39 replies to this topic

[EFC]

Lowe House Boy, on 11 August 2011 - 09:29 AM, said:

I have just bought an interesting book about bygone St.Helens,"Step Back In Time" by Ray Waring. There are seventeen short tales of happenings in the St.Helens area from many years ago. Here are some of the titles. "The Mad Cow From Peter Street","Shooting At The Junction","Saddest Village In England?". There is a story called "Eaw'r Nell's Jack",which is about Jack Hill who became the ice skating speed champion of England by racing and beating the previous champion on Carr Mill Dam in the 1890s. There was an estimated crowd of twenty thousand watching proceedings. The book also contains some old photos. Wardleworths have a display of the book in their window.
Worth a look.

I have just read this book and found it very interesting, I have also played against Ray in Crown Green Bowls and like his book he is very good

[Lowe House Boy]

EFC, on 20 September 2011 - 05:08 PM, said:

I have just read this book and found it very interesting, I have also played against Ray in Crown Green Bowls and like his book he is very good

Glad you liked Ray's book. I took it on my recent holiday and read all of it and found it very interesting. The photo of the arches bridge at Carr Mill Dam is one of mine which I took in the very cold weather before last Christmas.

[Greenie]

Another good book the Pilkington Brothers And The Glass Industry by T C Barker.

[Dicky D]

Clancy, on 17 December 2010 - 12:55 AM, said:

Ollie, the book is called 'Clog Irons In The Fog' written by Roy Harrison.

I have just read the book, it was sent to us by a friend in St.Helens. It is mainly about Carr Mill and Haresfinch during the World War 2 years. The author lived in Haresfinch.

I found it quite interesting, although he tends to repeat himself quite a lot.

It's only a short book and it does give an insight into how things were during the war, so I'm glad I read it

Roy is one of my cousins and I'm really pleased that his book has done so well. It's sold out now so unless he makes a re-print for Christmas you won't get one.

[RATTY]

I just bought this recently and really enjoyed it, have come across most of the stories whilst reading old newspapers at the library but its great to see the m again with follow up detail in print that you dont have to squint at

By strange coincidence I bought the book on my way to the library to research something for the Boer War and whilst reading came across a story of the Rainford murder and because it was a name I had helped someone out with recently noted the info down and went to find the whole story, took me a few hours to do but I got to the bottom of it and went for the bus. On the bus journey I decided to have a quick read of Rays book and opened on the page which told the exact same story I had just researched

Honestly that is no word of a lie, I lolled ! Talk about coincidence.

[cumbriakid]

jmosh, on 03 January 2011 - 09:29 PM, said:

I was brought up near Carr Mill too. Found Clog Irons in the Fog very Interesting

Is this book generally available - where from and who wrote it? Thanks.

Madge, on 18 August 2011 - 09:03 AM, said:

You can't beat the well-researched book "A Merseyside Town in the Industrial Revolution - St Helens, 1750 - 1900". Best book on St Helens history to be written so far - Barker and Harris

Anyone interested in the Congregational Church, Town Centre would enjoy "Thrice Happy Place" by Walter Lazonby, out of print but copies in the Library

A Merseyside town - I agree - is a brilliant and Exhaustive book - eye opening history. Haven't heard of the second.

[jmosh]

Hi cumbriakid not sure if the book is still available http://www.sthelenss...r_Mill/?ref=rss this link maybe helpful to you

[Alan]

llanyb, on 28 December 2010 - 01:56 PM, said:

Over the years, I've collected/inherited/been given a range of books on St Helens but, as Clancy points out, they can have mistakes which, if they're not noted, can lead to the mistakes becoming 'fact'.

As a case in point - I have just dug out "Industrial Town: Self Portrait of St Helens in the 1920s". It's written by a Charles Forman - and, most importantly, he's not born and brought up in St Helens, though he does/did live there for a while. To create the book (in the 1970s), he interviewed large numbers of people in St Helens about their memories of the town in the 1920s. Generally it's very interesting and not light-weight (250-plus pages). However, in a chapter on brass bands, he writes about "Parson Peter's band". Personally, I'd bet good money on that really being "Parr, St Peter's Band".

Yes, I just found this on Amazon and bought a used copy for a fiver. I'm enjoying it but there are a few errors as llanyb says. One of them is a photo of St Helens Canal with a caption "Carr Mill Dam"

[Jonno]

Denis Whittle, veteran reporter for St. Helens Star quoted about the ST. HELENS REVISITED dvd.
http://www.johndslat...StHelensDVD.php

[Olliebeak]

llanyb, on 28 December 2010 - 01:56 PM, said:

......... he writes about "Parson Peter's band". Personally, I'd bet good money on that really being "Parr, St Peter's Band".

Just goes to show what happens when you dictate to somebody who's using shorthand, or an audio-tape machine - but doesn't have a knowledge of the subject being talked about .