One o'clock siren

West Ender · 19-02-2006, 21:41

I'm presuming it's long gone but who remembers the air-raid siren that Blythe's Chemical works used to sound at 1 p.m. every day? It must have been to call the workers back to work after their lunch break but, when I was a child who went home from school for lunch, it was my signal to get my coat on and head to the 267 Ribble bus stop.

I used to hate it on Tuesdays when the Beano and Dandy were delivered. I would eat my meat and potato hash (it was always hash on Tuesdays, made with the last of the Sunday joint) as fast as I could then settle down to read the comics. That damned siren would go off and my mother would say "One o'clock, time to go", before I'd got much further than Keyhole Kate.

We could hear it loud and clear in West End so how far did the sound travel in the other direction? Were there any other factories that had anything similar?

emmatjackson · 19-02-2006, 21:54

I remember once as a kid after school going to Ossy library and an alarm going off outside like an air raid sound. Never did find out what it was.

Ernie · 19-02-2006, 22:01

When I was a kid I used to live in Adelaide Street and we would hear the siren on top of the fire station every time the firefighters had a "shout", we would run down the street and watch the fire engines roar down the road to the fire.

grannyclaret · 19-02-2006, 22:32

i lived in burnley and lucas's had a one oclock and five oclock whistle..you could rely on them.lol ,,

no nead for a clock

staggeringman · 20-02-2006, 00:41

you lot are lucky ! still hear blythes siren! it goes off at least once a week at no set time! early morning, they are testing it under the health and safety laws.but it always wakes me up! after getting to bed at 6.00am..............lol

West Ender · 20-02-2006, 22:23

Why do they need to test it? Are they anticipating another war?

staggeringman · 21-02-2006, 01:04

the stuff they used to produce in there was enough to start a war,i here that people who worked there on a certain plant still take arsenic tablets.

BOB · 21-02-2006, 08:58

Yes One In Baxenden Till The 1980s A Steam Whistle At The Turkey Red Factory

slinky · 21-02-2006, 09:31

Yeah I still hear the siren........and I live in Ferngore, but I can hear it clearly when it goes off.

SPUGGIE J · 21-02-2006, 12:19

I remember that siren when I stayed in Church and now here several of the pesky things up hear as regular as clockwork along with the refinery doing their once a week checks on theirs. Can set your watch by them without fail bit like the 1 o'clock gun at Edinburgh Castle.

MITZY · 21-02-2006, 12:37

I remember the one in Baxenden,

JohnW · 22-02-2006, 18:02

I too remember the one in Baxenden when I lived there in the 1940's. The thing used to be heard all over the village. Well, that was the idea. It first went off at 5 am. to wake up the workers, then again at 6 am to let them know they were late if they had not already clocked on. I think it was actually Kearns Allen's factory which used it but I wouldn't swear to that.

pendy · 02-03-2006, 13:22

I do remember the one at Blythes, you could certainly hear it the other side of Church. Was it just at 1 o'clock, or did they do it to signal the start of the lunch hour as well? I remember the Ribble bus to school as well - but not the number. You were lucky, West-Ender, going home to lunch - Paddock House food was not the greatest in the world!

West Ender · 02-03-2006, 21:30

It was when I went to St Mary's School that I used to go home for lunch, Pendy. I used to run like hell down Union Rd to Church Commercial for the Blackburn bus. I endured Paddock House lunches for 2 years (I always liked Spam, beans and mashed potatoes) then I started to go to my friend's home, in Spring Hill, and have lunch there. Mrs Wilcock made the best apple pie I have ever tasted - and wonderful dumplings in her hot-pot. She was like a second mum to me - and I'm still good friends with her daughter, 50 years later.