Photo-a-Day  (Tuesday, 6th August, 2024)

How many times did I pass that building on my way to & from school on the bus !
A classic Carnegie building.
The Wigan area has some great buildings, if only the Council knew how to promote them. Thanks Dennis.

Helen it should be easy to work out how many times you passed the Carnegie, it would be 5 times going and 5 times coming back, so that would be roughly 10 times a week. 20 times a month.

many happy childhood memories of that place

When you think about it a beautiful building just to house books for lending to people who couldn’t afford to buy them. Today used books can be bought for next to nothing from various sources. I hope the building is still used as a library. We take most things for granted these days - in the past people were grateful for what they had. I know I loved Wigan Library it had a very special atmosphere to me. Plus I loved borrowing ‘Long Players’ (LP’s) for my Dansette.

the council don't own the building

No freddie, I dont suppose they do but they could say whether a building was suitable for a change of use. Like the Carnegie building re opened as a night club with garish coloured signs all over it.

What about holidays Mick and days off sick you would have to subtract those.
That’s the trouble with hectoring from the sidelines, there’s always some idiot like me ready to put a scotcher in.

I used the library for longer than I can remember, it used to be cold and draughty, no double glazing in those days, and the top floor ceiling was always dripping wet after a shower of rain.
Its location was all wrong for a public building for anybody trying to get to it, in the middle of two very busy roads.So Wigan council decided to sell it off, but the new owners had to keep it looking like it originally did when it was built, which Dobcrest homes did and now it still looks nice because Dobcrest and Wigan council did a very good job.

Nice photo of a beautiful building Dennis. Excuse me please Dennis for going off the subject of bricks and mortar but staying on age.............
For all you Wiganers, Billy Boston is 90 years old today, i thought it needed mentioning on WW.

Talk about spanners DTease ! Now I will have to find a pencil & scrap of paper to try & work out how many times it may have been.....& maths was never my favourite subject !

The Carnegie Library was allowed to get into such a state of disrepair that the Council couldn't afford to put it right.. It was left empty for a number of years until sold to Dorbcrest Homes. Thankfully it's Grade 11 listed so the lovely exterior couldn't be changed. I believe it's now used as office space for various companys.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Billy Boston. Such a lovely man.

I think it was in the early 1990's that the Council finally closed the Carnegie Library at Pemberton, and that was after many protests by groups objecting to the closure of the library, and several times the Council granted a reprieve and allowed to it to remain open for a bit longer, and on the day it closed protestors draped a banner across
Ormskirk Road, I cannot remember what it said on the banner, but it was something nasty about Wigan Council.

The library was then left for years, and it became derelict, with a large tree growing out of the roof, and the pigeons moved in and took over the library, and from there the pigeons plotted to take over Wigan, by pooing over everything in sight, they pooed over the Swan & Railway on Wallgate, and they attacked the Famous Pagefield Hotel in Springfield, with high explosive poo bombs, in recent times the seating in Market Place has come under sustained poo attack from low flying kamikaze pigeons.

I agree that Dorbcrest Homes did a fantastic job in renovating the Carnegie Library, they put it back to how it looked when it was new, because when Wigan Council ran the library, it never looked has good as it does now, Dorbcrest put the clock on the roof and they put in that wall which surrounds the front of the building.

That is why the pigeons are so aggressive in Wigan Town Centre, they have never forgiven the fact that they were evicted from that library.

Happy birthday Billy and congratulations to Keely Hodgkinson on winning a gold medal at the Paris Olympics

Happy Birthday to Billy Boston! A much-loved and much-respected gentleman. I have to go to Boston House on Thursday for an eye appointment.....was that place named in honour of Billy, does anyone know? I've never made the connection with his name before now and have been attending for years.

Dennis the Carnegie Library can’t be far from what was the Sportsman night club…….and Happy Birthday to a Legend Sportsman Billy Boston,hopefully your old team will win tonight.

Thank you very much Sir Bob for all that information. So I take it there’s no Library at all to borrow Winnie the Pooh books from there these days.

Also , I seem to recall there being at least four weeks in every month at one time … Did all that change post brexit ?

Always willing to step aside for a gentleman like Billy Boston Roy.
HAPPY 90th BIRTHDAY BILLY!

Yes all good wishes to Billy Boston on his 90th.
Just shows how fit he is to reach that milestone.

Irene,there’s a brilliant painting of Billy at Boston House ..it’s in the waiting area downstairs..
Happy Birthday Billy.

Irene you should,know that because the Wigan Obby your favorite newspaper would have had a big write up on it when it opened.

They (Dorbcrest) built some nice houses in Dodds Farm Lane Aspull , with lovely views - 5 bedroom detached for 650, 000 . All sold.

Thankyou Maureen. There are two sections to Boston House, entrance A and entrance B. I go into B for my eye appointments, and can't recall seeing the Billy Boston photo, although I have been attending for glaucoma for many years....perhaps the photo is in the "A" section. The waiting area for eye appointments is on the second floor of the "B" section and I go straight up in the lift so have never sat downstairs. Anyway, I have an appointment there tomorrow, (Thursday 8th) so I will have a look.

Boston House was open by Wigan Rugby league legend Billy Boston in 2015, and of course named after him.