Wigan Album

Once again thank you Rev Long.
Stunning colour pictures and contents from the Wigan Observer back in the great days of newspaper production at Woods street, just off Wallgate. Many of these newspapers were given out to schools around Wigan and District. There is a photo of St Thomas More school children holding up copies of the paper. item number 6694 under schools. Cheers.

The area looks so clean and fresh, nothing like today sadly.

Another beautiful seen Rev, and to think little has changed from this photo over 50 years ago.
Was this an educational newspaper Rev?

Definitely not the Scholes of my youth. There’s a lot of trees and greenery nowadays to offset the sparseness on the photo, which does make it look more liveable I suppose. Plus the houses built on the left hand side going up Scholes (recently built) look really nice as opposed to the flats that were there previously. I remember all the trees being planted many years ago now.

I believe the Parks Dept, as was, planted up the rockery on the right. It's very overgrown nowadays.

Under Wigan Corporation Council in 1971 then, Ang.
I Believe the Councils did a decent job before the deregulation of Councils in 1974 ie Ince, Hindley, Abram Aspull to name a few. Each small Council department for me did a decent job. Wigan Council as a very big area to cover, so I think quality of areas will suffer.

Agree Garry it’s the same where I live now. The work those councils did then was far better than it’s done now. Even the grass is only given a half- hearted mowing. It’s the same in most towns. I can’t remember when I last saw a street cleaner, they might drive about now and then in the ‘midget’ cleaners but not as often as they once did. I see bands of people armed with bags and litter pickers far more often, only to find it’s as bad as ever a week or two later…we seem to be going backwards instead of forwards.

Walmsley Park (Ince Park) was beautiful in the 1960s under Ince Council. Full of lovely flower beds, tennis courts, mini golf and bowling green. It also had a Park keeper. Now it's just a shadow of itself. Many other Park around Wigan are the same.
Everyone at a certain age will know Haigh Hall was much beautiful under Wigan Corporation, many will remember the large greenhouses full of colour, now demolished. It's still not too bad, but not how we remember it.

That's great point, Veronica.
Where is the Street cleaner's these days?. Can't remember the last time they sweeped the roads/pavements. But seen them driving about.

You don’t see any ‘human being ’ street cleaners where I live, they were sacked and replaced with those ‘midget’ motors that hardly clean properly. I haven’t seen them much either, I think they just concentrate in the main streets. There’s more bins provided but the brain dead amongst us still throw their cans and bottles about. That’s why we don’t see them anymore Garry. It’s the same all over… blame it on cut backs as usual. Only for the volunteers we would be sinking under a myriad of rubbish..

I remember that view very well, could have been taken from our window on the 7th floor of Douglas House. Before the other blocks of flats were built there was a expansive view over to Haigh Hall and Rivington Pike (Winter Hill, in the winter it looked great covered in snow so hence the name.
We were among the first residents to move in, wish I had the presence of mind to take photo's over the years as all of Scholes was being demolished, street by street and pub by pub.
The spindly little tree you can see half way up Scholes was there when there was a fenced off park opposite the Shovel & Broom pub on the other side of the park was the Amy Lane, a cobbled road. The tree is still there today.
And yes, everywhere does looks clean and fresh.