Bazj Posted June 29, 2011 Report Share Posted June 29, 2011 I posted these on here before we had the Warrington photos board..... This house is still on Warrington Road in Sankey. It is the last bungalow after the church on the right hand side before you get to the Butchers Arms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
algy Posted June 30, 2011 Report Share Posted June 30, 2011 I never knew that there was a 'model village' there Baz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DS Posted June 30, 2011 Report Share Posted June 30, 2011 I remember the model village very well. I interviewed the owner, whose name I can't recall, for the Lancashire Evening Post, who ran a big story and pictures. The one thing I recall about the village was that it had a school with a "closed" sign outside! Some years later, when working as a freelance, I discovered the village had been damaged by vandals and sold the story to several national papers. Years later I was in the area and went to see how the village was going on, only to discover it was no longer there. Great shame, really, as it was fantastic. Earlier in my career I did a story about a guy at Knutsford who had built a tiny replica of his house in his garden. It was exact in every detail, even down to a minute model of the replica in the garden of the replica! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted June 30, 2011 Report Share Posted June 30, 2011 Fantastic photos Baz and a lot of hard work must have gone onto making the model village. It wouldn't last five minutes in gardens these days eh. When was it built, how many years was it there for and when did it finally go all together? any idea? as it seems quite a long time from what DS has said. .... had to smile at your comment DS where you said it had a school with a "closed" sign outside... a bit like today then and did it have a little picket line too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DS Posted June 30, 2011 Report Share Posted June 30, 2011 Well spotted Dizzy - I didn't even think of that myself, even though I had written a story about the school strikes! I recall questioning the owner of the model village about the "closed" sign and he said that in his fairyland village, schools would be permanently closed. I think I probably did the village story in the early 60s but I believe it had been there for some time before I discovered it. In fact, it was showing some signs of wear and tear! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter T Posted June 30, 2011 Report Share Posted June 30, 2011 DS. Time to start writing your memoirs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grace Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 Thank you for these photos. As there is the chance of some scale model buildings here,I was telling someone about the model village I knew as a child. googled it on the off chance and here is it! I don't have exact dates. We lived in Penketh, from just after the War. It was a fair walk to the very busy, even in those days, main Liverpool road and chancy crossing it! This would be late 40s and early 50s. Over the railway bridge, past the Approved School. along the road... It was a different world then. All there was open fields; no housing estates. No TV ( we had one by 1950)no computers, few had cars or phones. The model village was beautiful. Intricate, delicate, detailled. It must have been there many a while. Always something new added. It fascinated. The top toys in those days were model railways and modeal planes and at school we made miniature gardens. The name Foden comes to mind and I cannot associate it with any other place in the area. My awareness was that the old man died. The last time I was there, the village was simply unkempt and overgorwn. Abandoned. It taught me that all we make only lives as long as we do. There was no vandalism then. Just neglect. No oneleft to work on it and nature soone reclaims. Not sure of the date of that but it will date from the man's death. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazj Posted February 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 Grace.... I'm glad you like the scans. The postcards were at my mums house in Bewsey for as long as I can remember..... The house in Penketh is still standing but is now just a house and not a shop and has just a normal grassy garden. No indication whatsoever that the model village ever existed; which is sad..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grace Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Grace.... I'm glad you like the scans. The postcards were at my mums house in Bewsey for as long as I can remember..... The house in Penketh is still standing but is now just a house and not a shop and has just a normal grassy garden. No indication whatsoever that the model village ever existed; which is sad..... Sic transit gloria mundi... Ah but better than the overgrown state.. WOnder what happened to all the models though.. We have found some model buildings in the shed of an abandoned place here so are going to rescue and rehome them. The ones from Sankey must be somewhere? ( hate waste..) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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