Photo-a-Day  (Friday, 3rd June, 2022)

Get that advert in Brian !!

Saw Kevin having a bus mans holiday yesterday looking at the plants in Asda Golborne

What a colourful pic Brian...I like nurseries more than ' garden centres' they are much more interesting.

What a bright, colourful photo....it looks as if it is somewhere foreign, not Ashton!

This Father and son team Kevin & Carl have worked wonders from what was once an allotment, their hard work and dedication certainly shows that and is a must to see, well done lads you've put the estate where I grew up on the map.

For anyone that's not been to have a look at the place, the one and only Jimmy 'O' made this video on a visit to Kevin's garden centre two years ago, well worth a look here https://youtu.be/CsisuCKHFg0

Ive been told that Boby the Appley Bridge Donkey grave stone in here

Looks a nice place to go and browse and find some ideas for the garden. Nothing nicer than strolling around a garden centre especially if there’s a cafe as well. It would need to be handy for the bus though for me as I don’t drive these days.

I would love to see that..it looks beautiful...and well done to Kevin and Carl.

This place was once voted the best garden centre in St.Helens.

This place was featured in 'Salvage Hunters' a while back where Drew Pritchard and 'Tee' paid a visit and bought one or two items.

I gave Kevin an antique, cast iron , French , bottle corking machine many years ago.

The contraption must have weighed 2cwt minimum.

I dare say it’s still in there, buried among his mountain of jun……
…..err….collection of artefacts.
Ask him to show it to you next time you visit.

Logic suggested to me at the time that any amount of humongous lumps of metal, however ornate, and sought after by the likes of yon mon from Conway, whose sole purpose being merely to squeeze corks into wine bottles would prove to be of far less use to me than one simple implement designed to extract them again.

And I’ve been proven right, even though it may have set me back a few bob over the decades.

This is the episode (with Johnny Vegas) on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaON8qqxhDw

Ozy , I don’t know you from Adam , but WW would be lesser without you . Love reading your posts , the longer the better for me . Enjoy the ride , we each are upon .

I agree Dave !

It would be discourteous of me not to thank you for your comment Dave, and yours also Helen but having posted your comments, you may soon discover that not many who visit these pages share your views.

And you probably won’t have to wait very long before it becomes very clear what I mean.

All the same.

Regards. Ozy.

Well I DO know Ozy, Helen and Dave, and he's sound as a pound, I promise you. And I love reading his posts too. Very well-written and entertaining.

I agree as well Ozy - for what it’s worth I think you come across as intelligent, very well written and humorous with it. I’ve said it before, it’s not the same when you disappear - Dtease has nobody to spar with.

With Ozy’s posts Irene , I always want to settle in , if you get my meaning …

Behave yourself Irene, you’ll have me in bloody tears before long.

But since this thread concerns Kevin Duffy, I’d just like to relate one more incident that I recall from years ago concerning Kevin then that’s me done.

I bumped into him in Warrington road in Ashton early one morning in the summer of 1962 or 63.

I seem to recall he’d just left school and secured employment, working at yon place that barely passed as some kind of secure facility for the terminally confused that used to stand close by Haydock park racecourse.

It was demolished in the 70s or thereabouts. Check it out. The info’s all out there somewhere.

The wrought iron gates of this facility opened out onto the main A49 trunk road where Kevin stood, taking a smoke break.

I think he was employed as a gardener, but I’ve only just this minute remembered that.

He was only a little 15 year old lad at that time, pretty much the same as I was, and I remember him telling me that his dad had caught him smoking and by way of a deterrent , had made him eat the remainder of the pack of 20 Woodbines.

He’s still knocking about, so maybe Kevin’s dad got it right eh ?

I mentioned the occasion to Kevin a couple of years back, but he has no recollection of the event.

So there we have it.

Either Kevin’s brain is cooked, or mine is.

You decide.

Hope this post was long enough for you Dave.
Let me know if it wasn’t, and I’ll remedy that next time.

What's there not to love about Ozy's comments, it's good we have some humorous folk on here.Ps, lovely photo Brian, would love to visit there.

Ozy. I am lost as to the place you mention near Haydock Park. As you say, "the info's all out there somewhere", but what info? I have no idea what I'm looking for or why you state that it "barely passed" as whatever it was. I am just interested as I worked in Ashton in 1969 and 1970 and can't imagine what it was??

Hi Irene/ Ozy: Hope I’am not interrupting your post, the information Irene that Ozy was referring to was on line like Wikipedia, according to the information the building in question was in lodge lane.
Haydock lodge Asylum for the insane, it was a private asylum.
Opened around 1863-1966 then taken down in 1969. Hope you find it helpful.

Thanks, John G.