Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

a local guy ( raised on Providence St. in Little Harwood alongside the Walker brothers [Blackburn Rovers fame],) who owned /operated a few entertainment spots , primaily in Clayton during the 60s/70s , just curious if anyone has any recollections/memories/coments about him ?

the guy is long dead, so libel/slander consideraions no longer apply
;):cool::eek:

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

I remember him..he used to sort of trawl the local pubs .. I presume on he's days off.. people always seemed to expect him to buy the next round of drinks.. and the next... I don't think he was a popular bloke

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

I remember Fred quite well, no he wasn't all that popular, however, don't think he ever did anyone any harm at all. Turned places into bingo halls and night clubs. Think the Vic at Clayton may have been his last venture.

My ex and I were invited on a few occasions for late night supper at his house on The Esplanade in Rishton and he was always extremely generous, cooking us steaks instead of boiled ham sandwiches. Impressed me lots. :D

Don't know much about his business dealings to comment why he may have been unpopular ... think he really wanted to be liked and I did.

He was homosexual by the way, and acceptance and understanding only just firing in on this, so maybe that didn't help either.

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

I remember Fred Skinner from the early 50s. He ran a boys club in the rooms above the now defunct Coop bakery and warehouse at the junction of Wall St and Belper St, next to Belper St Baths in the Cob Wall area of Blackburn.
My uncle Jim Haworth now sadly no longer with us was manager of the Bakery at the time.
I had an auntie who had a small hairdressers shop directly opposite the Coop building. We used to call her auntie Janey but when she got the shop we had to call her auntie Jean. I could never remember the new name and got into trouble many times.
The next time I heard of Fred Skinner he had opened a boys club somewhere in Clayton.
Last I remember him at the Martholme Grange.

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

He owned 3 bingo halls at Accrington Nelson and Rochdale. The Accy and Nelson ones are still operating with the management staff he put in. The Rochdale one closed very recently.
I go to the Accy club. Until a few years ago he used to make occasional visits and stroll up and down the aisles (like a queen inspecting troops)

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

He was so I'm led to believe?

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

was he not related to Johnathon King.:(

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

By the sound of him he was very well like,t gent but its like he will be sadly mist and our memories will be with him

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

you obviously didn't know the man mallard.

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

yea i remember fred , he wasn't a bad type of guy just a rogue, fingers in lots of pies so to speak, yes marthholme was his last venture, had some good nights up there too.

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

differance between remembering someone and knowing them mez.

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

liked, missed

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

been pondering this a couple of days now,and have come to the conclusion yer FISHING steeljack.;)

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

as someone who worked for fred,i would just like to say, yes he was a bit of a rogue,had a temper on him but always treated you right.ok he was as bent as a 9 bob note and did wear some awful wigs,but he did a lot of work for charity and ran a good bingo hall at the top of oxford street,he was a character in his own right and i for one am glad that i knew him

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

sorry to tell you that fred as past away.

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

That was in the first post Tosh.

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

I used to see him quite a lot in the Globe when he was at the bingo hall........it wasn't always a pretty sight and I must admit I wasn't one of his fans.

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

Lynx i think we'd get on well, i detested him.:D

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

I workd for him and didnt like him

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

I think his fingers wernt relegated to just pies, boys clubs, give me a brake.

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

I knew him through going in the George. He was always pleasant with me and I was polite back. I felt a little sorry for him as he was always surrounded with a number of fair weather friends who were clearly in it for what they could get from him. There were a few who seemed to genuinely care but they were definately a minority.

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

i used to look after one of Freds 'friends' in a nursing home i used to work at he was called Jack Bonney

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

I worked for Fred for quite a few years, at Martholme Grange in the late seventies early eighties, in fact Bernard the manager at The Grange was my Best Man when I got married in 1978. Was actually there when he got the deposit for the sale of the Grange to Alan Beggby. Had some great times there and made some good friends, I became quite friendly with Dave Barry and Bob Williamson, sadly Bob has now got MS and is in a wheel chair

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

Jack Bonney flashy, I knew Jack very well in those days, he was always in the Grange lent on the bar in the cocktail lounge, a real character

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

he was very pleasent, always good to talk to, then there was Winston Whittaker who i looked after when i worked at Altham, what a character he was, he hated Fred Skinner

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

Ya flashy Fred certainly wouldn't have been Winstons cup of tea, not by a long chalk:rolleyes:

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

I once recall a lad going up to him in the Martholme and dragging the wig off his head! He was a mate of the comic, Jim Bowen and used to go on quite a lot of cruises on the QE2 when Jim Bowen was on there entertaining. He also used to "hold court" at the Dunkenhalgh, and i believe he used to regularily book a room there for his own "entertaining"!:D Apparently the lad who manages the Bingo on Blackburn Road wont hear a bad word about him!!!;)


Best Regards - Taggy

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

he'd hear quite a few if he met me taggy.:D

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

LOL! Cashy!...I think he's still benefitting from having known him!!;);)

I can remember Skinner also going in the Castle Pub year ago when Jack Whittam was then landlord and buying drinks all round and supping half pints of Advocaat!!! Yuk!

Best Regards - Taggy

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

Fred was extremely good to local charities. If he saw a problem he was one of the first to put his hand in his pocket to help. He supported the local Lions Club at nearly all their functions. In many ways he was a good man.

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

Thats one of Little Freddies twins, Taggy, either Robert or Marcus, never could tell which was which, the other one works on Street Lighting. I was there that night when he lost his wig, dashed out the room and came back 2 minutes later wearing a bob cap:D

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

Used to go in the Castle every lunch time in the early 80s, Me, Bernard Fred, Little Fred and Jimmy the stick, used to keep Big Jack going:D

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

Totally agree with that Grange, he did do a lot for charities, had many a do at Martholme for them

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

Marcus, Fred was their uncle

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

i thought that Marcus was Fred's 'friend'

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

They always called him uncle, might just have been a "friendly" term

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

I know Marcus from going to bingo.
It was common knowledge that Fred took him on QE2 cruises.
As for there being more than friendship, noone but them are entitled to say - they were both adults at the time.

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

2 or 3 times a year, no secret, marcus would tell us everytime we see him where he had been and when he was going next.
Must point out I don't know him from bingo :D

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

hahahahaha

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

Don't think so K.S.H:rolleyes:

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

I can tell you catagoricly they weren't FRIENDS in that way:cool:

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

why was he too old?:rolleyes:

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

I'l tell you next time I see you:rolleyes:

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

was Fred their dad? *snigger*???

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

Who got all the money in the end, ??. Did uncle Fred leave you a few quid Mr C.

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

was never on his christmas card list Al.

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

Martholme Grange, strippers and chicken in the basket, those were the days!
We all have our faults but he was a very generous host and I know he did a lot for local charities.

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

Didn't Fred have something to do with Lar- de- dars? I remember a party they had after closing one night in the late 80's - I shoudn't have been there 'cos i was underage - imagine the shock and the quick exist when i saw my parents coming in...i had to hide behind taxis! I think my Dad knew him from the days of Joe Morts on Blackburn road..

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

never knew fred had affiliations with lar de dars
not to say he didnt hold parties there.

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

Your right beechy Fred never had anything to do with Lardies at all, after he sold Martholme never touched the nightclub scene again, kept to the Bingo Halls

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

Did'nt he also once own the Carlton Bingo Hall in Preston Jaysay? Its no longer there now, but sure i can recall me Parents going there.

Best Regards - Taggy

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

Can't remember him having that one Taggy, but could have ha it, I know he had about five or six at one time, Clayton, Gt Harwood, Padiham, Bury (I think, somewhere out that way) the one on Blackburn road, Nelson

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

Ian used to do the electrics at his bingo halls, I can't remember him ever going to Preston

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

Think that would be Netherfield Rd or Leeds Rd. There is no Blackburn Rd in Nelson, a rare occasion where town planners got it right :D

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

Hehe

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

I'll have to corect myself dave I meant Blackburn Road in Accy, missed the comma, mind you a Blackburn Road in Burnley would be handy, it would be about the only decent thing there, the Road to Gods own country:D

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

lots of posts for a man that bought drinks for good looking lads in the pubs around Accy ..got no vent against the bloke but he was no hero... loud as soon as he walked in any pub.

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

bought drinks for ugly swines like me as well Mancie:D

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

I think that Lar de dars was an internationally owned chain that had nightclubs in Paris, New York, etc...never got the impression it was a local businessman backing it.

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

Fred Skinner ran Dancehalls - Skinners Warehouse Little Harwood, then Church Con Club late 50's and early sixties one near the Canal at Clayton Le Moors.

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

That was the VIC Keith,

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

He had the old Roller Skating rink on Town Gate Gt Harwood, sold that when he bought Martholme

Re: Fred Skinner ....recollections
 

Lar de dars was an internationally owned chain that had nightclubs in Paris, New York NOW IN ACCRINGTON it used to be advertised on Chanel 4 if I remember right