyers' needs, then praises Sergeant's stripes.

His lovely wife is over there, she chats with Pat, from Leeds -
A nice exchange of floral print, and grandma's 'touching' beads.

Together soon they'll walk along, maintaining patterned stride
This lovely pair, in Forties' style, have weathered envy's ride.

In time, perhaps, they'll meet again, Pierre, from La Rochelle
Then she'd speak the Gallic way, once learned at school, quite well.

"Hubby, Dear, look over there, - in dulcet tone now heard -
Pierre, in tricot raye, is here … quick, wipe that lemon curd."

"Bonjour Pierre! On se revoit, je m'appelle Irene
Et mon mari est Peter … erm … the greatest ever seen."

Pierre is kind and rather cute, he speaks their language well
But first the hand of Peter, then 'cheeks' for northern belle.

Comment by: GeorgeB on 4th August 2018 at 21:23

Just noticed that there is a photo already on this site of the Bethel Glee Singers. It's found under "People", then "Mason Family", it's the third photo in the collection.

Comment by: irene roberts on 5th August 2018 at 18:37

Bonjour, mon ami Phillipe! Merci beaucoup! (Ee. owd lad, that's a belter!). xxx

Comment by: PhilipG. on 5th August 2018 at 19:15

Glad that you like it Irene. My regards to you and Peter.

Comment by: Grannieannie on 10th August 2018 at 01:50

I so enjoyed this little piece and your poem, Philip. I wondered if your parents went back the next week to listen to the Wigan Salvation Army Band? Here in Australia they are called 'Salvos' and do the same good work as they always did. My Dad always put money in the collection tin as he remembered the tea and sandwiches given out during the war which sustained him and the other soldiers during conflict.

Comment by: Philip G. on 10th August 2018 at 15:09

Gran'.
I'm not sure if my mam and dad had attended either,or both, of the concerts referred to on Keith's concert programme, but I suppose there's every possibility that one, or both of them, had done so - they'd have been in their mid-teens at that time. And your dad certainly hadn't forgotten The 'Army's generosity. Thanks.

Comment by: Grannieannie on 11th August 2018 at 07:15

Sorry Keith, I mixed you up with Philip's parents, comes of being in a different hemisphere!

Comment by: Keith on 11th August 2018 at 09:11

Thank you for the poem Philip much appreciated. Not sure just why this leaflet was kept as memorabilia but my would be mother would have been 20 at the time, her maternal grandfather Abel Jones, had been a prolific musical conductor of brass bands (he had taught himself to play 13 instruments), he'd also, as a youngster in Manchester, signed the Temperance "pledge", probably leaving him with time on his hands to practise. He ended up as a "steam hammer driver" at the Earlestown Wagon works and probably as their brass band musical conductor.

Comment by: Philip G. on 11th August 2018 at 15:55

Keith.
Many thanks for your kind response.
I'm afraid your concert programme had taken a bit of a bashing, hadn't it, but it's still worth holding on to. Young Abel had been a very talented lad ... thirteen instruments - Strewth!
Perhaps you'd like to put 'Earlestown Viaduct Brass Band' into Google: You would then find many of the band's concert results ('1888- 1959'), venues, final positions, and conductors (C.S. Jones also noticed'). Similarly, Google Images would provide you with an early Postcard image of the band.
Hope this will be of further assistance to you. Regards.

Comment by: Keith on 11th August 2018 at 17:26

Hi Grannieannie, not a problem, my parents certainly frequented Mesnes Park, as many others did in those days, when they were courting, and it's quite possible they attended some of these concerts.

Comment by: Keith on 11th August 2018 at 20:43

Thank you for your help Philip, as you might guess I've already done a fair bit of family history and Abel's story has been "provided" from old newspaper cuttings etc.,, 1856 to be precise. He died in 1886 but not before I discovered he was the first conductor of the "Liverpool Juvenile Reformatory Farm School" brass band until he died in 1886. Later known as Red Bank Reform School that took children with problems, mainly from Liverpool. He was at one time conducting no fewer than 6 brass bands in the Manchester area according to newspaper reports.

Comment by: Philip G. on 11th August 2018 at 21:17

Thanks Keith. Considering the fact that Abel had maintained his long interest and involvement in the world of music, there's every probability that he had also encouraged other musicians; young and old alike. Hope you get more good responses during your search for 'family history'. Take care.

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