Photo-a-Day  (Wednesday, 2nd July, 2025)

Well done Dennis taking a photograph from a different perspective. The statue is a miner a
pit brow lass and a child worker. I was fortunate to be on the committee raising funds for memorial.
Our Chairwoman was Sheila Ramsdale who did an amazing job keeping everyone focused.
Thank you Dennis for all your hard work.

Ghosts From The Past.

“ Looks like we’ve took a wrong turning again Hilda - stay ‘ere I’ll see if I con find somebody”.

“ Well ‘urry up Jack - Am stuck in summat I can’t move…

“ Can I come with thi father.?”

“NO stay with thi mam - wist be ‘docked’ again this week more than likely!”

Now this photo is taking me back to when I was a child and attending St Marie's school in Standish.
We would catch the same bus from the Black Horse pub as the pitman who had just come off shift at the Robin Hill colliery.
I can still remember walking behind the pitman when they got off the bus in Shevington and seeing sparks flying from their clogs especially in autumn and winter when the days where more dull.

It would be nice if the statues could be in the centre of Wigan but I suspect they might be subject to vandalism by late night revellers, so are probably safer in their quiet corner. The young lad always makes me think of my Dad who worked at The Maypole Pit in Abram at twelve years old.

A Victorian Miner and his family gaze. In wonder at the modern day Life Centre in Wigan.

looks more like andy cap un flo from behind but still better than the face off wigan but whats not

As has been said, taking the photo from a different angle is interesting & your own comment Dennis adds to the interest. When you are in the area again take another photo of their faces, I would love to see them.

"This is not round Millgate, where's mi house gone?. Bin transported t'future, and i don't like it!"

Something quite powerful about this picture. Bleakness is captured just as in a Lowry painting. Something that you cannot identify but you feel.

Very perceptive of you Owd Reekie.

oh aye remember doing a few shifts at yon pit , a might a been on same bus an all . dangerous them clog irons giving off sparks , specially with gas about .
My lads given me this link to a photo of pit in fifties , he had show me how do it , is good photo too
https://www.flickr.com/photos/28709338@N04/10679188255/

Helen you can see them here,https://wiganworld.co.uk/communicate/mb_message.php?opt=f1&msd=1498672&subject=Wigan%20Miners%20Monument

Superb photo Dennis, it's the first time that I have seen that horrible building looking at it from this side, it looks like a row of grotty shops with flats above. Those statues are certainly out of place with that building opposite, and I agree with Irene in that Market Place would be far better, and where a lot of pit workers would have caught a bus to the pit.

Beautifully put, Owd Reekie. And I loved Veronica's and Marge's dialect quotes too.....what a talented bunch we have here on p-a-d!