Wigan Album

What a handsome man with dimples.

In 1965, Standish was policed by the Lancashire Constabulary, and Wigan, by the Wigan Borough Police.

Yes, Albert, that's because wigan wasn't in Lancashire in 1965 but Standish was. As it is, that photo must have been taken well before 1965 as Heinz in Standish closed down soon after Kitt Green opened in 1959. The photo could have been taken in Kitt Green though as Kitt Green, being Orrell, was in Lancashire.

George (Hindley) It does state Heinz Kitt Green on the magazine snippet and not Heinz Standish, so everyone knows where the photo was taken except you, and with Albert being a serving police officer I would rather believe him about who policed where, perhaps Wigan police didn't have one of these contraptions and Lancashire police had been invited along to demonstrate the effectiveness of seat belts in an accident, and being 1965 it was long before Jimmy Saville ever thought of hitting a peach with a hammer.

In that case, I wonder why Ron has put "Heinz Standish" as the photograph title?
Wigan borough police only operated in Wigan borough prior to 1974 as everybody knows, except you.

Sorry it is Kitt Green. I had a few problems uploading the images and this one got put under STANDISH instead of KITT GREEN

Hi George { Hindley }, Back then, as you say, The Wigan Constabulary
wasnt in Lancashire, but the Borough of Wigan was, despite the present
situation of Wigan being in Greater Manchester from 1974. In my opinion,
Wigan is 25 miles from Manchester. With regard to Heinz at Standish,
as late as 1973, I would load 16 pallets of Heinz bottled products from the Standish factory, Brown sauce, Ketchup, Salad Cream, & Mayonnaise
for delivery throughout the United Kingdom when I was driving 32 ton
artics for Robert Baillie & Co Ltd. Heinz at Kitt Green produced mainly
tinned products. Cheers, Ray.

Lancashire Constabulary was in Crawford Street and Wigan Borough was in King Street.

Does it really matter whether it was Standish or Kitt Green? It's Heinz with a photo of a pretty young lady and her workmates. It is local to Wigan...do a few miles matter? And, George, (Hindley), if Wigan wasn't in Lancashire in 1965, where was it? I was 13 in 1965 and my address was "85, Ince Green Lane, Higher Ince, Wigan, Lancashire"

My address is always Lancs at the bottom - never Grtr Manchester! (As if) Post never goes astray...it will always find me.

George (Hindley) – as a County Borough, Wigan was as much a part of Lancashire as any other town, but had its own administration system, and was independent of the County Council.
Prior to 1st April 1969, Wigan was policed by theWigan County Borough Police Force, which was responsible for the town and outlying districts up to the Borough boundaries.
Although Lancashire Constabulary did not police the town during this time, it had a headquarters in the town (Crawford St) as an administration centre for its offices at Ince, Standish, Orrell, etc.
On 1st April 1969, the Wigan County Borough force ceased to exist, when it was amalgamated into the Lancashire Constabulary as part of ‘H’ Division (Wigan and Skelmersdale) – NOT in 1974, as you seem to think.
The Lancashire Constabulary was responsible for policing Wigan until 1st April 1974, when as a result of boundary changes, Wigan became part of ‘L’ Division, of the newly formed Greater Manchester Police.
This final move into GMP as almost any police officer who served at Wigan at that time will tell you was a retrograde step. Wigan police officers were perfectly happy serving in Lancashire Constabulary, and did not want to become part of GMP, and by the same token, it appeared GMP were not keen to have Wigan as a division.
This was made clear by the way Wigan Division was (and perhaps still is) regarded as a remote outpost, which always came at the end of the queue, where many things within the force were concerned.

Standish Heinz was still going in 1977 . I remember them giving out free posters to put in your window for the Queen's Jubilee .

We always addressed our envelopes Standish , near Wigan , Lancs .
No post code .

I worked in a chemists in Standish 1971-73 and I have a feeling Heinz in Standish was still going strong....in fact one of our assistants left the chemists to work there as the money was better.

PS...The boundary changes only happened in 1974, surely, when we were suddenly "Greater Manchester" ...(.not that any Wiganers ever took a blind bit of notice of that!), and in 1965 we were still firmly in Lancashire. I certainly have never eaten Greater Manchester Hot-Pot! And if I get pulled up, (as I did a few weeks ago for putting more than one comment on a photo)....hard (Lancashire) cheese!

Wrong again GEORGE, Heinz Standish was closed around 1980, i worked at Kitt Green and remember a good friend of mine being transferred from Standish to the same department as me IN 1980.

Bobby Retired. If you were serving in 1965. Can you recognise as to whether the officer is a Wigan Borough officer, or a Lancashire police officer. I am sure that at the time Kitt Green was in Wigan Borough, and Orrell in with the administration of the Lancashire Constabulary. I transferred in 1964. I don’t recognise the officer, although his features are familiar. Such a long time ago.

From Wiklipedia

" The Kitt Green factory was opened on 21 May 1959 by the Lord Chancellor, the Rt. Hon. David Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir. A few weeks later it was visited by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother on 24 June 1959. The nearby Standish factory was closed soon after Kitt Green's opening. "

George. So Heinz Standish closed shortly after Kitt Green opened in 1959?
I must have been working in a ghost factory then between 1974 and 1979.
I worked at the Standish plant till 1979 and then I got a transfer to Kitt Green. I moved from Standish a few years before it closed down as well.

George. don't believe everything you read on Wikipedia.

GEORGE, i couldn't care less what Wikipedia says ( you've spelled that wrong as well ) i worked there and i know when it closed. SOON AFTER in the scheme of things CAN be 21 years.

Heinz at Standish was definitely still open and trading in 1979. I've seen a newspaper article in the Liverpool Echo about the plans to close it, the article was dated 26th Jan 1979.

Albert S. I have just done a bit of digging on the Lancashire County Record Office website, and have found there was a PC 63 Robert Pearson serving in Lancashire Constabulary at the time this photo was taken.

Bobby Retired. I emailed Aubrey to enquire of him if he could remember any Wigan Borough Bobby with that number. I was 118, in Wigan Borough. That was Don Black’s number prior to him being promoted sergeant.

When I passed my driving test in Paisley in 1966 my registered address was Standish, Wigan Lancs. Although living/working in Scotland I had to apply for my Red licence with Lancashire County Council Preston due to my address. On my next visit home, I called in at Preston to collect it dated 06-08-66 for 3 years. In 1975 I received my last one from LCC dated 8th August and postcode WN6 0HE. I guess that due to boundary changes in 1974. To me Wigan & Standish will always be in Lancashire. I'm proud to be a Lancashire "Lad" and so is my son who was born in Ormskirk. Seat belts came into law in the early 70's if I recollect but only on new cars.

Irene, post as many times as you wish to, I'm sure that your comments and indeed all posters comments are read and appreciated, despite sometimes negative jibes. It's the craic and the amusing banter that makes visiting the site pleasurable; and by far outshines the comments made by the jiber.

I too put Wigan, Lancashire.

There was in the 1980s two prior to retirement bobbies who did cycling proficiency at schools, but also went around places with a similar set up as in the photo, demonstrating the advantage of wearing seat belts in vehicles.

Bobby Retired, I've heard of Wigan being the Cinderella of Greater Manchester Police.

If memory serves me, Heinz Standish closed summer 1981 and had storage facilities on site for many years after.

Bill Ainscough bought Standish Heinz site in 1982 and developed it into the scruffy rag-tag industrial estate it is today.

Heinz closed in July 1981, i worked there in the boiler house until then.

I remember constable Pearson coming to st William’s school in ince to teach us road saftey. We knew him as Bobby beetle……. He put a blanket over a free standing backboard an stuck little cartoon character on (we were amazed how they didn’t fall off…early type of velcro i presume)
The characters denoted cars and children and how to cross the road properly