Lancashire Day ---Passion & Pride ?

The 27th November and its LANCASHIRE DAY the day when we celebrate all thing Lancky due t"th fact it wer on this day in1295 whenth first elected representatives from Lancashire were summoned by King Edward I and wer  installed int big house with that clock on it  in London .

Now I feel as we should mek more of a fuss ahout this day in owr history as if it wernt fer us lot in Lancashire we wouldnt be the people we are now .
Dont forget th"indusrtial revolution wer ouwrs so if it wernt fer us the great stride we have med wouldnt have been med.
Food is anutherun .HOT POT that great bastion of a dish as kept all them mill workers fed and nourished has become one of the gret classics .Football was also invented by us lot an all  DARWEN Nr Blackburn being a founder member ofth Fooball league as wer BURNLEY ,ROVERS ,PRESTON and Bowton (Bolton ).
We have much to be part proud of in Lancashire .owr heritage ,owr Landscape (Not all Mills and grime but the most spectacular sea and land views ) us food and most of all owr LINGO thanks to TIM BOBBIN
so Grab a Pint of a famous LANCASHIRE BREWED PINT of ale have yersell a chippy tea and like me be PROUD to he LANCASTRIAN
Fer those who do not know this is the LANCASHIRE DAY  proclimation belted out in most PALATINE LANCASHIRE towns at 12 noon bi"th town cryers

To the people of the city and County Palatine of Lancaster, Greetings!

Know ye that this day, November 27th in the year of our Lord 2009, the 58th year of the reign of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Duke of Lancaster, is Lancashire Day.

Know ye also and rejoice, that by virtue of Her Majesty's County Palatine of Lancaster, the citizens of the Hundreds of Lonsdale, North and South of the Sands, Amounderness, Leyland, Blackburn, Salford and West Derby are forever entitled to style themselves Lancastrians.

Throughout the County Palatine, from the Furness Fells to the River Mersey, from the Irish sea to the Pennines, this day shall ever mark the people's pleasure in that excellent distinction - true Lancastrians, proud of the Red Rose and loyal to our Sovereign Duke.

God bless Lancashire and God Save the Queen,
Duke of Lancaster.

Blackpool on thup

Lately me anth wife have been spending quite a bit of time in the Blackpool area .Now as a lad I spent quite a few years living by the sea and the chance to wif a bit of sea air seems to be gerrin stronger as I get older .Blackpool was deemed a bit of a dump a few years back but on our last few visits its been notacable how grand the prom is becoming as tha can see fromth photo .GRASS on the prom and the new walkway make fer a relaxing walk indeed me anth wife have stared walking south of late on the sands allth way to St Annes .

By 2012 the next big step onth regeneration and modernization  (doing up ) will see the introduction of new trams ( artists picture above  )  along the golden mile ,all this makes me wonder what Blackpool will do next to pull in the punters and will it be the same as it was for me and thee in years too come .

You know yer gerring owder when

There comes a time in life when you notice things are starting to wear out .Yesterday (Easter Monday ) for example was a day when with the sun beaming down me and the missus had a walk into Accrington and on the way back I spotted something that got me thinking .

You see the wife is a bit afeared of small rodent like stuff so in the distance I saw something that made me come over all protective like .

As we approached I said to the wife --we better cross over love I think there is a rat over there ----It cant be she said look it jumped it must be a squirrel ----We got closer and closer ---this is a tame bugger I thought until we got to where it was then the realization the gogs ( eyes ) aren't what they should be kicked it ---It wer a bit of discarded black bin bag being blown about in the breeze.

--Lancky speek ----Sometimes tha cant help it

Well some folks were gerring vexed at me using the LANCKY DIALECT in my posts .Some agree some as don't .The dialect may be spoken but hot written --so here's a video of mesell telling a couple of tales that do not work without our mother tongue .



Hope tha likes um --and they raise a smile ---HAPPY EASTER

Going back Home satisfies the soul

Firstly before I begin an apology .

It would seem some people have become annoyed at the grammar and spelling mistakes on this blog for which I apologise.I have now sorted out a web browser that allows me to CHECK all spelling something which most do not so hope the problem no longer arises and now hope you will enjoy reading my posts.

Lancashire Lad .

A weekend back HOME .

This last weekend gave the opportunity to go back once again to the area in which I grew up.The PALATINE Lancashire town of BARROW IN FURNESS will always hold a special place in my heart and this weekend its beauty again stirred and refreshed my soul .

The town took a beating in the late 1980s with the loss of so many jobs in the local shipyards and other places of employment which is one of the reasons I moved back to the area of my birth .

Now when I go back it is a joy to see it fighting back and being a place if circumstances where different I would move back to .

Like most towns the town center is not as busy as it once was but supermarkets and other stores that once shunned the town now thrive in the town which now has a bit of a tourist industry going too which will only get bigger once the new MARINA VILLAGE is built .

Walks I have not done for ages too filled my heart with fond memories .Over ABBOTSWOOD and the local fields to Dalton stopping at the BROWN COW INN for a pint in the spring sunshine and back along the lines (following the railway) back to FURNESS ABBEY where we had parked the car .

It was all to brief a stay yet again but we will be going back again next week as I have to take some of the prints WALLACE TRICKETT he allows me to retail to the NEW ---Laurel & Hardy museum so they can raise some funds and hopeful get my friend Wallace some publicity and work from original painting from the area we both called HOME once .

The pictures are from my PICASA site 

I am I right or wrong

A few weeks ago I wrote of my plight to get summart ( Sorry must use the queens English ) done about the illegal parking -( No not putting the wrong ingredients in yer favorite Lancashire cake )

.The picture you can see was taken on a quite WEDNESDAY afternoon around the corner from where I live .

Now you will appreciate that when folks come home from work or attend the church on a Sunday abit further up the street or pick up there little ones from a school also further up the road it gets abit busy around here as it is also a main throughfare that has buses coming up and down it sometime over the legal limit of 30mph

.Now I know I may have a driving instructor looking at this artical as he is a member of another site I have but I always seem to rememberand I hope he will comfirm this , when I took my driving test and READ the highway code that YOU MUST NOT ---Park on the pavement ,in the wrong drirection of the flow of traffic or on a bend or on a junction ---all of which happens around these streets .It always seems that rules are made to be broken and are only enforced when someone is killed or maimed then but then its too late or am I wrong

Bringin um home is such a thrill

A walk in to Accrington today brought a bit of pride and pleasure to my face .A short while ago a my former ORIGINAL website LANCASHIRE RE-UNITED offered me not only the friendship of another Barrow in Furness gent WALLACE TRICKETT a respected transport artist(Now living in NEW ZEALAND ) but the chance to sell with his permission prints of original artwork he had produced of Lancashire municipal Buses from days gone bye and other commercial fleets of companies from days gone bye and still in exsistance .Though the site I was a little successful with sales to members of the site and also through e-bay.Now I think it is important that local councils who for what every reason sold off their towns fleets recall the heritage that belongs in there towns .
I sold some of the prints to ACCRINGTONS councils and LANCASHIRE LIBRARY and am now delighted that tey are on sale and on display in the TOWN HALL window( far left of your screen ) .
I have also tried with no avail at the minute to get the local council in BARROW to get interested in a LOCAL LADS work but for now I am so pleased not only to bring abit of ACCY home but to spread the word on a true mate WALLACE TRICKETT
Click on image to view at FULL SIZE

The Price of a walk

Another fine and Sunny Sunday in Lancashire had me anth wife out in the car and heading for a favored beauty spot for a short walk (couldnt do a long un as mi back wer giving me jip ) Most of the walks me anth missus like doing are around the local ressas like the one shown on last weeks thread as they usually lead to other loverly countryside walks .
Now you could have knocked me down wi a feather tut bottom of owr stairs when we got there ( its at a place called DUNNOCKSHAW Nr Burnley by the way ) as sin owr last visit the powers that be have put a car park ticket machine on said car park and as it takes a couple of hours to walk around it costs 3 quid fert pleasure of some good clean air .
Now I don't mind paying my way in life ---BUT do I and countless others not pay for the upkeep of said ressas and supply of gods own water though our WATER RATES .Give us a break owd lad---There again I will in future just park on the roadside as thats FREE COCKER --There again they might put turnstiles up next a the entrances to these walks --Wouldn't purrit passed um .

Its Grim up north --Is it cocker

It always amazes me as them who live south of that Watford Gap place think the north and more particularly Lancashire is still all Smokey Mills ,Flat caps and ferret racing etc etc .By heck that lot need teaching sommert .I have traveled all over the place in my life time but am forever amazed at the BEAUTY of the countryside in our fine owd county .Last Sunday me anth wife we stunned again when we went on a walk around ENTWISTLE RESSA nr DARWEN that wer recommended by a mate of hers .
Now all the photos I took that day are on mi other website LANCASHIRE RE-UNITED but have a butchers at this one you southern softies an tell me now its GRIM UP NORTH

Where ut local lads theses days

I wer at the footy museum in Preston the other day maveling at the collections of old trohpys shrirts etc and wondering where it all seems be going wrong in todays football world .LANCASHIRE gave the world the beautiful game which is now played by well payed premadonnas who sream at the breekin of a fingernail gawd remember BURT TROUTMAN --played fer city wi a broken neck .
Teams thoughout Lancashire are full of foreign lads and I dont just mean from overseas .There wer a time when footballers where just like me and thee many will remember how as TOM FINNEY a Preston legend would get the bus to play at home games at deepdale --ey teams had LOCAL lads in em lads as could be associated wi .
There is a thing these days about ACCY STANLEY not gerrin the crowds to follow um at home since they gained there place back inth football league 44 years after the original team went bust bust . Two point could be made here .One is that in 44 YEARS folks round about ACCY have either grown up swearin there alliegence to either ROVERS or the Dingles upth rod from BURNLEY .Now point 2 is ACCRINGTON is a small town which for years had the mick taken out of it bi SCOUCERS with that dammed milk add ---ACCRINGTON STANLEY --WHO ARE THEY ---So why do we have a SCOUSE MANAGER and more SCOUCERS than a Liverpool dole queue playin fert club and TOWN ---Accy like every other SMALLER club in LANCASHIRE should be built on teams of LOCAL LADS who we can have a bit in comom wi just like TOM FINNEY and PRESTON someone who we could take pride in

Bugger off an let me sleep

 I am one of the nocturnal breed of night workers whos world is back to front a world where my night is your day where my dinner is your breakfast where you have a  breakfast bowlI have  my can of beer .Now I tend to go to bed of a morning then gerrup and couple of hours later and being the gradley hubby I am tend to do the housework ,make teas fert wife fer when she comes home of an evening and genaraly  muck about onth  tinternet .

I then go back to bed around late  afternoon to catch up on some Zs .Why then is it hard fer folk to wonder why when I attach a note to the front door ---DO NOT KNOCK NIGHT WORKER SLEEPING --that when they do it I go BLOODY BALISTIC  as  they always DO KNOCK just as I start to  get to sleep --What is it some folks dont get about us lot as works neets -apart from pimps and burglars as it was once said to me 

Its the way we speek that makes it funny

Our Lancky dialect is a wonderful thing and the thing that makes comic talents like PETER KAY and latterly PHIL COOL Cannon and Ball etc stand out I was told a couple of gags a while back that can only be done inth lingo and here is one and you will see why
In the early hours of the morning a wife awakens and call to hubby ALBERT -------Albert quick get doctor ----What is it sess ALBERT -----Ave pains love you know pains down there ---so Albert phones the doctors ------DOCTOR come quick its wife hers gerrin pains -----What sort of pains the doctor asks---WOMANS pains down there doctor -Oh come quick ---Has she got coil in says the doctor -----Got coil in says ALBERT -------SHES NOT MAKEN ME  BLOODY BREAKFAST YET

You may be interested to know I have an online petition to 10 Downing Street for those who care about our LANCKY Speek and heritage to veiw and sign please click onth link
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/ourlingo/

Dunt Shopping get you vexed

As I usually do on a Monday to try and get be tiered for me afternoon kip before the first night shift of the week I walked into Accrington town center and to one place in particular where I get little bits and bobs for me works packin (Packed lunch to you posh types)

Now the bits I get are usually Crisps,bits of cakes etc which never come to over a couple of quid .So with goods in hand I set off for the check out .
Now why oh why does this keep happening to me .A gent was wanting to purchase a small toy for his lad BUT the damm thing wouldn't scan at the till .The checkout operator then belled for a supervisor ---so we waited & waited------ & WAITED my patience snapped so I moved to the next till where a gent was finishing having his goods put thought then as the bill came to £4 the guy gets a debit card out ---FOR FOUR QUID---Then the card machine takes for ever to authorize so they start campin --(Lancky speek for chatting----Yeah the wife thought it had summert to do wi a tent an all ) and campin and campin .Finally the till opens I get there and pay for my stuff wi CASH ------so much bloody quicker ----pass us a blood pressure tab --am going fer a lie down

Why do I bloody bother

Now I am not usually a moaning bugger BUT lately I seem to have joined the ranks of the VICTOR MELDREW ---I don't believe it club .Some time ago about 6 weeks infact we got a snotty letter fromth local council (HYNDBURN ) sayin as they are having problems eccsesing the back streets with there bloody big wagons unless more conciderate parking were applyed in our street they would be making us put our bins in the front street .
Point one why are all of us int street being tared with the same brush
Point 2 why send new bigger wagons down such narrow streets when you know darned well you have trouble gerrin the old uns down inth first place.

So much did this letter get me goat I went down to see the bloody council but these days they hide cowering or is it laughing at us behind a phone you use from a reception area --press 1 for complaints --press 2 for I am on me brew and couldn't care less Press 3 while we have a laugh at you , press 4 cos we re getting paid to sit on our butts and don't care what you want

Finally I got though to someone after using my nouse and some contacts I have and had a conversation over the phone about said matter then pointed out the parking in our area that is getting worse as more people park there 2-3 cars per family or big work vans which these Victorian narrow streets were not meant for and then state of our streets road surface which has been patched more times that a aging celebs plastic surgery .

Now with the hard winters frost,snow and ice that has got under it its gerring worse .
I was assured I think some one would get of his big fat arse and come and have a look .As I was promised the police would about illegal parking around the area .
As I said its now 6 weeks since I did all this and not ONE person has been anywhere near ---I DON'T BELIEVE IT -----or in todays world maybe I should

E wer a great baker wer owr Grandad

There seems to be an upsurge in online shopping in these busy days but as the picture shows theres nowt new years ago as many off you will remember Butchers Bakers ( of which me grandad wer one ) ,Candlestick makers etc used to send the lads out on bikes many of who must have been as fit as a butchers dog to get up and down some of the steeper streets of Lancashire .It seems like in some ways the old days can teach us a thing or two ---but in the owd days we where fitter and more thankful for our daily bread

A Messy Buisness

While walking down around the streets of Lancashire's towns I have noticed of late a messy problem seems to be coming back ---DOG MUCK
Some dog owners seem not to care about the little messes there pouches leave behind nor seem to care about others having to dodge the stuff .The sign above was pictured while I was out walking the other day and has been reworded ---it was more to the point last time I saw it. It doesn't take much to clean up after your pet put it in a bin that someone collects I know I worked for a firm that did it I had the content's of 43 bins in me van once -On a hot summers day too --Sorry if you are having sommert to eat.
It seems another example of folks who couldnt give a s---- about others these days

Buzzes are nowt like the owd days

I have a bit of an affinaty wi buzzes as mi dad wer a driver with the owd Barrow Corporation Transport Department and as a lad I used to get free travel on buzzes he wer driving --Now back to queens English.
Many of you will remember the old fleets in your towns with the old platformed double deckers and jumping on or off while they where moving .
Its now a long way removed from the old smoky buses of the past as on my travels around Lancashire I notice more and more new fleets of brand new buses(pictured TRANSDEV --Burnley & Pendle MAINLINE service to Barnoldswick ) .Many are air conditioned with CCTV and suspensions a few cars would be glad off .Where I live buses can be caught to anywhere in Lancashire and 2 people can travel to Manchester for £9.50 return .I often think about hopping on a bus but somehow the old memories of days gone by seem to stop me as somehow there isn't the romance and excitement of an old D/D and jumping on or off

Memories of your Barrow in Furness childhood

If you are like me there are certain tastes you will miss from days gone by .A favorite food, sweet or maybe drink you havent had for ages .I grew up in Barrow in Furness and like most towns I suspect it had its own maker of pop .Barrow at the time I was growing up had two THOMPSONS and MARSHS . We all had our favourite flavour be it CREAM SODA ,ORANGE or the one that put many a hair on the chest of many a Barrow lad or lass--MARSHS- SASS which even had its own childhood skipping tune -----MARSHS SASS A PENNY A GLASS WHEN YOU DRINK IT IT GOES SPLASH --A PENNY A GLASS came from the old SASS shop in the town center .

Some time ago when I moved back to the area of my birth I found a market stall that sells the owd cordial version of the drink made from the SASPARILLA EXTRACT .

A few years later for some reason as an experiment I tried sticking a little of the extract ( quarter of a teaspoon) into a tumbler full of cheap supermarket(own brand ) cola ---and HEY PRESTO like a time machine was transported back in time to the days of my youth .
So good is this stuff I recently went on the now sadly defunct ABBEY FM in Barrow with local lad JOHN LITTLE ( pictured above ) and on air produced this epic of a drink (a magic moment of radio ) which has had many a slavering Barrovian contacting me to send them some.

Sadly the owd site I made this available from is no more but I am still having people e-mail me asking for the stuff .So I thought it would it would be an idea to add a BUY NOW tab to this blogg so others could get there hands on this magic ingredient
The cost ( via PAYPAL) is £7.00 per 100 gram jar which lasts for ages plus £ 5 P& P which I will get to you as quickly as possible multiple orders will have to hit the tab--x2,3,4 or however many jars tha wants---Oh and don't t the words when you try it MARSHS SASS A PENNY A GLASS-----

If you havent heard of the benifits of SASSPARILLA copy and paste the link below to your browsers address bar and take a listen to the ACCRINGTONS FIRESIDE FUSERLIERS --with thanks to LES BOND

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/1/13/1696097/Sarsaparilla_128K.mp3

Memories of the old days

If ever I have to go into Accrington I try ,if I don't have access to the car to walk the couple of miles there and then back .It was while halfway there I noticed roadworks in one of the main streets .A new road surface is being laid but before this is laid they have gone skimmed the surface back to reveal the owd COBBLES .When you see something like this it does make you stop for a minute and think of all the streets in this part of LANCASHIRE that were ones done in this and the labour it must have taken to do it .

I know that when the DARWEN ST area of Blackburn was cobbled a couple of years ago BRITISH labour could not be found to do it workers were brought in from all places ---PORTUGAL sad when you think about it .
I wonder if instead of tarmacing over our streets would it not be better to leave these cobbles alone as I am sure speed would be kept down with the vibrations you would have to endure going over the uneven bricks-
-If you would like to leave a comment on this or any other piece on this blog and dont have one of the requested memberships --i.e GOOGLE account why not join our sister site at
http://lancashirereunited.myfreeforum.org/index.php
where you can post in the FORUM INDEX at BLOGG COMMENTS

It will never snow ---SHE SAID

It had been quite wet and windy this morning as I took the wife to work and after going into town this morning I notice that there had become a noticeable drop in the air temperature but the wife like a weather expert said IT WILL NEVER SNOW ITS TOO WET ---It seems mother nature has remember this winter what it is supposed to do and at 1.45pm white flakes of SNOW started appearing from the sky .Seems like someone knitted um bigger today as the time this photo show its a WHITE OUT .It only goes to show though when the wife says it wont snow ---GET YER SHOVEL OUT

The Death of a TOWN

With the onset of the Credit crunch I wonder if your town is suffering as much as the main town in the area which I live .Today I had some business to attend to in Accrington which once completed I thought I would have a look around the shops .Now I have lived in this area now for some time but what I see today shocks me ,the sight of WOOLIES stripped bare along with other shops that are now closed down(AT THE LAST COUNT AROUND 13 ) seems to signal a town on its last legs .Indeed a trip down the main road towards Blackburn does not bode well for this towns fortunes

.MILLIONS of pounds has been spent on compulsary purchase orders to KNOCK DOWN what must be 500 HOMES to make way for NEW HOUSES THEY SAID .If we are so short of house where has every one gone and mores the point WHEN will these NEW houses be built or have the money men had there way and done a runner .ACCRINGTON was once a proud town but all the pride seems to have gone WHEN WILL SOMEONE IN THE IVORY TOWERS OF THE TOWN HALL WAKE UP AND DO SOMMERT instead of constantly PROMISING THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN AND THAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN---ACCRINGTON IS DIEING --FAST .Oh we have been promised loads on PAPER all very well for someones EGO TRIP wish are amongst others ,A new bus station ,new Tescos, new town square, new curry mile, new eco train station etc etc etc ----- new this new that, but towns are not regenerated on paper but with bricks and mortar --or has all the money been spent on SURVEYS,CONSULTANTS and such like

I know many people KNOCK the towns in which they live but I say to those who do (and I know of one such town in the FURNESS area ---Come and live in ACCY IT WOULD MAKE YOU CRY.
You can view a few pics I took on my PICASA site by clicking on this link
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/earnshaw.j/AccringtonDeathOfATown#

Fancy having your own

With the closing down of the Lancashire Re-United site and the opening of a new forum ( On which I wont have to spend so much time I will have a BIT of spare time .So I will be adding bits and bobs to a new BLOGG talking about life in General in East Lancashire or observations I make
It also came to my mind that some folks may be wondering HOW you publish stuff like this on the net
So If you would like to do something like this we can connect to a YOUR BLOGGS feature.I am sure we would find it of interest and it is also a FANTASTIC way to learn how to do MORE with your PC