Wigan Album

That's really lovely, Keith. Behind where the cameraman would have stood to take this photo, one of the houses along there is now Parson's Walk Children's Nursery. I used to pick up my granddaughter from there when she was a very small child, and it was so homely inside, much nicer than a modern purpose-built nursery. When I took her home she used to pick up the receiver on her toy telephone and say "Parson's Walk" like she had heard the nursery assistants say! She is 17 now....where do the years go?

Lovely colourisation Keith, I came across this information which I found interesting having spent a lot of time in Coleraine over the years:
Drumcroon, built between 1903 and 1910 is a large detached villa and was bult for Dr. John McAllister Boyd, surgeon and physician. The building was named after his birthplace, Drumcroon, Coleraine, Northern Ireland. Prior to the building, John Boyd was previously living at 61, Mesnes Street.
The building design was clearly intended to be a dwelling for a gentleman of substance, being a two-storey building in hard red brick with hipped and gabled plain tiled roof; prominent barge boards and brackets, stone cills and lintels, terracotta detail including a balustrade above the west bay window; a projecting 5 sided turret that effectively turns the corner into the shorter Mesnes Park Terrace.
The house was occupied in 1925 by Dr, Talwryn Jones and his wife, Henrietta, both well-known doctors in the area. There is a record of Henrietta advertising for 2 servants, mother & daughter or two sisters offering them their own sitting room and bathroom.

Fascinating info’ from both Irene and Colin, interesting also to know that Drumcroon had such strong Celtic connections since I am 97% Celtic despite both myself and my mother being Wigan born and bred (0% English).

Keith. great job with the colouring. Very similar story from me. I left Wigan in 1970 to go to University and as I used to say never went back. Not quite true as I used to regularly visit my parents but my further education and subsequent jobs were all a long way from Wigan.

Pictures such as this bring instant recall of coming out of the WGS in the 1960s and turning right to walk up across the Market square car park through the Market Hall and up the Little Arcade to the town centre. very happy days

I suppose it became more prominent to folks when it became an arts centre for schools, and children who really enjoyed going along to there, I remember my two lads would come home with interesting items they'd made, or pictures they had drawn or painted.
They also had successful artists going along and giving children lessons in art and it was very successful, and a lot of people were very disappointed when it closed.
I remember seeing the roof slates and windows being removed and thought it was being demolished, however thankfully it was being renovated for use by the Youth Zone. Also I'd imagined it to have been listed, but according to the article by Wigan Buildings not so: https://www.wiganbuildings.co.uk/building.php?id=901

Thank you for the Wigan Buildings link, Cyril. I found it very interesting and informative. Carolaen, our careers seemed to have followed similar trajectories since leaving our home town. Brief parental visits on occasions but work, family responsibilities and distance meant these were limited.

Keith. Yes indeed the vagaries of work and fate. I went all over the UK and ended up in Somerset early 30 years ago but still visited Mum and Dad until they died some years ago. One thing I also found ( perhaps you had the same) was nearly all my really close friends from WGS did exactly the same ie went off to Uni and then ended up all over the country but none actually in Wigan itself.

Carolaen

HAHA. That reminded me of an amusing incident.

The year was 1982, and it had fallen to me to be a co organizer of the 2nd International Conference on Schizophrenia.

A very impressive contribution was made by a Psychiatrist named Boardman from London's Institute of Psychiatry.

So Impressive, that a member publicly applauded his wisdom, and tried to recruit him to come to work in his Health Authority, which just so happened to be Wigan.

Prof. Boardman's response (I think he became a prof, but forgive me if I am mistaken) was something like: "I worked my socks off at WGS to get away from Wigan. Wild horses would not drag me back"!

Something which I think I will never forget.

I too left Wigan in mid 1960's, never to return, save for family visits.

I did consider, in retirement, returning, but it never happened. Always something there to thwart my intention.

Carolaen, yes it would be fascinating (to me at least) to see a 'distribution map’ of where our fellow WGS contemporaries ended up in the country and indeed world wide. Although, for me, my years at WGS were not particularly ‘happy' (completely my own fault) I nevertheless owe it a lot. I think it put me on the 'path of understanding' with regard to what was required in terms of self discipline etc., if one was to ‘progress' in life. My following 40 years at the ‘chalk face’ was, on the whole, a joyful existence. My Grammar days, subconsciously perhaps, were a great help I believe.

Keith. I probably had a similar experience. I quite enjoyed my time at WGS - mainly because of the great friends I made there - all of whom then immediately left Wigan ! There were also some great teachers. Bri Holt for example.

However 2 things slightly soured the experience - One was the ever present underlying tension from certain masters who were (or so it seemed at the time) ready to lash out with quite cruel punishments for the slightest reason - you probably have a list.

The second was the very elitist approach to teaching. By this I mean that if you were very very good at a subject you were in the top sets with very good teachers but if say you were only moderately good at something - and don't forget this was a Grammar School were everyone had passed the 11+ - you often got surprisingly poor teachers.


The result was (in my opinion) that a lot of my classmates became quite disillusioned and could not wait to leave at 15, whereas with better teachers they could have perhaps enjoyed the experience more. The school ethos seemed to be strongly focussed on helping those who were already very good at a subject to thrive, but caring very little about those who might have benefited from a bit more support.

Sorry about the rant but people today seem to think grammar Schools were some sort of paradise. They had some good and some very bad points.

Carolaen, although I seem to have preceded you at WGS by a few years I can easily identify with your analysis of the school. Everyone is different but the school ethos seemed to remain fairly constant.