Wigan Album

Tom, I saw you in The Wigan Observer recently and please let me say how much I enjoyed your article in Past Forward about the Whit Walks. I did a similar one a few years ago on Walking Days when Alastair Gillies was the editor, but I haven't enjoyed PF half so much since he left. It seems to be taken up by adverts, articles from Atherton and Leigh districts and stories with only an extreme connection to Wigan. I have read your Walking Day article three times up to now and been both amused and moved by the content; it is Human, not "facts and figures", and I think the human touch is what Past Forward lacks since Alastair left. The other articles have left me cold. Thankyou so much for sharing your personal memories; I will probably get it in the neck for saying this, but it is what Past Forward was all about, and what it has lost.

What a lovely little lad.....:-)

Tom, I also enjoyed your article in PF.I also agree with Irene's comments. Write some more Tom.

Hi Tom. Next stop Lowes.

Irene ,Lizzie ,flagy delf(Neil) .Thank you for the complements , I enjoyed writing the article , but only about half could be published because of linage
limitations ,if you wish I will let you have the full article. Irene I've read a couple of your contributions in Past Forward including "The Girl "and "The Return "(Issues 39 and 40) if my effort is half as good as these I will be very pleased. Do you know the numbers of other copies that contain stories from you .Back editions can be sourced at The History Shop,also on line.I think we come from similar backgrounds as I say in Past Forward my earlier and teenage years were spent in and around Scholes, and whilst times were not easy.we had everything that is important in life ,a loving family ,great community spirit ,friendships that last a lifetime . I would not have wished to be born and reared anywhere else ,and like you look back at my childhood immense pride .

Thomas, I would love to read the full version of the Whit Walks. Thankyou for your kind words with regard to my Past Forward articles. I will look up which stories are in which issues and get back to you. I loved writing them and really miss it, (even if I wanted to, I've probably blotted my copy-book now with the above remarks!). Flaggy, (Neil), wrote some crackers ....in fact it was Neil who first persuaded....no, BULLIED....me into sending in my first story. I met him through PF and we have been friends now for fourteen years. I have other friends/penfriends from the same source, so I do have something to thank Past Forward for. I'll get back to you, Tom, and look forward to the article.

Tom, I know I am going off the subject here but if you go on 'stuff' then 'Ince Cemetery Index' on the lefthand column, type Walsh into the search box then go down to a Margaret Walsh buried in plot B29. Click on the B29 reference and the list of all those buried in the plot comes up. Cains and Walshs buried together. Obviously some link by the addresses. Any of your ancestors?

Here goes, Tom:
Issue 26, page 27,
Coal Fires and Loved Faces

Issue 27, page 21'
Yesterday In The Park.

Issue 30, page 26,
The Bug

Issue 32,page 28,
Remember, Remember, The Fifth of November.(last bit on page 29)

Issue 34,page 24,
The Dream.

Issue 36, page 28,
Brass Bands and Kind Hearts, (the walking-day one).

Issue 38, page 26,
An Apple for The Teacher

Issue 39, page37,
The Girl

Issue 40, page 26,
The Return

Issue 44, page26,
Shops Ancient and Loyal

Issue 52, page 14
My Mother's Eyes

And that's the lot. If you manage to read them, Tom, I hope they bring back memories for you.

Tom, I knew there were more articles than that, but couldn't remember what I'd one! There is also The Ghost of Christmas Past, issue 29, page13.

Irene , thank you indeed for going to the time and trouble to post the dates and issue numbers of your stories,I shall enjoy reading them. It will also be good for other viewers of the site,many I'm sure will access them on line ,you may get a whole new readership !.
Neil I've looked at the Ince Cemetery Index, the addresses don't ring any bells, Can Row is a very unusual address . Are the Cains in that grave your forebears ? . We may be long lost cousins !.

Tom, how can I get the full version of your Whit Walks article? Have added my email...could you send it via that?

Tom, the Can Row Cains, East View by the park now, were an offshoot of my family 3 generations back. The only current member I know of lives in Hindley under her married name of Austin. Yes we may be connected somehow, stranger things have happened. All the best

Hi Neil and Tom we may be relatives of some sort my aunty Maggie was a Walsh before she married my uncle Jack my dads older brother, that's probably were the cemetery connection comes from.

Any relation to Elizabeth Elsie Walsh? She was the girlfriend of my uncle Dickie.. she’s buried with him and his mum Ethel Kinane and Jack Kinane