Photo-a-Day  (Saturday, 19th July, 2025)

Reminds me of a meeting I had with a lovely group of Muslim ladies having a picnic by the river at Chatsworth. They were a jolly & cheerful lot....asked me to sit down with them & offered me cake & lemon tea ...all spoke with lovely Northern accents saying they had left their husbands at home to fend for themselves for the day ! One thing was they wouldn't consent to was me taking a photo of their faces. I think that is because they believe doing so takes their soul so I respected that but they ended up all putting their teacups together in a toast & I took a photo of their hands !
A different photo Mick.

Kebabs, can anyone tell me what Kebabs are made of, because when asked no one seems to know.
I know it looks awfull turning on like a record player with a knitting needle through the centre of it. Many say, I only eat it after a skinful after the pub with my mate.
Its not my type of picnic.

Not my choice of picnic food.
Lovely place Haigh Hall grounds.

Well Mick this is different, did they not mind you taking a photo?

Is the Haigh Hall building finished now after the renovation project
I love the Classic car shows there.

Their's never enough benches in Parks, Pennington is a beautiful country park but not many family benches about, I would imagine Haigh Hall is the same.

Our picnic days were jam butties or salmon paste and a bottle of water, great. I much preferred our butties than Kabbs.

I hope they've cleaned up after themselves and extinguished the barbecue they've used, we all know how fires start on the news.

A puzzling photo...if those ladies were having a barbecue, where is it? There is a huge space around the picnic tables and no sign of a barbecue...People don't place a barbecue a long way from their picnic site. A mystery! Helen, your story about the Muslim ladies holding up their teacups for a photo reminds me of "the ladies' coffee mornings" on Last of the Summer Wine, where Nora Batty, Edie and the rest drink their coffee in unison. I have a book about the making of the programme, and apparently the director says, "up-two- three, drink-two -three, down-two- three" !

Is it allowed in the grounds to use a barbecue if so where is it? Picnics yes but a barbecue I would be very surprised that it was allowed. I don’t think barbecue's would be used by anybody in the grounds of any stately homes. I’m visiting Derbyshire in a couple of weeks and going to Chatsworth. I’ll be on the lookout

I thought they were nuns at first. Reminds me of a long distance flight I was on with my wife. Behind ud were a group of Muslim women who had brought their own food and I was curious about some flatbreads they had brought. They were homemade and they were insistent that we shared with them. A very nice memory from a 1992 flight which I have never forgotten.

Kebabs can be made with differing cubes of meat Malc. Even vegetarian ones I believe. I bought a couple of packs from M@S they were very tasty. I think they ‘evolved’ in Turkey if I’m not mistaken. As in Turkish Kebabs.

Mick I forgot to tell you the rugby players house is for sale, but I suppose you know already.

John, ours was corporation pop and salmon paste butties on Blackpool beach, usually impregnated with wind blown sand.
My dad used to say it was good for the digestion, birds eat it all the time!

Irene, the ladies had come from Bolton and the Manchester areas to do some Orienteering, I'm sure you will know what it is, but instead of running, they walked through the woods looking for clues that they had written in English on a piece of card.
The ladies who sat down were the older ones who did the serving up of
Three busloads of them, with 12 in each group. The first group I spotted was a surprise because it's not something you see every day in Haigh Plantations.
They brought with them large tin foil charcoal barbeques, which you can buy in Bolton market. The lamb and chicken kebabs had been prepared in their home, as well as the chopped salad and the homemade flat breads.
I have to say this photo, which was taken a couple of weeks ago is taking me back to yesterday when we went to Chinatown in Manchester and on the way we stopped in Arndale market and I had a lamb Kebab served with rice and salad and a couple of pickled peppers.

The life of a kebab…
Re-formed, re-heated, eaten, regurgitated and regretted.

John and Colin, ours was jam butties and pop out of a brown paper carrier-
bag with string handles in Ince Park, or even in somebody's back yard, sat on a bin! But oh, how good they tasted on a Summer's day to children with not a care in the world!

Sorry to go off the subject but can someone advise me please? My ancient laptop had finally given up the ghost and I now have to go on p-a-d via my phone. The comment box is surrounded by a blue rectangle with a grey line down one sideand I have no problem typing my comment but I can't scroll up and down to check for mistakes before submitting the comment. Apologies again for interrupting the subject .I have tried googling the problem.but no luck

Maybe they’ll be spreading their wings to go further afield after filling the old towns of Lancashire. They want more open spaces that’s what ‘orientating’ is - finding out about other places to come and live in. Let’s face it we need more housing and that’s the aim.

John, My friend Jean Gaskell & I would go off on our bikes with a bottle of pop & jam butties too. We would stop at a house somewhere in the middle of nowhere & ask for a drink of water....and we never got molested or murdered !

Irene , go and have a word with Sal . He has the phone shop next to where Oliver Somers used to be . He’ll sort you out .
Both him and his brother Faz , who also has a shop in Makinson Arcade are brilliant with that kind of stuff .
Trust me . He’ll put you right .
Just don’t go to Curry’s whatever you do .

Our school holidays were adventures in these old woods and the Camel’s Hump and over the fields to the canal off Darlington St. if it rained it was the baths or as a special treat it might be the pictures. The biggest treat of all was a day out at Blackpool, Southport or even New Brighton with a bottle of water and the usual jam butty. Now folk buy a bottle water just to walk round with! My first holiday ‘abroad’ was Rhyl at 16. All very boring to the grandkids but they don’t have half the fun..Also done bike rides many times on a second hand bike.

I hope I don't upset people, but we had many picnic in the Summer months as kids, ours was HP brown sauce and salmon paste butties and a bottle of let down pop that we all drank from the same bottle. We didn't care.

Exactly Veronica.

Irene turn off your caps lock off located on the lift hand side. Reboot your computer by removing the plug from the wall for ten minutes.
Hopefully this works.

We used to go to the park with crisp butties and cheese spread butties.
Fantastic, all washed down with Corona orangeade pop shared by three friends.

Thankyou Ozy and Jarvis.

Yeah , good on yer Arthur … go for it mate , live dangerously .
After all , where’s the point in having an immune system if you don’t give it summat to do ?

And let down pop eh ?
Is that what they call cordial round your way Arthur ?

Arthur is correct, we kids called it Let Down pop, is other words add water to it. We never called it Cordial, never.
Just like we called Sandwiches butties.
Kids are kids and we had a great childhood. And for your information Ozy , it did us no harm.

Many thanks for the nice comments on my photo today.
I cannot tell you how pleased I am that it has brought out the very best in people, Mick.

Nothing dangerous at all ozy, that's exactly what kids did with friends. We all shared food and drinks at the park. Drank out of the same bottle and enjoyed our childhood in the 1950s and 1960s. We were brought up with chip butties and let down pop we never called it Cordial....we were kids for gods sake.

And where exactly did I say it was dangerous or did anyone any harm ?

Jeez , your just wasting yer time trying to have a bit of fun on this tinpot site.

Just try to chill out a little for Christ’s sake why don’t you .

And fyi , I did exactly the same thing as you mob did….
Bloody hell man , what do you think I was brought up on ?
Cucumber sandwiches and lobster Thermidor ?

Talk about reverse snobbery .

Funny enough, Ozy, I was eating cucumber butties last week. I bought the cucumber from a Polish shop in Morecambe, it was a little fat baby one, which had so much more flavour than the ones they sell wrapped in cling film in our supermarkets.

Well I should imagine that living in Shevvy and dining on cucumber butties of a superior quality would come naturally to you Mick .

My comment hasn’t landed! I did say that we drank out of the same bottle apart from if somebody had a ‘snotty nose!” We weren’t that daft even if we were chummy…§;o)) only the Shangri La mob would eat cucumber sandwiches…with the crust cut off.

I wish you’d make your mind up and stop messing around with your hairdo Veronica .

Mick we grow our own cucumber and it’s much better than what you can buy in the shops.

Mick we grow our own cucumber and it’s much better than what you can buy in the shops.

On Indian news they speak half and bit theirs and the rest ours ?
Why do people on WW treat the lanky tongue like a bit of a joke add on ?
If you don’t want Wigan to change then speak Lanky all the time and post it as well - it’s the tongue of Wigan !
Irene goes on about the American invasion then for God sakes Irene , talk lanky ‘ not like its bit of joke from way back then , which most on WW want to live there anyway! If you believe it , want it , then for god sakes speak the tongue - not half and a bit to suit what fits to make it jokingly blend ! I left Wigan so had to adjust my extreme lanky but bloody hell if you live in Wigan it’s the tongue of the Wigan people and should be embraced! Sadly WW seems to have one ear on Wigan and the other on how London will view its native tongue .
Some on WW have posted whole paragraphs of Lanky like it’s some kind of ancient text , when all it is , is the words and values we all came from ! If you are Wigan then do the same , for these are the tongue and words of our history- and should be adjusted to no one - especially not London !

I'm afraid I do Cut crusts off and cut butties into little triangles. (not Peter's, just mine).not because I'm posh but because I enjoy them like that. But if I have toast I love a crust and I have even been known to ask for a crust if I have toast in a cafe!

Ozy, take no notice.....you made ME laugh and I' ve shared many a bottle of let down pop.We just wiped the top.with our mucky hands as it was passed round! We are all still here to tell the tale.

Dave. I DO talk Lanky. If I am writing a letter I talk about "those sweets we used to buy" but if I am talking I say "them toffees". There are ways you have to express yourself in letters so that non- Lancashire people can understand. I am broad Lancashire in speech and proud of it. And it's the Americanisms I can't stand, such as You Guys and GIVE IT THE HEADS UP. As for the London accent, my lovely daughter-in-law is from London so I am used to it.

Dave from what I perceive from what you think we should speak Lanky without any changes to how folk spoke centuries ago. Language evolves all the time it would be ludicrous to speak as miners and cotton operatives spoke a century ago. ‘ Bits’ do seep into the accent as it tends to pass down. There’s many reason for changes in our accents one for instance, people coming from other places in the country or indeed from other countries. Take the Irish that came in the 19th Century do you think that accent has survived with their descendants? No I don’t think so.
( Education is another reason) The same applies with Wiganers and Lancashire folk. Accents tend to be lost over time. I do like to hear a good ‘mimic’ reading Lanky dialect poetry though. That’s what the dialect has become over time a lost dialect….a bit like old Latin It still exists but not used much.

I am terrible because I don’t eat my crusts Irene so really I should cut them off. I get told off for leaving them on my plate. $;o)

I spent a few years living and working in deepest darkest Gloucestershire during my late teens and the locals couldn’t make head nor tail of my accent , so I was forced to gradually adapt and emulate the way that they spoke .

When I came back home the reverse occurred . Many folk had difficulty understanding my adopted West Country twang .

And if you two ladies ever choose to come for a superior cucumber butty at the Anderson Dining Emporium , don’t go thinking you’ll get away with leaving the crusts either .

In fact I’ve got signs on all the tables to that effect .

I love a toast butties or crusty cob, I never cut the the sides off because I think they are the best bits.
But when ever I make toast for my grandchildren I cut off the sides so they can dip them in their boild eggs.
We all do different things, but still use the words "Let Down pop" were Wiganers that's why.
I hope your laptop is working now Irene.

I can just imagine Irene and me in 40’s garb with a gas mask eating cucumber sandwiches and cakes at Anderton Dining Emporium for afternoon tea. (Yorkshire Tea of course) - but it would be difficult to see anything with double synthetic cream smearing the glass peep holes. One wouldn’t have any warning when the next air raid might occur.

I promise to eat my crusts, (or "crusses" as we said in Wigan), at The Anderton Emporium, as my Mam always told me they would make my hair curl...they didn't but my daughter had masses of curls as a child so maybe they DID work after all!
Arthur, I love a boiled egg and toast and also.a hard boiled egg chopped up.in a cup with salt , pepper and butter.
When my granddaughter was a toddler she got a doll's buggy to push her dolls in, and her London Nanny And Grandad.used to keep asking her what she got for Christmas because they loved hearing her say "a buggy" in her Lancashire accent!

Getting back to the topic of cucumber … if by chance my plane crashed in a remote part of the jungle and I was the only survivor surrounded by the corpses of my travelling companions , a suitcase full of Pot Noodles and a field full of cucumber .

I’d survive by first eating the Pot Noodles … Then when the last of those had gone , I’d catch , strangle and eat a monkey , fur an’ all .

Then I’d make a start on the remains of my fellow passengers … in the hope that I’d be rescued before I had only the field of cucumber left to sustain me .

That’s how much I like cucumber .

A bit late to comment...re dialects & speech My Dad never lived in Lancashire again after the age of 25yrs but he never lost his Lancashire accent...ever.

Helen, I have a book by the journalist Lynda Lee Potter who was born in Leigh but was determined to move into the Upper Circles of society and "lost" her Lancashire accent on the train between Warrington Bank Quay Station and London. She got off at London with a posh accent, and had to speak very slowly for a very long time to keep it up Eventually she became very posh, but she said she could never keep it up when she was angry , and became more Lancashire by the minute! And if she ended up rowing with someone, it was always in a Lancashire accent!