Places   (Help with places, streets and buildings in Wigan.)

Hi
I spent my youth playing in and around the scotsmans, the depth ranged from zero on Heathcoats land to a max of around 16'feet.In th late 1940's 47/48/49, one year we had torrential rain and the flash flooded really high and sea cadets boats broke free from their moorings, they used to moored about 60yds from Heathcoats land. Anyway one of the canoe's drifted up on the railway side and my mate Kieth Wignall and I had a ball we spent allday in this canoe and when we had finished we rowed into the rush beds near the island and tied it down with the rushes. When we went back to find it a few days later we could not find it the water had risen by aroud two feet and only the tops of the rushes were showing.It was in the late 60's twenty years or so later that I saw it again it had been wash up to the wall on the canal side all the canvas had rotted, it was good to see an old friend that gave us so much pleasure that day.
By the way in 1959 it was a really hot and dry spring and summer the scotsmans flash was lower than I had ever seen it, another mate of mine Gerald Hodgekiss went for swim, we got in from the railway side Gerald got into his bus innertube and I just swam accross to the island. When we started back we paddled heading for the tunnel that that goes under the railway line and we walked all the way back to within 30yards of the railway embankment,and the water was no more than knee deep all the way across except once when we got level with the cuvert Gerald decided he would walk across to it he took two step and dissapeared we had a good laugh at that.