Wigan Album

I suspect it's late 1970-s as the St Mary's church has been demolished.

That's a fair size scrap yard. Is it still there.?

Yes Andrew your correct. Looking back at Rev David Long photos of the demolition of St Mary's Church, was indeed 1978.

It’s long gone Dave .

It was where the new houses on Chatsworth Fold now stand .

You would hardly believe the amount of stuff they had on there .

I had ample opportunity to take photos but neglected to do so unfortunately .

Roland’s eldest son , also named Roland , set up business on Sandy lane in Lowton specialising in VW beetles after the place was sold .

I also bumped into another member of the family working on a building site in Liverpool. I forget his name .
I had this photo enlarged and presented it to him as a memento .

Just setting this down for the record … nothing more .

I believe the owners name was Roland Bradburn, he lived in Haydock around that time. I met him in the late 70s before we bought a Bedford TK 330 engine from this yard that proved a success. As you would imagine trucks came to rest there after a busy working life on our roads, mostly British made vehicles from the 50s, 60s and 70s to
list, but remember majority were
Leylands.
I would love to walk round there today, it would most certainly bring back so
many happy memories. And by the way, Roland knew where every truck or parts located in that dusty massive yard, no need to look and find it.
Roland a great character.

I was going in there quite a lot for Bill Rac in the mid 70s and I seem to recall seeing quite a lot of military stuff among that lineup alongside the driveway on the left at that time .
Thorneycroft Antars and the like .
The place was an absolute Aladdin’s cave .

I don’t remember precisely when the yard was cleared , or who cleared it , but it must have taken them months to shift .

Colin, he was indeed Mr Bradburn and lived in Haydock. When the site closed and cleared it now belongs to a housing estate.