Photo-a-Day  (Thursday, 15th July, 2021)

We all need those kind of spaces at times. I imagine it's like a 'Secret Garden' behind the rickety gate. A place to forget your troubles and dream awhile, somewhere you can't be found!

You can bet he'll meet 'Ivy' there rambling about - but he'll get a grip, tame her and keep her in her place...

A door to a secret place, where you can get away from the madding crowd.
Bliss !

Love it Dennis.

What joys lie behind that postern gate . Perhaps the lost garden from which we were all banished ?

Veronica, that's where I got my "Facinator" from, gripping Ivy. By eck! she were a big lass.

Haven away from the hustle and bustle of every day life

I absolutely love places like that, a bit ramshackle and make-do-and-mend. It reminds me of the "pens" down the back field behind our house in Ince when I was a little girl. The local men kept hens and pigeons there and the smell of privet mingled with that of pipe-smoke on sunny weekend mornings as they tended their birds and looked after the plants they grew ....a few potatoes, tomatoes or onions. We didn't have a pen but my Dad and I would amble down there in the sunshine and be greeted with "'Ow do, Bob.....dust want a few spuds for your Tizzie?", (my Mam). Lovely, homely places with lovely, homely people. Thankyou, Dennis, for posting this.

Rambling Rose as well Dtease the terrible twosome they can get out of control as well. Yep he's a lot on his hands in that secret garden! ..;o)

I didn't know there were allotment's near the fingerpost.You don't see many these days.I know there are some in new springs.Same memories Irene, but the allotments we went to, was just by the River Douglas, where Tesco is now.Nice photo Dennis.

Rambling Rose v Gripping Ivy? Now that would be a wrestling match worth paying good money to see Veronica.

What an eyesore, I know the allotmenteer needs to protect his allotment from the local vandals and thieves, but is ridicules
Up here in Shevy we have award winning allotments, some on Miles lane, next to Edible Shevy beds and some new ones on the Vicarage lane and they are protected by nice top of the range green metal fencing that blends in so well with the greenery that you wouldn't know was there unless you walked into it.

It certainly wouldn't be a secret anymore Dt!
There'd be a queue outside the gate .
Admission by ticket only !

Why do they need protecting Mick? Don't tell me you have vandals and thieves in Shangri-La! The Parish Council should bow their heads in shame! And how come you haven't caught them on your morning and evening bike patrols? For shame Mick, for shame. A little more pedaling needed methinks!

Sounds like you would need tickets only for Shavvy La as well Mick. Green railings too , I'm not surprised only the best for that lot up on the moors, if there's any moors left.

And I would be at the front Veronica.

Oh to be in England now that July is here, and to have an award-winning allotment in Shangri-La! I bet the spuds come out ready-scrubbed with best butter on!

And peas ready shelled! No muck on the wellies, shiny green wheel barrows to match the shiny green railings. Donty Mon obviously doesn't know about Shavvy La Allotments. Carole Kline will be booked for a riotous September of colour viewing the Red Hot Pokers...;o))

I worked with Austin Harrison from Stanley Road who had an allotment there and grew all manner of plants, this was around forty years ago and he once asked me to call to pick up some French Marigolds that was going spare. I too until then never knew that any allotments were down there, but looking at the photo they do seem to be very overgrown now compared to how I remember them.

What a great photo Dennis. Reminds me of a leanto in the garden of the village pub (in the 1950s). This was used as a 'cooling off/sobering up 'pen' for a local fisherman, who regularly drank too much on a Saturday night!

The only allotments that I'm aware of in the Fingerpost area of Aspull would be the ones that one would encounter when heading down towards the rugby ground and the wutchie... The ones close by the site of the former scrapyard in fact,..wherein lies an ancient Ruston Bucyrus RB 10, ( or it could quite possibly be an RB 18,...it's difficult to differentiate really as the thing's been sheeted over for quite a number of years now.

Would my identification of the site be correct Dennis ?........
You see, I'm quite fond of guessing stuff, and although I'll readily admit that I have been known to be mistaken on the odd occasion, it has to be said that this anomaly occurs exceedingly infrequently.

Now there may well be other allotments in the Fingrpost area, but if that is in fact the case, then their location remains a mystery to me.

So I trust you'll forgive me Dennis if I retire with the minimum of delay to the relative safety of my Anderson shelter to await the inevitable hard rain that's inevitably gonna' fall.

Ozy, I was speaking to the present owner of the scrapyard site a couple of weeks ago. He is the son of Bill Taylor who ran the scrapyard for many years.
I was asking about the old house on the site and he told me that it was around two hundred years old.
He has no plans for the site at present but he keeps it very tidy and very secure. He also makes regular checks on the site and I got the impression that he had one or two more unusual security methods as well which, of course he didn’t tell me about.
As for the allotments I would rather not be more precise about the location for obvious but very sad reasons in this day and age.
Ozy, are you intending to write a book about your years in the Anderson Shelter? The way things are going at present I feel we may all end up needing a book of instructions on “How to Survive COVID in a Anderson Shelter”.

I appear to have mis-spelt Fingerpost in my previous missive by spelling it as Fingrpost, yet I find this variant spelling somehow quite attractive.
It's almost phonetic in fact, this apart from giving the grossly overworked vowel ' e ' a bit of a breathr.....
....See what I did there?

Why nt ct t ll th vwls nd sv n nk nd ppr s wll zy?

Dennis, it's been my intention for quite some time to secure permission to access the old scrapyard ( ever since DTease mentioned the place a while ago in fact ), with a view to capturing an image of the elusive Ruston Bucyrus, but as Maureen mentioned a few days ago in relation to church attendance , life has an unfortunate habit of getting in the way.
Now since you appear to be familiar with the owner of the property, then it may be possible for you to get a shot of this previously considered extinct beast.
You'd gain at least one lifelong friend if you could.

Regards. Ozy.

I don’t know him that well Ozy. I only got talking to him because he happened to be there at the site when I was passing on my way to somewhere else.
If I drop on him again I will certainly mention your interest in that crane.

W cld hv cmpttns gssng th mnngs....f w cld b bthrd. ;o)

I have similar memories of pens at the top of Branch Street,near the beginning of the fields,off Manchester Road. Owned by Mark Stott I seem to remember.Great memories.