[Doug]

Oh b****r where’s me rosy coloured specs

I was talking to a very close friend recently about Accyweb and some of the Threads about the town itself. This conversation brought back some of the reality of the place within my memories.

Circa 1968/69 the place was grim; the bloody place was dull, dank and stank. That was the reality of it whether we like it or not…Some will have other memories, but that was our town.

It was still in its dying days as an industrial/mill town back then. We loved it all the same, on nice sunny days, (and we had some belting summers) it didn’t look to bad, but with the close of winter (they could be Bad) came the smog and the rest of the s*** that we pump into the atmosphere, This over a hundred and odd years painted our building black and they where Black…

I remember going to the flicks on a Saturday morning on bus, we would go past the town hall, It was black as a miners b*****ks, all down Blackburn road the shops always busy but seldom prosperous, mostly locally (white) owned all of then brightly displaying there wears against the grimy blackness that encrusted the buildings, all of them. Parts of church along Blackburn Road where stained bluish purple in places, my dad always said it was the tide mark from the floods (any memories folks). It was a grim place

Most of our buildings at that time where our local stone, notwithstanding the strength of this material it filtered the atmosphere and sucked the grim and crap to itself and held it there for donkey’s years, we use to pick at it and try to flake it off.

I was home yesterday and driving down Blackburn Road, it’s a different place to what is was, It doesn’t really matter if it’s better are worse in this context, Its change, my Accrington has gone. Yes, some places, important places are still there, but the Accrington of my memories has gone forever.

I would like to think that we could preserve what’s left of our heritage for future generations, if we can’t, if we fail to do this the clues to what it once was will end up collecting dust and our town like us and our memories will disappear forever…..

Bloody hell that's a grim thought isn’t it.