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Oh I yeah!....I remember that!


Sue Durnim

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Being of a certain age and not too old, I remember a lot about how Warrington used to be. Do any of the forum posters remember any of the below?

 

1.Tommy Bows unisex clothes shop in Horsemarket St.

 

2.The old disabled man with a clubbed foot who used to play the accordion in the alley way between the entrance to the fish Market and in front of Woolworths.

 

3. Silver direction/map with buttons you pressed and then lights lit up to show where places were in the town, in Scotland Rd, near to Central St. Which I believe is kept in the Warrington Museum.

 

4. Wednesday half day closing in the villages around the town, then half day closing on a Thursday for the shops in the town centre.

 

5. Burgesses (the posh shop) where Llyods TSB (Town Hill) is now.

 

6. The model shop in Buttermarket St, just before Academy Way, with very detailed models of tanks etc in the window and the toy shop next to the Odeon.

 

7. The infirmary, back of the Old Market

 

8. The bird cages in Bank Park, behind the town hall

 

9. The places you could only buy stamps was in the post office and queuing up for ages in the Market Gate Post Office.

 

10. The two bus terminuses, one in Mersey St. that was near to the toilets near Bridgefoot and the other behind the ABC as was.

 

I can think of a few more, but would love to hear from others who have great memories of Warrington and its characters, probably a lot of which would not appear in any history books of the town.

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Don't remember any of them apart from a slight recolection of half day closing :oops: maybe they were all before my time :D:wink:

 

I do remember the old fishmarket though and going down the steps into it ... the smell was horrid :shock:

 

I also vaguely remember Warrington becoming a 'New Town' and I have a copy of the commemorative song that was released on a 45rpm record about it 8):lol:

 

I also remember the old underground victorian toilets in Stockton Heath village square (infront of the police station and mullbery tree pub)

 

... but thats about it :oops:

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The Girl in Black

(dressed totally in black from top to toes even when long skirts were not in fashion) who used to sit on the steps of the Wimpy Bar in Bridge st every saturday for years.

 

The 'Sun King' who wore a souwester hail rain or shine and used to walk through Woolies rolling his tongue making a noise like a fire engine.

Alledgedly called the Sun King because he had been in the forces in some far away hot country where he had picked up a strange religion which entailed worshipping the sun. He was said to have worked for the Slate Company who took him on because they'd known him before he got 'shell shocked' or whatever. He was said to be a difficult employee because every time the sun came out he ran outside and threw himself on his knees to worship it.

Never ever found out if the rumours about him were true but he sure was entertaining, as kids we all thought he was great! :lol:

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Dismayed, that is a good bit of trivia about the commemorative song,

do you buy it, did you find it and is it on youtube or itunes?

 

Don't remember much about Stockton Heath, that was the posh part of Warrington when I was younger. Us scallywags were not allowed there. :wink:

 

Plenty of scalliwags there these days SD :wink:8)

 

As for the trivia about the song... I didn't find it I was given it by the chap who wrote and recorded it many many years ago :wink:

 

Probably seemed like a good idea at the time :lol::lol:

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i remember tommy bows as it was where i bought my wrangler shirt from. still have it in fact and it still fits but is a little big on me now.(was a bit bulkier in those days)

 

vaguely remember the silver sign thing. was one of those things that as a youngster that you had to go up to and press the buttons to see the lights come on. (a sort of simple video game i suppose)

 

the toy shop next to the odeon was where i used to spend most of my pocket money, buying all the old airfix planes and paints for them, they never did come out the right colours and always looked as if they had been painted with shovel.

 

as one of the more boisterous youngsters in our area (for boisterous substitute idiot) spent many an hour in the infirmary waiting to see if the latest bump on the head from jumping off the shed had done any permanent damage, still waiting to find out.

 

always used to cut through bank park when we walked home from town so that we could gaze in awe at the exotic birds on display. looking back there were a few scraggy looking parrots and some others that i cannot really remember.

 

the arpley bus station was a most confusing because of its size. when i first started work i had to get the bus from there to risley. this meant that i had to get the bus to town walk through town centre and then get the bus to risley. as they only ran every half hour it was a journey that had to be timed well or i would be late for work.

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Peter T

 

I did not have a 'Handle' but my mates did, being such a long time ago in the 70's I can't remember, I do know that we drove around Warrington talking to many CB'ers, keeping a look out just in case the Police saw us. Then meeting up at the hogie comparing size of aerials, dials and frequency range, looking back it seems a bit geeky now!

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Tom Bowes sign in the window "What I advertise I sell".

Thursday afternoon closing - I used to play cricket at the wonderful Arpley cricket ground (Charlie Bilsborrow was the coach and groundsman) I couldn't get on the Warrington thursday team cos it was for businessmen on their half day off. JD Whitley. Baker the jeweller; Whites sports proprietor (Senior); spring to mind.

Was every cricketers dream to hit the ball onto Gartons huge sign, particilarly the hugely supoported charity matches after the war with Learie Constantine and co.

 

The nearby dog track which closed in 1958. Warrington train sheds 8B.

 

Happy days

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harry hayes

 

I remember the big Garton type on the roof at Arpley sidings and obviously Tom Bowes, can anyone remember what the toy shop was called in the entrance to the old market when you walked through the tunnel by the Barley Mow?

 

Does the Penny Ferry still exist at latchford or as we

called it the 'Sand Hills'?

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I remember the hardware shop just before you went down the passage to the market(a proper market). They sold everything. Pity the modern one doesn't.

Also spent 3 weeks in the hospital at Kendrick St in '76 when Sisters were the law and everyone did as they were told without question. The only perk being a small can of guiness on a Sunday.

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I do Remember the girl in black who sat on the steps in front of the wimpy bar, think her name was Maggie and she used to hang around with a hairdresser called Ian, who was a David Bowie lookalike, who we all thought was super cool! Wonder what happened to them?

 

Anyone remember the 'nappy dances' at the co-op hall? we used to send the oldest looking to the 'outdoor' for 10 cigs and a bottle of cider, share it between 10 of us and all fake being intoxicated (things dont change except it's not fake anymore!)

 

Anyone else get stood up outside Boots at 7 o clock on a saturday night(the sheer embarrassment!)- would'nt happpen now as mobile phones have at least stopped that painful experience!

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The name of the little toy shop as you went through the passage way by the market was called "Leslies". No doubt that was his name too.

 

He always reminded me of the charactor "Michaleen Oge Flyn" in the film The Quiet Man with John Wayne. He acted as chaperone between J.W. (Sean Thornton) and Maureen O'hara (Mary Kate Danaher)

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