Photo-a-Day  (Wednesday, 27th December, 2017)

Oh deer whats happened to the Christmas tree thats usually in that spot

I'm just a lonely ,lonely guy,
A lonely guy in this town....
If my baby can't be found
I'm going to the river. (duggie)
Jump overboard and drown.

Courtesy of Lttle Richard

Not exactly a Christmas Wonderland is it?

I remember the two ice-cream vans parked there when I was a little girl; Lewis's and Cassinelli's. A long time ago!

Great feature on you and Peter in this week's Wigan Observer, Irene.
The Christmas tree lights I remember in the 50s were tin candle-holders which clipped onto the tree branches, and held birthday-cake-sized candles. I think they caused a lot of fires from people not ensuring the branch above wasn't too close to the flame.

Lovely photo also very clever reply’s. Mick Veronica Irene . Irene was ice cream invented when you were a child I couldn’t resist forgive me again .

Do reindeers ' cock' their back legs -it's in the ideal place?!

Oh Deer! Only in Wigan!

Irene's reference to Cassinelli's van has got me thinking. Does anyone remember De Roma's ice cream van and Cussani's butcher's van? Both were regulars in Aspull.

Sorry I meant deer not reindeer - (same family)!

So do I nothing like Cassinell’s ice cream

Thankyou, Rev. Long.... Fame at last! No. Jim, ice-cream was light years away when I was a child.....they were just inventing The Wheel which would eventually pull the ice-cream cart! You cheeky beggar, lad! Rev, we have got some of those candles in tin holders, but we DON'T light them!....Geoff took a lovely pic of Peter and myself in front of the tree with all the 1950s/60s baubles but he "lost" it somehow. In The Observer, the fairy I am holding is an original Woolworths Fairy from the 1950s, and there is a bauble in the shape of a bell just above my head which is so old and delicate that it is more sellotape than bauble but I can't let it go! How soft am I??!

I remember H Cusani and Sons, at New Springs, I used to help out around the shop and yard. They had a van that made the rounds twice per week, they had a great big haunch of beef pinned down to a cutting block and you asked for your beef cut to your selection, thick or thin and also were on the haunch you preferred, surprising the difference in taste from one side to the other.

You are not soft Irene- I think most people would have hung on to objects with a bit of forethought. If I remember it was all about replacing the old with the new, sometimes it was nothing but 'tat'!
Looking forward to reading the article in The Observer and looking at the precious tree decorations from the fifties- the times when a fairy would have cost a few shillings.

Veronica, I have a book called "The Wonder of Woolies" with remembrances of Woolworths from both staff and customers; it is fascinating! There is actually a photo of "our" fairy but it doesn't say how much she cost; I imagine it would have been only about 1/6d or 2/-.

Rev Long, I too remember the metal candle holders you clipped onto the Christmas tree branches. There is a pic in People on WW of my sister Anne with a tree behind her & there they are those candle holders. My Mother used to let us light the candles for a few mins in the evening

PS Will have to see if I can find the article about Irene