Photo-a-Day  (Tuesday, 18th October, 2022)

Lovely pic Dennis, just reminds me of the woods I roamed as a youngster, all leaves are falling now that winter is just moving in, thanks for sharing.

Deep in the shadows, a green leaf will go,
a tree branch will creak, yet no one will know ,
the wind that blows cold there , will sing its own song ,
to close down the light , so nights can be long ..
Snow will be gentle , and fall on a bed ,
to cover the soldiers , the ones who lie dead ,
they die with an honour , and a pilgrim of grace ,
for you to remember , their once chosen face ...

I guess I would be a young lad of 5 years when I first walked this path with my dad, 70 years ago now Dennis. My dad told me it was so called because it made its way to the coal wash for Aspull - Haigh pits, but then again, dad would pull my leg often. We often went along this path to Haigh church yard tending to family grave. Thanks Dennis, lovely reminder.

I love this photo. It's quite mysterious and the sort of place which children's imaginations would have filled with ghosts and witches when I was a child....perhaps they still do. I'm not sure exactly where it is though, although I know Aspull church and Haigh .

“I know a bank where the wild Tyme blows.
Where Oxlips and the nodding Violet grows.
Quite over- canopied with luscious Woodbine.
With sweet musk roses and egalantine”
The photo reminds me of the Bard’s play of Midsummer Night’s Dream.
I once played Puck believe it or not at school.

I remember as a very small boy in the 1950s my Aspull Granddad and uncles would regularly take me for a walk to Haigh Hall using the footpath at the end of Manor Grove and then on into the Plantations. They used to talk about *Going down to the Pad". I assumed later that this was a local dialect term for Path but perhaps it was specific to this one in the photo.

I was previously told that the first line is “I know a bank whereon the wild tyme blows” not where the wild tyme grows. This would make sense as the line would then be in perfect blank verse consisting of 5 iambs. However, I have just looked at it in my Complete Works of Shakespeare and it says where, not whereon. Act 2 Scene 1 line 249.
Thanks for this, Veronica. IMHO Shakespeare is the number 1 contender for the title of Greatest Englishman who ever lived.

Carolaen. I think where you are talking about was the line as we used to call it. I think again the wash pad was down by Haigh Church. I’m not certain, but sure Dennis will put us straight. It is 54 years since I lived in Aspull so would love to have my memory refreshed.

I have to agree with you Owd Reekie he definitely is the greatest poet who ever lived. So much of his ‘sayings’ in the English language is due to him. There is an abundance of quotes for most subjects. If you notice I did state “ where the wild tyme grows”. I love all the famous speeches. My favourite I can remember from schooldays - “ The quality of Mercy is not strained…..” from The Merchant of Venice. I have also studied Richard the 11 and Hamlet and those speeches therein stir my blood. We have a wealth of great Poets but he is my all time favourite.

I can still quote from A Midsummer Night's Dream from school, and I remember it as
I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grow.

I can recite yards of absolutely useless information that I was made to memorise!

Originally I wrote ’’where the wild tyme blows.!

I wish I could remember the verses I learned Irene… - I can remember the beginnings of some, but I know where to look if I am in the mood. I just love his use of words. It looks as if tyme is mis spelt but I think that’s the original way it was written.

Kath H, this is the bottom end of the Wash Pad where it meets up with "down the line". The line being the old mineral line that ran from Crawford Pit at the top of Manor Grove down to the Alexandra Pit in Whelley.
Going up Haigh road, just before St David's Church, there is a narrow road on the left that leads to Prospect Cottages. The top end of Wash Pad is a continuance of this road from where the road turns right to Prospect Cottages.
Just before you turn left off Haigh Road there is a boundary stone by the side of the road which marks the boundary between Haigh and Aspull.

Carolean and Kath H, we'd call a path a pad and assumed it to be a Wigan term, but apparently it's from the Scots language.

https://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/pad_n1_v1

We hardly did any Shakespeare, and the teacher did say pretty much as you've said Irene - It'll be a load of twaddle to you lot. He was probably right too, we may have spoken broad then with thee's and thou's but we didn't write it.

Veronica, I wasn't criticising your spelling at all; I would never do that. Some things were spelt differently in Shakespeare's day than they are now. I just know that the herb "thyme" is spelt with an "h" nowadays, but I only remember the verses which we had to memorise..... It could well have been spelt "tyme" in the book....it's so long ago I can't remember! I also remember studying Macbeth....we read the book, listened to an LP record of the play and went with the school to see it on stage in Liverpool and I still can't make head or tail of it! They say if you can understand Shakespeare, his plays are brilliant, but I just can't get into them at all, You have to have an "ear" for the way they are worded, and they are just beyond me, I'm afraid.

It reminds me of my courting days.
Ive been with some women who would try and jump up because they thought they heard a mouse in the crackling leaves I used to say its OK its only my foot.

Irene I didn’t think for a minute you were criticising. I noticed you had spelt the word as it is now and as you know old English was very different to today. You only have to look at Chaucer to see that he was far worse to read and understand) ‘Wife of Bath’ - God forbid, how many husbands she had!) It depends who’s teaching though and all the notes at the bottom of the page!) plus wanting to learn at an age of let’s say more mature years.

In Shakespearean English a foot pad was a thief . The scene of Dennis' picture looks just the place Falstaff and his cronies would have ambushed the Canterbury pilgrims .

You don't need the great long speeches to appreciate the bard . Shakespeare described Richard the Third as ' a bottled spider ' . A brilliant character analysis in 3 words .

For years modern historians accused Shakespeare of inventing the king's deformity . He proved them all wrong of course when Richard was dug up from that Leicester car park with his spine hideously curved .

Veronica , I've found the best way to understand Chaucer is to read the words out loud . Don't get bogged down trying to untangle the spelling . Often the words just come to life phonetically .

English pronunciation and written English were variable - around Wigan it varied street to street.
Your father could be thi'fa-ther or thi faether(fay-ther), while we had a unique term for headache - yed waerche.
The spell checker on my i/t system is now ready to explode!

I prefer Attenborough , who doesn’t need to read it out loud . He just tells it as it is and spells it out calmly , the truth and reality we are now facing .

I don’t really want to read Chaucer any more after The Wife of Bath that was enough - The essay was written - end of Poet. I believe it was comical in parts…;o)). I can honestly say I felt privileged to read Shakespeare I love the words he uses and how he arranges them. But it’s a long time since I wrote those essays… I still like the quotes and speeches. He was so eloquent and philosophical. “ To thine own self be true…”. How true is that!

Poet he was right of course about Richard Crookback’s deformity but he was nearer in history to him than we are at this time he would definitely have heard about him. Plus he had a wicked name due to the disappearances/ murder of the young Princes in the Tower. Thomas More wrote an account of that with his suspicions. He may have read that. Wasn’t Shakespeare’s theatre in London? The plays though we were told were not historically correct … some people think Shakespeare’s work was written by Christopher Marlow!!
( Kit)

Gary, "thi fa-ther's getten t'yed-warch" will outlive a spellchecker in Wigan any day, to the people to whom our Lancashire Dialect matters. I can hear my Mam Tizzie saying to my Dad, "Tek an Aspro, Bob, an' tha'll be awreet, an' don't sup so much, next time!".

Add to that Irene “ Silly beggar, it serves thi reet “.

My favourite is the miller's tale . Chaucer has the Geordie accent off to a tee .

At the time when Richard lll ‘s remains were discovered beneath the car park in Leicester , a group of us , the Saturday club , were discussing the t.v. coverage of the event when an old farmer entered the room , shuffled up to the fire and joined our company .
Nethen Reg , said I , and what do you reckon about this Richard lll palaver ?

After several seconds with his head in his hands , Reg responded with …

Aye , he’s been Deeud fer 300 year, ….his mam only reported him missin’ last wik .

Classic .

thimetnidugimupburavthiteknimwom

... Trees tremble, nuts fall,
Angels use of a rotary whisk
The wind as if mint
Refreshes my home
It is brisk, inviting
I’m cold
I don’t care
It is Fall