Photo-a-Day  (Sunday, 12th March, 2017)

Is that the new type pigeon coat.
What a waste of Taxpayers money.

What is it supposed to be/was?

No doubt some greedy businessman will be trying to buy the place and turn it into a block of flats and some other use which will be of no beneefit to the public. I think it was on the local news about the Pier the other day about turning it into something. They were talking about George Orwell's book The Road to Wigan Pier. Very few people are interested in things of the past.

If anything of Orwell's work should be more relevant and important today it's 1984. Orwell knew a lot of stuff he wrote in that book, which is no surprise because he was a member of the Fabian Society and Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, was his mentor at Eton college.

The world we live in today with the amount of surveillance with CCTV cameras and the recent passing of the Snoopers Charter (which allows govt agencies to monitor every email, text, phone call and internet activity by forcing service providers to have access to IP addresses) would make George Orwell roll in his grave.

Why is..The Way we Were... no longer there ?

It cant be that WMC cant afford it...as like other authorities they can find money for their pet projects. Here where I live the NNDC is trying to convince us they have no cash & must raise funds by building on car parks....in a holiday destination. Crazy idea !

Howard, for your next birthday, instead of the usual tub of Preparation H, why not get your carers to chip in and buy you a dictionary ?

I wonder what became of all the exhibits?.

Garry - I have no idea - I haven't been in before. I assumed this was original - as it was - a cotton mill depot from the mills to load stuff on and off the canal?

I went with my brother to the museum in its early days, we had a wonderful time. It was very busy with many people there. It was a brilliant place & I am sorry that it is under threat. it was so good, I went into a panic when I entered the schoolroom, because it was so like the one where I had a nightmare year with Miss Rimmer. The young woman presenter did a very good job of calming me down - it was so packed I couldn't get out.

Maggie,I took my then early teenage Son..he said "Mum is this how it used to be,my palms are sweating".

I was surprised when it closed,I thought it would be there for years,when we went soon after it opened there was lots to see,and the classroom was brill,it was set in the time of Queen Victoria,we had slates to write on.

I tried to get in there a few weeks ago when I noticed the door open and some council worker inside mucking about, but they wouldnt let me in.
I wonder if the Park hotel bar is still displayed in there

Wasn't aware pigeons lived in a 'coat' .....a cote yes..... Just an observation!
I remember going to the museum in the early days and entering the 'classroom' and feeling anxious due to the well performed 'acting' by the 'teachers'! How scary they were..... What must it have been like for the poor unfortunate children who had to endure that type of classroom in the 19th Century.

I beg your pardon, Veronica.
Should have said cote and not coat, sorry. We can't all be perfect.

Thanks Dave(OY).

As a child my grandmother lived opposite this building and I recall standing at the front door watching horse drawn carts loading ad unloading in particular sacks being hoisted to the upper floors and them being sent down the chute when loading This was in the early 40's

You don"t need to go as far back as the 19th century - caning was meted out on a daily basis in many schools in the 1950s and early 1960s for the smallest of misdemeanours.

Discipline in schools seems to have gone from one extreme to the other.

The cane was still used at Ashton Grammar / Byrchall HS in the 1970s. I remember it well lol!

'The Way We Were'Museum closed about 8 or 9 years ago, some of the staff from there went to work at 'The Museum of Wigan Life' based in what used to be the old Wigan LibraryIt was an excellent popular facility for the town and used to get lots of schools coming from different areas.Not sure about the exhibits, could possibly be in storage or even sold.Who knows with Wigan council?

What a wonderful opportunity for you, Dave. No doubt a work assignment, but no less pleasurable. Thanks for sharing. Hopefully more tomorrow!