Dirty memories of Accy
 

Hopefully I don't step on anyones toes with this thread, but as an old Accringtonian, I have been very impressed with the way that Accy has changed. In my day, Accy was a dirty smelly filthy town with not much going for it at all. It was all black and sooty with terrible winter killer smogs. Since the 60's when smokeless fuels policy was introduced, Accy has gradually been transformed into something that I thought was nigh impossible. When I visited in 88, it was already on its way to becoming clean. At that time Accy was a veritable patchwork quilt of colour and blackness. Accy has always had some absolutely wonderful architecture. In the old days these buildings were not even worth lookin at considering the filth that adorned them. But what a different picture today(going off some of the pictures posted on this site). Despite all the nuances, all you Accringtonians at last have a town that is worth preserving and looking after and a town of which you can be very very proud.

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Has'nt changed a bit then how weird!!!!! only got a bit more graffiti and dog S'''''t now

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Good onya Slinky. I got a good chortle with that:D :D

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sorry to disagree in the 60s accy had 6 picture halls,numerous dance halls,and plenty of jobs-also church youth clubs.im to ancient for them now,but theres not much going for the young these days-maybe thats one of the reasons for the graffiti.regards.

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Yes Accy did have all that. We certainly had lots of places to go and things to do cashman. My post really was on the subject of how it looks today as compared with say 40-50 years ago. Slinky:- I don't remember too many dogs that far back.:) Just cats mostly. No graffitti at all. I don't think you would remember the 'black age' of Accy. On an overcast day Accy was in black and white, apart from the odd coloured car,curtains, and one or two coloured front doors.:D Perhaps I exaggerate;) All coloured film used to come out black and white.

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accrington is the the most dirty and scruffy i have ever seen it

takeaway containers all over the place , mcdonalds and kebab shops main culprits

rats walking around in broad daylight , seen them both at the tax office and willows lane

boarded up houses all over accy because landlords can be bothered to repair them after having bad tennants

town centre is just a joke its a total eyesore to look at

dont get me wrong guys i like accrington and i grew up here but its nothing like it was 10 years ago and if i was visiting accrington for the first time i would tthink god wat a s**t hole

accrington is slowley turning into burnley

weve got the boarded up houses , weve got the dirty streets and now we got the chavs

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I have to say that you have to be here to appreciate the changes that have happened in Accrington. We may not have the smog and the grime of the 50's and 60's but it is still a dirty place. The muck has changed from honest industrial dirt to what can only be described as social dirt. This, I think, is infinitely more disturbing because it means that people have lost the respect for their environment.
We have chewing gum discarded on the pavements, cigarette ends, drink bottles and cans, fast food wrappings and dog mess.
People just discard rubbish like it is not their responsibility anymore......it's OK, someone else is paid to pick it up. And the Graffiti, well it is all over the place.
I wish that we could organise a general clean up day like they do in so many places in Oz......people go out and clean up their own local environment. If this were to happen, then folks may just think before throwing their Mc Donalds styrofoam cup into the hedgerow.
Terry, I am sorry if I have popped your bubble about how Accrington is....... but there you go.

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I agree wholeheartedly with Chav on that one.
I preferred it when it was industrially grimey.......you did see women cleaning the front of their houses, making sure their gardens were tidy. Donkey stoning their steps.
Don't get me wrong, I am not advocating that women go back to that kind of routine.....what I am saying is that people were proud of their property and their neighbourhood and there was a better community spirit.

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:D :D :D Thanks for that info chav1 and Margeret. I can't see the rubbish or muck in the photos I have seen on this forum. It just looks sparkling clean.:) . It would seem then from your comments there is no pride for the town(generally speaking) from Accy residents. I dare say there are some who do care. Well at least it's not black anymore. Would that be a fair assessment?

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I'm sure there must be some people who have a sense of pride in their surroundings, but they must feel like they are fighting a losing battle. No, it isn't black anymore.....well the buildings aren't anyway.......and we don't get the pea soup fogs of yesteryear.......and as far as photographs go, well today with digital imaging you can make a picture what you want it to be......and even before digatial imaging you would always avoid getting the eyesore into your snap.

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I know what Terry......if I had a chance of living here, or living over there..... there would be no contest. It would be OZ everytime!

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which brings me back to what I said earlier I think.
I live here day in day out, I say what I see with my own eye's not the pictures. And yes maybe I can't remember what it was like in the older days, but I can sure see what a mess people like hbc and other numpty people are making of my home town.:rolleyes:

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within 5 mins somone would drop somthing where you had just tidyed up an not understand what they had done wrong

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Well thanks for responding all. I am now much more enlightened:) No longer disillusioned. I have to say though that I'm disapointed(not with you. With the people of Accy). Perhaps I am too used to the 'hoovered ' appearance of Oz as Billy Connelly used to say.

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That is why I said that the people who do have a pride in their surroundings are fighting a losing battle.
I live close to a large office complex/call center and we have had no end of trouble with folk dumping chip wrappers,pizza boxes, McDonald wrappers etc.....oh and dumping unwanted food on our street and in the gardens.....I contacted the company concerned and they have put a dustbin for their workers to put their rubbish in. It has been better but the problem rears its ugly head from time to time.......and I complain yet again. Now when I ring up and tell them my name they send someone out to cleanup the rubbish.....persistence pays off, but there is so much apathy about.

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i remember a time when a police man would tell you to pick rubbish up if you threw it on the floor

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With the youth of today (and yes some older ones) if a policeman told them to pick rubbish up they would probably end up getting a mouthful back. Then i suppose it could get into a slanging match where upon the police person (political correct) would have to arrest them, then spend a few hours filling paper work in. After all that the offending person would walk out of the police station laughing and if they had a copy of the arresting form (or whatever it's called) promptly throw it on the floor. In my opinion that could be the reason the don't tell people to pick rubbish up now. The police would probably be better of giving them a clip round the ear, but could you imagine the outcry if they did.

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in hong kong you can goto jail for spitting chewing gum onto the street infact i dont think yur llowed to eat it in the street even

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Quite right to, should adopt the policy over here.

You'll be alright though Chev1, all yours will be stuck on your monitor.

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ive spent this afternoon building a foundation to buil upon

when its finished i wil post pics if u want..?

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Could print it off and stick it up at work with a sign that says This is how your monitor should not look.

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Is it not Singapore where it is illegal to chew gum......you cannot buy it and can be arrested for possessing it (I believe).

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Interesting thread... If I may add my twopenn'orth...
I arrived here as a 19yr old, in 1964, so I don't have the rosy childhood memories of someone born & bred here.
I was, however, old enough to appreciate the beauty of the surrounding areas, & the quality of the town centre shops. (I regret not knowing the Broadway of old, with the sunken gardens, a 'mini Piccadilly'; that must have been when the rot set in, allowing M&S & Woolies to ruin the place)
I'm afraid that I have to agree wholeheartedly with the comments expressed by, I think, Chav & Margaret.... The town centre is the absolute 'pits'. I say that from having worked in premises on Abbey Street & Union Street for most of the last 25 yrs... nowadays, I only venture 'into town' when absolutely neccessary (never could spell that word!)
Like most of you, I regret the passing of the specialist shops... Moffats, Wardleworths, Hobkirks, even Bacigalupo, the barber who cut my hair on the morning I was wed, (at St. James, which is another story!) in 1966.
Nowadays, all we see is 'Charity' shops, junk shops etc., and, unfortunately, the kind of customers they inevitably attract. If that makes me sound 'snobbish', well, so be it.... I know my background, & I am proud of the fact that hard work has given me what I have today.
But what can we, as mere individuals, do to rectify things? I see many threads on here, reference our beloved councillors & their decisions made on our behalf, & I've got to say, I believe we have enough like-minded people posting on here to be able to mount a credible, non-political, opposition, capable of winning the majority of votes at any election. I know we are too late for this year, but who will rally around, to form the 'Accyweb' party?? You never know, with A/bob as mayor, could we really make a difference?? And, if we can have Willow as Finance Director, Busman in charge of Direct Works, Lettie in Health, we've got half our council already!!

A little 'tongue-in-cheek', but serious overtones??

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Enjoying this thread! I remember in the late sixties the smell of smoke from thousands of coal fires hanging over the town. If I whiff one know I get quite nostalgic.
I suppose living here and having to post lots of negative comments because of the incompetence of the council means we overlook some of the beauty still to be found in Accrington. Despite the building of the bypass, we still have the unspoiled rugged moorland beauty of the Coppice in easy walking distance for all the residents to enjoy... Oh dear, who`s going to tell him...

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Kitchener, I too come from very humble beginnnings...as the eldest of 7 children we were taught to respect and value our belongings, to share what we had(which wasn't very much) and to look after our own environment. I too, worked hard for my home and I am proud of it, but I am not proud of what Accrington has become......I hate the litter and the graffiti......I wish that HBC would see that there are serious housekeeping issues that need addressing before they start talking about tarting things up. You have to have good foundations to build on...... they do not seem to be there. And yes, I would vote for the team you suggested because all these folk have a passionate belief in the place.

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Accy used to be a proud and spotless town and i was proud to live here, but not now it has turned into a dump that i feel like leaving.

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thought for the day my gran who i lived with never used to lock her front door at night till grandad came home from his game of dominos,i doubt many pensioners could say that today,i agree entirely but its everywhere not just accy happy memories cashman.

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Just to cheer you up, or not as the case may be, Accrington is not alone in being dirty.

I work in a government office in Warrington, the North West capital of pub-and-club-land. There are 7 nightclubs and 16 pubs surrounding my office, plus a few take-away food outlets. Every morning our building is surrounded by empty MacDonalds cartons, squashed chips, broken bottles, splatted chewing gum, fag-ends, vomit and other things I hesitate to mention. There is a little motorised wagon that comes round, occasionally, and sweeps up the débris from the pavements and gutters but, otherwise, it's left to the girls in our Enquiry Office to swill the muck off the office steps on a morning.

Makes you wonder what the homes of the creatures who leave such a trail of filth must be like.

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But Why Dont We Have A Little Machine That Comes And Cleans Up, I Dont Like To Say This But Even Burnley Town Centre Shows Accy Up. The Place Is A Disgrace. And Yes Entwistle I'm Shouting.

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Six picture halls.

Empire, Kings Hall, Palace, Princess and Ritz.

What was the sixth.
Retlaw

Re: Dirty memories of Accy
 

Odeon,& The Queens on Blackburn Road next to the Oak Tree Pub makes seven.

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