Photo-a-Day  (Wednesday, 21st October, 2015)

Beautiful Photo Dave,...Fantastic..!!!

Nothing reminds me more of Wigan than that view. The absolutely still water has given a perfect reflection.

Well done Oy

As David Jason would say ' Perfick.'

Another cracker from OY. Thanks

Crisp, sharp and one of the clearest piccys ever.
Superb

Fantastic picture , thank you Dave. The only thing that spoils it for me,is the name Orwell, I think that it ought never to have been called that in the first place .George Orwell did a great disservice to our town in his book "The Road to Wigan Pier" I hope that at some time in the future in will be renamed . I know others will take an opposing view !

The Orwell is rotting away in real life

Great photo yet again, Dave. Even the foreground is pin sharp.

..and, Tom. I absolutely agree with you about the name. Although I did enjoy the book for it's honesty, I have yet to finish it..after more than 30 years...!!

Tom ,,, George Orwell put Wigan on the world map when he named his book The Road to Wigan Pier

Outstanding!

I agree with you Tom. I think the book tries to show Wigan as a place that did not exist, very patronising. However, a brilliant photo.

A real brightener for a dull day!

No leave it as Orwell, I know others will share my view as always.
Good photo.

You've done it again Dave, Just Fantastic!

Fantastic picture , thank you Dave. The only thing that spoils it for me,is the name Orwell, I think that it ought never to have been called that in the first place .George Orwell did a great disservice to our town in his book "The Road to Wigan Pier" I hope that at some time in the future in will be renamed . I know others will take an opposing view !

What have you been eating Tom ? You seem to be repeating yourself. Great photo Dave, makes it look much better than it actually is.

Tom, I don't know whether you've read Volume 1 of his Essays, Journalism and Letters (Penguin 1970), but I found this gave me a clearer view of what he was about in writing "The Road..". I can't see how anyone can be reproached for reporting what they saw as honestly as possible. His aim, after all, was to find evidence that working folk were suffering badly through unemployment and harsh working conditions. He can hardly be held responsible for finding what he came looking for.
Nor is it his fault that folk are silly enough to think that what he found here in 1936 is still the same eighty years later.
Incidentally, in the book I've mentioned there is a passage about the pier. He was asked about it in a 1943 radio programme. He said he couldn't find it when he went to look for it in 1936, but that it did exist, and he had seen a photograph of it, from which he judged it to have been about twenty feet long. He describes it as a tumbledown wooden jetty. I wonder if it wasn't something like the tippler at Crooke, which also seems to have been known as Crooke pier, from the comments on the pics in the Wigan Album. But where is the photograph he reported seeing?

I at one time also believed what folks said about the book The Road To Wigan Pier, until I read it that is and discovered the truth that George Orwell wrote about Wigan, he only wrote of what he saw and experienced and I didn't read anything of any disservice nor did I find it patronising, he actually liked the friendliness of Wigan folks, he even wrote of the the hospitality received when he was invited into the home of a miner whom shared the family meal with him. I do agree with the name though Tom, I'd have rather seen it named after the Formby's.

I remember being at a wedding reception there not long after it had opened and the beer was awful, there was a joke going around that it was piped directly from the cut.

Cracking picture Dave. Cheers Dave

Ive been told that Wigan pier was next to the railway line on the Crooke side of seven stars bridge.

If you look next the the B&Q fence you can still see a big piece of petrified tree trunk that is thought to have been chucked off a coal barge as it was being loaded

Jonno, I didn't send the comment a second time,this confound contraption must have sent of its own volition .when you press sumbit it disappears from the screen ,and I certain didn't type it again 4 hours later .How can this happen ,any theories ?

Rev. David ,no I haven't read the book you mention, but I will in the next few days, hopefully Wigan Library will have a copy.
My point is that he came to the north with an agenda, and wrote to fulfill that agenda .yes there was great poverty ,and terrible working conditions, . I am from Scholes,and the people of my Mothers generation felt that he betrayed thier trust ,seeking out the poorest of the poor not to mention the filthiest homes he could possibly find to suit his own preconceived notions. Ignoring the vast majority of homes which ,whilst in poverty were well kept and spotless, people had great pride in thier homes to a point of not only mopping the step on a daily basis,but an area of pavement surrounding it ! When he
arrived in Wigan he found perfectly adequate lodgings but moved in short order to what I imagine were the worst conditions he could find .I don't think that equates to honest reporting. Jack Winstanley ,editor of The Wigan Obsever in the 1970s said "He (Orwell) came to find dirt and he found it" he also said " The book was one sided "I share his sentiments . Perhaps after reading his essays,I may be in a more forgiving mood !

My grandfather used to insist that the original "Wigan Pier" joke was started by George Formby senior.
Passengers on the railway over the flooded Dougie could see a coal gantry which resembled the seaside piers.

Thanks folks. The canal was like a mirror before the narrowboat came under the bridge. It caused some lovely ripples as it broke the reflection - as you'll see :)

Excellent shot Dave. What time of day was it? The 2 clock faces on the Orwell's tower appear to show different times! Was one correct or were they both wrong?

jim Hammond thought that the road did not represent what wigan was really like

John - it was 9:40am