Photo-a-Day  (Tuesday, 23rd July, 2024)

Brave Wigan men to enlist for that war saying it wasn’t on the doorstep. I believe George Orwell did his bit as well. I love the quote!
“ none shall pass”. Very dramatic.

Ps that quote could apply to a great many incidents!

Colin you do find some interesting items for PAD.
The Spanish Civil War seems to have got lost in history so its good to see this memorial.
There was a TV programme a while ago where Michael Portillo, whose father fought in the war, retraced his father's steps over the mountains in his flight to England.
Also, just an aside, back when we used to take our children Youth Hostelling we stayed at a YHA in Black Boys in Sussex, the building was use to house Spanish children who were got out of Spain.

Brave Wigan men, I would say stupid Wigan men.

Brave no doubt but they almost helped Spain become a Marxist Russian satellite .

Veronica, you will notice that on that list is the name of one woman, Lily Robinson. I wonder who she was, where she lived and if she has any descendants or relatives.
I try to get inside her mind at the time of what she was thinking and what her friends and family thought about her travelling to foreign land to engage in a war and what tales she would have to tell upon her return.

I digress. Tommy Pilky, do you come from Aspull.

Helen, I find that period leading up to WW2 both fascinating and unsettling.
Hitler’s Nazi Germany supporting the Facists and Stalin’s Communist Soviet Union supporting the Republican’s.
Awful atrocities committed by both sides with memories of those times not far beneath the surface for many Spanish people even today.
I did watch that Michael Portillo series and thought it Brilliant.

Well Tommy, I would say you were stupid for saying it. Nothing like a bit of ignorance to keep you happy.

D.D. Your are I think quite right, the so called Republicans where certainly no democrats they were Communist Marxists in the in the extreme and their exploits in Barcelona and elsewhere are well documented.
Stripping out cathedrals and churches even digging up tombs and ancient graves of revered saints and bishop and dumping them in the streets. Killing priests and raping nuns was the order of the day.
I am not excusing Franco, but he did keep Spain out of the war and joined the western alliance after it to counter the Soviets 50 year domination of Eastern Europe.
Funny old world don’t you think?

Unfortunately their efforts were in vain, Spain fell under Franco's Fascist rule for forty years.

They were known as the ‘International Brigade’. I bet there were many British volunteers who fought for the Fascists from Oswald Moseley’s lot but we don’t really hear about them.
I wonder if there are any plaques or monuments in Spain to commemorate them?

I suppose it would be OK to go and fight for them if your name were El Codobles Del Wiganure.

With some of the comments on here over the years he's not alone.

Yes Veronica you are right in saying that (Eric Blair) George Orwell did go to Spain to fight in their civil war, and Homage to Catalonia his novel about when there is an in interesting read, and when he escaped death by millimetres when shot in the neck. https://hekint.org/2020/06/02/george-orwells-near-fatal-wounding-during-the-spanish-civil-war/

Colin, on looking at your excellent photo my original thought was that it was just a metal sign on a wall, not realising or knowing that it is an Imperial War Museum Memorial in its own little garden, though I haven't been around that part of the town centre for some time with that part of College Avenue being a through road then, and where I'd often park up to go into the library.
https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/76275

The type of 'democracy ' Spain would have got would have been just like the Stasi controlled G.D.R . We may even have ended up with a 'Barcelona Wall' .
Odd how those repressive leftist states all had the word democratic in their titles .
With fanatics on each side no good could come out the war for Spain .
Stalin was a drunken gangster who killed more than 20 million people . Maybe Franco was the lesser of two evils .

Cyril , I didn’t know that about the Imperial War Museum, you must take a walk down one sunny day it is quite peaceful away from the ‘hubbub’ of Standishgate!
Poet, you hit the nail on the head with your summary of the alternative outcome.
Perhaps even France, Greece and Italy would have followed and a quick nuclear WW3.

PS Cyril, I sent a very nice picture to PAD which might feature at some point of Arcade Street, the garden and the impressive side view of the terracotta gable end of the Town Hall. Quite beautiful.

He was stone cold sober at Yalta that’s for sure !

Mark a ruthless Dictator with a geriatric Prime Minister and a crippled President.
Stalin held all the cards and Europe suffered the consequences.
Even today Austria cannot join NATO because of the deal done.

Democracy? We are housing asylum seekers costing million in hotels, who if you asked them to fight to defend it would laugh at you !
They want the won and died for , but also their own culture - then make and fight for your own democracy within that culture. We are too soft in this country which insults those who died for it ! If you believe in our democracy be ready to fight for its values like others did . Don’t come and take a piece of the pie then call me a racist !
We are so multi cultural now I doubt we would be able to put together an army from those cultures to stand alongside us ?
Look at Hong Kong , lots of free visas but if came to the task would they fight for with us to defend what they and all these other cultures want ?
The Uk has become such a safe haven for so many who want but who will never fight or even recognise, or even be aware of those that did , who gave the ultimate!
What I would do , is demand 100,000 men and 50, 000 women from every culture in the UK for military training!
Of course utter nonsense! As is democracy we now live in where we are moving around other cultures , instead of us who died for it , deciding what should be !

I think I better focus on pastoral scenes from now on!

Cows and little baa lambs, Colin. Stick ter cows and little baa lambs. Yer can’t go wrong with cows and little baa lambs. Nobody can fall out with cows and baa lambs. Mind you there’s one er two us’ll give it a try, but generally speaking yer quite safe with cows and baa lambs.

Colin you are slowly opening a can of worms for yourself, be carefully.

Colin I do read what people afto say about your photos and Dennis’s but don’t know much about history and recuperating after a busy day.

Carry on with the curious and interesting photos Colin, and ignore the undeserving and inappropriate comments.

There’s no rush to quell those asylum seekers. It seems it’s the older generation who despair the most about this country. The younger generations either don’t care or like ‘ baa lambs’ accept what is going on. After all we’re dying off anyway.
I agree with Mr Angry.

At the risk of being labelled a rascist, which I am not. Can I ask. If all the young males leave their war torn countries who will be left to rebuild these countries where there seem to be only woman & children left ?No one seems to worry about them & its usually the women & children who suffer the most in wars & afterwards. No doubt this happened in the Spanish Civil War too.
Just a thought.

Break into a country by boat and plunder it's resources while leaving the women and kids behind . Could be the Vikings . They all had beards too .

Oh bless you DTease well said.