Photo-a-Day  (Thursday, 27th July, 2017)

Good shot Maurice. Look at that lovely ironwork on the canopy. Wonder if it was from a local firm?

That lovely cafe could tell a few tales..I along with my friends used to go there every Sunday afternoon when we were teenagers..Oh,those beautiful carefree days,where did they go.

Where's my manners ...thank you Maurice.

Looks like a nice day

Special memories of Wigan Park café. Sunday afternoon in my childhood meant either Haigh Hall or Wigan Park, and I remember drinking Vimto with a blob of ice-cream in it from the park cafe. The original statue was outside then and my Dad always used to read the inscription out loud. I took my children one day when they were young, and the duck-pond had been drained, and our Jamie, (who could trip over a chalked line!), fell in and emerged covered in black slime.....we didn't make it as far as the café! The atmosphere in there isn't all that far from how I remember it all those years ago.

Lovely photo.
Maureen what memories of walking round Mesnes Park when we were young

Great photo Maurice. I used to enjoy Sunday afternoons in the park also. I guess everybody in Wigan went there back in the day

Yes Marie,I also remember sitting with my Mam on a grass verge in the park when I was a little 'un..my Auntie had just bought me a black doll,I put it down beside me and it got taken,I never forgot that doll..so guess what..about twenty years ago I spied one just like her and it's mine now.
Marie,I wish I could capture those teenage years and bottle them.

My overriding memories of the cafe are from the mid/late 1960s when a whole bunch of us from the WGS used to go in there for steak pie/chips/beans and a sneaky cigarette or 2! Happy days. I think Cassinellis ran it in those days. I wish I could remember the names of the 2 ladies behind counter. They were great and used to give us much more than we actually paid for so we could share it amongst the group.

Like you Maureen, I was there in Mesnes Park as a teen and on Sundays with your best girl (at the time ) when a bit older !

I think the reason everybody went to the park or the plantations in our teens was because there was nothing else to do. No shops open and Sunday was a very quiet day. It's hard to believe that nowadays! Not many young ones had a car either. So it was ideal to go and meet the opposite sex...well that was the thought processes then! We wouldn't have dreamed of going in the pub either... As well as all that it was another excuse to dress up.. And dress up we did! The park always brings back memories at every turn of the paths.

Its sad that the original Boer War soldier went missing. For me there is no comparison with the old and the new. For all the world looking at him on his plinth he looks like he has been modelled with Plaster of Paris!

Veronica,I believe that the railings that were around the old statue were taken down to aid the efforts in WW2..that left it open for the vandals..eventually it was buried in the park itself...but if anyone knows otherwise maybe they'll let us know.

Thanks Maureen - its a shame,it's not the same somehow- the original seemed more appropriate for the time- a bit 'gung- ho' and rallying to the Flag!

Johnny, where have you been, lad?! Our Maureen and I have missed you, and we now have a new recruit, Veronica, to join the canal-side picnics which we got told off about many moons ago!

Irene,It seems that when he's Giovanni he's a bit of a devil but when he reverts back to Johnny he goes very bashful.

Hi Maureen, Irene and Veronica
Me bashful Mo, give over !
Nice to see you girls being volatile and chatty.

Hi Johnny..nice to hear from you again..have you painted any masterpieces lately.

We lived in Park Road and almost lived in the park. The renovations to the café and the bandstand are amazing and the park is one to be very proud of. I heard that the boer war statue was stored in the workman's area of the park for many years. It was too damaged to re-instate.