Photo-a-Day  (Saturday, 11th February, 2023)

Well done Marra, actually, not much changed in the 50 or so years between those photos. The old Scot Lane rows of terraced houses long gone now, that I remember from childhood days. The little shop on the left was where I spent my evenings as an errand lad from 1959 -1962 peddling that bike up and how Sauwney brow gave me legs like pit props. Thanks Dennis for the memory.

It just goes to show how good still cameras were back in 1972, really good and crystal clear B/W photo.

I love these photos of before and now. I notice the ‘For Sale’ boards on the left hand side old property still going strong. The modern property in the old photo well spruced up.
Makes me wonder what was there before the seventies.

Top photo taken in June 1972 by Arnold Hall and appeared in the Wigan Observer weekly newspaper.
Great comparison Dennis.

Couldn’t believe it Dennis when I saw the pebble dash wall. Also surprised that they were still there in 1972. I left Aspull in 1968 when I got married, but my parents still lived there. Certainly brings back memories.

Love the now and then photos, little has changed over the years.

I love the "contast" photos of the same view years apart, and I love black-and-white photography, so today's p-a-d is perfect!

Ooops, pedalling, anybody would think I was flogging contraband.

Two things I noticed. The "L" plate on the van should be on the drivers side or fitted to the bumper on drivers side. Also no cars on the footpath and cars could still pass each other. I know cars are wider today but sign of the times cars on the footpath

Arthur, I didn’t know that the old picture was from the Observer, but it doesn’t surprise me at all.
The observer introduced a new type of printing ( the name of which escapes me) that was a huge improvement on the old presses. I’m pretty sure this B/W photo would have been taken after this. If I’m wrong I’m sure someone will correct me.
Add to this some great photographers and it’s no wonder that the Observer won so many plaudits.

Two great photos and comments about them too. The two women seem to be wondering why he's taking a photo, and are the two lads slouching outside the shop look about to copper up for a packet of fags between them, or maybe waiting for a mate to come out with them. It says something on the front of the bonnet of the van Peter, but I can't make it out.

Ken Joynt is a blast from the past too, he's advertised along with some great adverts of the era in this rugby programme, and he wasn't just a builder of houses, but of detached houses.

https://orl-heritagetrust.org.uk/app/uploads/2019/11/19681109-Wigan-Aban.pdf

And according to a quick web search the average UK price of a new detached house in 1967 was around £4,000.

Dennis, A new Crabtree web offset press, at the Wigan Observer.
The old press was Letter press.

It was Web offsett printing Dennis on the new machine.
The photos on the old machine looked like they were taken in fog.

Scot Lane, links Aspull to Blackrod.

But did you know that in actual fact, there are two Scot Lanes, Scot Lane Aspull, and Scot Lane Blackrod, and accordingly there are two sets of addresses, so you have number a 2 Scot Lane in Aspull, and a number 2 Scot Lane in Blackrod, the same address, but two different properties.

Stupid eh!

Imagine the confusion that causes, and there is something else too, and that is that there are a row of bungalows on Scot Lane, just past the shops on the right hand side, if you are going towards Blackrod, but those bungalows are not on Scot Lane, even though they are, their address is Moorside, but across the road from them, those properties have a Scot Lane address.

More stupid eh!

So for me Aspull is stupid, the roads in Aspull were designed by an idiot.

Web Offset, that was it. Thanks for that Alan.

I like these two photos very much and how clever.

Beautiful place Aspull.

Good point PeterP.
But have you took notice that many vehicles park on double yellow lines, especially outside junk food outlets and some halfway on the pavement people find it difficult to walk past.
Good photo Dennis.

Top photo was Ken Joynt Estate agents from Wigan, started business in the 1960s.

Sir Bob, there are, basically, only two roads in Aspull, they cross one another at the Fingerpost, you would be hard pressed to get lost!

It's scrubbed up pretty well for an old pit village Garry.

Contentment I just didn’t have ,
born without garden but lav ,
my wall was the cut I could smell ,
a wall in between just as well ,
did not hide the fact we were poor ,
Still burns in me inside I am sure.
I couldn’t accept this is it ,
the ‘only flow ‘ and admit ..
that nowt else exists as I look ,
did I miss or maybe mistook ?
I had to leave and ask why ,
this picture I see with my eye ,
holds Buddha like calm , yet to me just alarm ,
that everything else don’t exist ! I apologise !

Veronica, before the bungalows were built on the right, the area was mostly covered with Pit Waste from number five pit which was just up the road near where the shops are now. The top half of the moor, where the Secondary School was built, was just that, moorland. The school was demolished and the area is now covered with houses.
When it was still moorland the good ladies on Ratcliffe Road would peg their sheets out to dry on the moor. In the summer when the grass was tall and swaying in the breeze it would look, from a distance, like a fleet of Spanish Gallions sailing across a green ocean....or was it just my over active imagination?

"e", I contacted you on yesterday's p-a-d....just wondered if you have seen my message?

It sounds absolutely idyllic Dennis even if the moor was pit waste. I can just imagine all those sheets blowing in the wind. I bet you kids had some fun. There’s nothing like a close community in those days of the past. It does seem a very close knit village, much like W/H was and Scholes. Is it any wonder we are always looking back..

The old picture of Aspull wasn't taken by Arnold Hall. I took the picture as part of a set in 1972 for the Post and Chronicle.
The pictures taken by Post and Chronicle photographers won plenty of awards over the years and it wasn't their fault that the paper didn't have web offset printing reproduction like the Wigan Observer.
I took photographs for both papers and have submitted a wider view of the old Aspull one on here in Album plus a few others from the area hoping people may recognize faces.

Ken Joynt estate agent, his shop was in Wigan Lane.We bought our first home from him in the 60s

Frank, I have been a great admirer of your photos for some years. I believe that the photographs that you have taken over the years are a magnificent contribution to the history of Wigan and the surrounding area.

Apologies Frank Orrell.
I assumed it was one of Arnold Hall's photographs because of the top clear quality. The Observer had some great photographers over the years and David Simms was one of the pioneers in colour photographs for the Observer, he was top man in the Wigan Observers Queen of industry competitions and other colour work, along with other top photographers.
The Post may have won some awards over the years as you say, but the Wigan Observer was far more superior not only winning very many major newspaper awards, but advertiser all wanted to be in the Observer, car dealers, estate agents, jobs you name it they all wanted a page.
The Post and Chronicle was indeed poor quality and had many Preston connections advertised in the paper, were as the Wigan Observer was born and bred in Wigan this why the paper cared for it's readers.
You are indeed a first class photographer Frank, your photos are breath taking in Quality and presentation your books testify that. Keep well.

I bought the post and chronicle for the racing pages with andrew hoyle, it was always late at the newsagents and most of the spelling incorrect.
I suppose there was a time limit to get the papers out on the streets.

I remember the WO when it first hit the streets in the mid 1960s, It stood out in the paper shops, not just the Evening post, but all other papers at that time. The print quality was absolutely fantastic and was eye catching.
I disagree with Sir Bob, Aspull in a lovely clean and tidy place.
Beautiful colour photo Dennis.

You don't have to be a professional photographer to take pictures today, I phones take some beautiful pics with unbelievable results.
Most newspapers welcome pics from the public these days.
Dennis's pic is fantastic.

Contentment I just didn’t have ,
born without garden but lav ,
my wall was the cut I could smell ,
a wall in between just as well ,
did not hide the fact we were poor ,
Still burns in me inside I am sure.
I couldn’t accept this is it ,
the ‘only flow ‘ and admit ..
that nowt else exists as I look ,
did I miss or maybe mistook ?
I had to leave and ask why ,
this picture I see with my eye ,
holds Buddha like calm , yet to me just alarm ,
that everything else don’t exist ! I apologise !

Wigan observer just a shadow to what it was in the glory years.
Observer was Always different from the rest , doesn't matter which town you lived in.

Paper man, I agree the Obby was great but only when the format was broadsheet. The paper for me started to suffer when they amalgamated, the Obby subsidised other papers in the group.

Dennis these photos are a great example of before and now.
I congratulate you, we'll done and thanks.

Observer always the best paper by a long shot. I don't buy the paper today too expensive and not what it was.
Dennis more of the then and now please.

Gordon Hurst another great photographer at the Wigan Observer too Arthur.

William, Gordon Hurst was indeed a great photographer, Gordon took the first colour picture that appeared on the front page of the Wigan Observer on the 26th August 1966, only months after going web offset.
The picture was of children holding coloured balloons in the grounds of Wigan Infirmary at a garden party. It was a great time for the Wigan Observer and all the people who worked on the paper at Woods Street.
Thanks to Malcolm Ryding for his information.

Thanks to William, Dennis and Colin Harlow.

Thank you Colin.

Interesting story, not many newspapers printing colour in Britain in the mid 1960s, perhaps a small handful in America.
But the vast majority of newspaper companies still using the old Letter press principles and definitely not colour.
Some national newspaper only when over to web offset in the 1980s and 1990s. Infact, the Wigan Observer were very early to produce colour two or three years before we saw colour TVs.
I believe they used a new Crabtree press build at Leeds by RW Crabtree printing press engineers,
Fantastic machines at that time.
To day, all almost newspapers use the same printing techniques.

Andrew Sommers, you are absolutely right, the Wigan Observer press was indeed built by RW Crabtree and Sons LTD at the then Water Lane works, Leeds. The six unit press was a Crabtree Spearhead mk3 web offset 10/50 machine, it could produce 20 thousands cph and 32 broadsheet pages. Full Colour front, back and centre pages, also spot colour. The press was chrisend Betsy.
Thanks Andrew.

Sorry for the incorrect spelling.
It should have read....The press was Christened Betsy.

Excellent Colin, it certainly was the Spearhead mk3 10/50 the first of its kind of the Crabtree range.
The Chester Chronicle had a similar machine.