28 replies to this topic

[Phyll]

Just found these videos on You Tube about Burtonwood. Very interesting.

[tessmop]

Good link Phyll,I visited the Heritage centre last year and found it very interesting,it's situated inside Gullivers World which is a childrens theme park,I had two of the Grand-daughters with me at the time.

[vinty]

Thanks fort he links Phyll. Bring back lots of memories for me.

One that I may have related before happened in the early 1940s when the Americans first arrived at Burtonwood. Up to that time Burtonwood Base was just a few Nissan type hangers dotted around the area which I think housed Spitfires and there was a road which ran from the A57 at Penketh and came out near Burtonwood village. I was an apprentice at the time and one of my Bosses had a Standard 12 Car with the floor of the Boot rusted away. He asked me to repair it and make it roadworthy which I managed to do . Obviously it needed to be roadtested which gave me a good excuse to take the car for a drive round the area.
My route took me to Penketh and along the road to Burtonwood.
I noticed that at the Penketh end there were some buildings and there was construction on all sides of the road but knowing that it was being developed I thought nothing of it until I reached the Burtonwood end of the Road where I was stopped by an Armed American Serviceman who questioned me about a pass which of course I didnt have He then called a Superior who asked more questions as to how I got on site without a pass and why was I there After being interrogated at length I managed to show them the new repairs to the car boot and convince them that I was just road testing the car and that I had not seen anyone at the Penketh end of the road and had just drove though as normal eventually they let me continue on my way.
The road was completely blocked off soon afterwards and remained so until a few years ago when the whole area was developed for housing and a new through road was constructed.

[Alan]

I can just remember seeing the Flying Fortresses returning from raids when I was taken to my grandparent's' house in Lionel Street near the Junction station.

A much later memory is from about 1963 when I worked at Penketh. We used to occasionally go tenpin bowling there from work and enjoy genuine hot dogs, 'merican coffee and coca cola

[vinty]

Burtonwood Base housed the main repair workshops for the US Airforce in Europe and certainly altered the Hamlet of Burtonwood and surrounding areas.
As the video shows most of the supplies came in through Liverpool docks and the base had its own Railway link as well as the roads
The Americans erected their own direct Telephone line from the Base to Liverpool and it was quite amazing to see the speed that they erected the telegraph poles and wires, where the british telephone company standard practice would have 2 men manually drilling the post hole with a hand operated Auger Bit the Yanks had a Vehicle that was adapted to mechanically drive the Auger and drill a post hole in a few minutes quite an innovation then.

[Phyll]

Wow Vinty, Great stories. You did them a favour by accidentally trespassing!
And as you said, amazing about the telephone poles. I wish their work speed was as quick these days!

[joe90]

I remember going to a christmas party there years back and i met Hoppalong Cassidy.my father used to work there when he came out of the army,i also worked there myself for a couple of years,it is as big underground as it is on top,everyday the people who worked there used to drive all the machinery out just to keep them active.

[tessmop]

Hi joe90,would that have been the actor William Boyd who played the role of Hoppalong Cassidy?

[joe90]

I have just remembered his name William Boyd

I have just remembered his name William Boyd

I have just remembered his name William Boyd,i did not see your post saying who it was.

[the olden days]

I remember being a member of the Saxon Troupe and we gave a concert at Burtonwood Air Base for the Americans. They gave us wonderful refreshments and tons of sweets, chewing gum etc. (our sweet ration at the time was 2oz per week)

They later took us for a day out at Pickmere Lake for a ride on the boats followed by a picnic - and we had never seen such food in all our lives, including of course coca cola. I was about 13 at the time.

Veronica, on 05 December 2004 - 01:05 PM, said:

Used to be a member of Joe Saxons dance troop during WW2. we went to do concerts for the servicemen and they took us after to this place where there was all this food we had never seen anything like. huge bins full of potatoe crisps.

it was in the NCO's club.

the Yanks also used to come to the Co-op dances after the war. My father said keep away from them Yanks and to make sure I did used to meet me outside the Co-op to take me home.

I also went to a concert there with Saxon Troupe, wonder if we knew each other then. I lived at Windlehurst Avenue.

[SKYMAN]

The gear the yanks had was out of this world
compared to ours,no itchy uniforms for them
put our men in their clobber and with their equipment
they wouldnt have needed to join us

[vinty]

Here is link to info on Burtonwood apologies if it has been posted previously.

http://www.mywarring..._burtonwood.htm

Edited Double post

Edited by vinty, 14 March 2012 - 01:09 PM.

[Phyll]

Thanks Vinty, Great link, lots of info. on there.

[Graham]

I well remember going to a Burtonwood Open day sometime in the late 1950's --First ime I ever saw Ten Pin Bowling