Penwortham Roll of Honour SoldierLEP Raft RaceHurst Grange Park

Penwortham Roll of Honour SoldierLEP Raft RaceHurst Grange Park

ThePenwortham

Magazine

ThePenwortham

Magazine

ThePenwortham

Magazine

ThePenwortham

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Issue 31Issue 31Issue 31

Penwortham

A C A D E M Y

Penwortham

A C A D E M Y

Penwortham Roll of Honour SoldierLEP Raft RaceHurst Grange Park

Penwortham Roll of Honour SoldierLEP Raft RaceHurst Grange Park

Welcome to Issue 31 of The Penwortham Magazine, proudly supported and printed byPenwortham Priory Academy. Many thanks to all our readers who support our advertisers aswithout them we would not be able to produce our magazine each month. Please do contact usshould you like to support us by advertising with us. We also produce the equally popularPreston and Lostock Hall magazines. To receive a copy delivered to your house each month, orreceive a pdf by email, or sent by post please get in touch, if I have missed anyone lately pleaselet me know. This month includes Stephen Ward's continuing Life Story, Brian Sladen's Diaryfrom 1943, Stan Rudman's photos and info about LEP Raft Race, Mrs Hilda Alker's informationabout her father who served in WW1 and is named on the Penwortham Roll of Honour. For thenext few months the front cover images will be of paintings of local scenes from the past bylocal artist John Matthews, who has kindly allowed us to reproduce them, anyone wanting topurchase a copy please contact John on 01772 743011.

A copy of each issue of the magazine has been requested to be deposited at the LancashireRecords Office, which will save our 'finds' for the future. You can download copies of themagazine at

Regards Heather Crook

Anyone who has any information theywould like to share, photographs etc, relating to the First World War in Penwortham, Preston or the SouthRibble please get in touch then it can be added to the 'South Ribble Remembrance Archive 1914-1918',especially about the people who are commemorated on our war memorials.

www.lancashire.gov.uk/archives record.office@lancashire.gov.ukFront Cover Image 'Cinder Pad' c.1960 by John Matthews 01772 743011

www.priory.lancs.sch.uk/index.php/penwortham-magazine

There has been interest in the historic Penwortham maps in the last issue. They weredrawn by local historian, Alan Crosby, for his book and forvarious talks and guided walks around Penwortham. They are taken from original maps inthe Farington collection at Lancashire Archives where they can be seen and used forresearch by anyone. Lancashire Archives has a wealth of information about Penworthamand the people who lived and worked there – fantastic resources for tracing familyhistory or exploring the site of your house. The archives are housed on 8 miles ofshelving in the record office building on Bow Lane in Preston and stored in climaticallycontrolled strongrooms so that they can not only be used today but will be preserved forfuture generations. For further information about your local archive service includingtimes of opening, how to get a readers' ticket, and searching the online catalogue see:

or email

Penwortham in the Past

Email121 Broad Oak Lane, Penwortham, PR1 0XA

PLEASE HELP US BY SUPPORTING OUR ADVERTISERSThe Penwortham Magazine accepts no responsibility for any transactions, goods or

services, entered into with or provided by advertisers within these pages.

Also take a look on Flickr at our Penwortham group of photos. Heather Crook

thepenworthammagazine@gmail.com

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Photos from Penwortham Past

Vernons Mill and grounds c, 1980 courtesy of Stan Rudman, of Lostock Hall.

Penwortham Girls Cricket Team 1967. Photo taken by Peter Reed featured in theLancashire Evening Post. Sent in courtesy of Tony Billington.

Preston's New BridgeThe steel bridge, built as part of the new Ribble Generating Station No 2 for conveying largequantities of coal from the dockside to the bunkers is the ninth spanning the river at Preston. Theothers are four road bridges, two at Penwortham, one at Brockholes and one at Walton, three railwaybridges, and the Old Tram Bridge. The new bridge, near an old roman ford, will not be incommission until the end of this year, and not in full commission until the new power station iscompleted in 1948. By that time two belt conveyors, each of 150 tons an hour capacity, will be usedto take 12,000 tons of coal weekly from the new wagon tipping plant for the boilers. The bridgewill be part of the equipment inspected by Mr Shinwell, Minister of Fuel and Power, when he opens

on September 12 , the partially completedpower station, which by that time will havecost £3,000,000. Before it is finished it willhave cost nearly £4,000,000 and will have anultimate capacity of 120,000 kilowatts equalto 160,00 h.p. The opening ceremony atwhich Mr Shinwell will start up one set, willbe preceded by a luncheon in the Guild Hallattended by representatives of power stationsin the North West of the Electricity SupplyIndustry generally, the ElectricityCommissioners, the Central ElectricityBoard, and the principle contractors engagedin the work.

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Lancashire Daily Post

September 3 1946rd

ARTICLES FROM PENWORTHAM PAST

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– About five o'clockon Sunday morning, Mr Bonney, a Penwortham farmer, noticed flames issuing from thePenwortham Cricket Club's Pavilion at Middleforth Green. He immediately warned someof the members, but despite their efforts the building was destroyed. Over a score of batsand a quantity of pads, batting gloves, &c., were consumed. The damage amounts toabout £80. The cause of the outbreak is unknown.

– For fighting together at Pope-lane, Penwortham, on

September 9 , Wm Bamber and John Knowles were bound over to keep the peace by theLeyland magistrates this morning.

– The 13 battalion will parade in Queensway,Penwortham, at 2 15 pm and the inspecting officer is Col. AWW Simpson, the firstcommander of the battalion. The march, past a saluting base in Queensway, will be viaLiverpool-road to Howick House. Here, beginning at 3 30pm. There will be displays ofskill at arms, including the handling of weapons, bayonet fighting and unarmed combat,fieldcraft and battlecraft, and demonstration of a reconnaissance patrol.

– There is little hope of thePenwortham, near Preston mill of Messrs. Vernon and Co. Ltd, surgical dressingsmanufacturers, which closed last night owing to the shortage of coal. A stock of not lessthan 100 tons of coal is necessary for the mill to reopen. Today a 'Post' reporter was toldby Mr R Crabtree, a director, that the present stock was only 50 tons. 'I hope it will onlybe a day or two before we can amass the required total from deliveries' said Mr Crabtree'but until I see how the coal is I cannot say when we can reopen. We hope it will bebefore next weekend. SUPPLIES TOO SMALL – 'The Ministry of Fuel have done theirbest for us, but this has not been good enough. We have been getting supplies, but theyhave only been small. We were recommended for a spot delivery of coal about a week agoby the Emergency Committee, in Manchester, and had this been delivered our 500employees would never have been stopped' said Mr Crabtree. 'A similar spot deliveryprevented our Great Harwood Weaving Shed from closing just before Christmas.'

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'THE HOUSE OF THE ARROW'

FREE CAR PARK FOR PATRONS

LANCASHIRE DAILY POST 14 MARCH 1931

PENWORTHAM CRICKET CLUB'S PAVILION DESTROYED

A FIGHT AT PENWORTHAM

LANCASHIRE DAILY POST 29 SEPTEMBER 1902

PENWORTHAM DISPLAY

LANCASHIRE DAILY POST 11 MAY 1943

PENWORTHAM MILL NEEDS 100 TONS OF COAL

LANCASHIRE DAILY POST 18 JANUARY 1947

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Richard Osborne Turner A Penwortham Soldiernamed on the Roll of Honour

Mrs Hilda Alker contacted us recently to enquire if her fatherwas one of the soldiers named on the Penwortham Roll ofHonour recently found in the time capsule in PenworthamWar Memorial. Richard was one of the soldiers named fromPenwortham who served in the First World War. RiflemanRichard Osborne Turner S/33741 was a wartime volunteer

who joined the Army Pay Corps at Preston on 8 November1914. He served on a home posting with this unit until May

1917 when he was transferred to the 111 Training ReserveBattalion and trained as an infantry soldier. Followingtraining he was sent to France in July 1917 where he joined

the 12 Battalion Rifle Brigade, part of the 20 (Light)Division, and joined them in the trenches at Ypres(Passchendaele) taking part in operations near Langemarck.He then moved down to the Somme – Hindenburge Line frontin October 1917, and took over thetrenches close to Cambrai, where he waswounded and then returned to England.His wound proved so serious that he wasmedically downgraded and discharged,no longer physically fit due to wounds,

and discharged from the Army on 21February 1918, aged 22 years. He wasawarded the British War and VictoryMedals and also the Silver War Badge(given to soldiers discharged due tosickness or wounds). Richard was born

on 3 August 1897, his parents wereWilliam (an insurance agent) and SarahJane Turner and his elder brother JamesAlbert was listed when they lived 3 Penrith Terrace,Penwortham, noted on his service papers. When Richard wasborn he wasn't expected to survive long and was quickly namedRichard Osborne. Osborne was the name of the family doctor.Richard married Iressa Frankland, they had five children, Joan,Hilda, Joyce and Tommy, and Maureen, (sadly Tommy died in

infancy). Although Richard's date of birth was 3 August 1897on his signing up papers (War Dept Form B 248) his age wasrecorded as 19 years and 3 months. He would in fact have been17 years and 3 months ! Description of Richard OsborneTurner on enlistment was as follows : Height 5 ft 4 ins, Weight103 lbs, Girth when fully expanded 33 ins, Eyes Hazel, HairDark, Religion Church of England.The address on Richard'sbirth certificate was 5 Lyndale Terrace, Penwortham. Richardand family lived on Blundell Lane, he worked in the MotorTaxation Dept, County Offices until he retired. His war injurybothered him all his life. He died aged 6

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The Diary of CB Sladen (1943) cont.THE RALLYFARINGTON FIELD 7 PM.Most NL Scouts arrived on time, the Songsters were about 10 mins late, but saved the day byfetching the mallet, pegs to hold down nets (Obstacle race) sizal and staves for staff ball.

1 NL did not actually win any events but the games were quite enjoyable. There was a salvagehunt. First to get in as much paper as possible and then as much wood. (Teams of 6 per Troop)Mr Shaw thought paper ought to be salvaged, but Skip and Mr Newsham (badge sec forassociation and one of the judges) decided that there was too much straw and dirt in it to be of anyuse, and collected it together and put a match to it while Mr S searched for a salvage sack. Hemust have seen the fire, because he soon gave up the search. We ended with a Camp Fire. Skiphad done arranging and handed out song sheets. Mr Shaw asked him to lead the fire, but as hewas providing music on his flute he asked a visiting scouter to take the camp-fire. Several troopsdid stunts, some none too original. The fire leader had a good stunt. He called 'I saw a ghost lastnight' seven or eight scouts stand in line.No 1 says 'I saw a ghost last night'No 2 What did he do ?No 1 He done thisNo 2 (to No 3) I saw a ghost last nightNo 3 What did he doNo 2 Then show No 3Passed to the end of line.No 1 repeats this with some other action(passed down the line)No 1 then makes line lift right leg and hold it off ground (Passed down line)No 1 I saw a ghost last nightNo 2 What did he doNo 1 He done this (No 1 gives a shove and the whole line collapses. Very spectacular !

Skip and P Leaver (Akela 4 Pen) Played two tunes in harmony while others tried to sing. After aremonstrance from the fire – leader the singers pulled together and got into form. When singing'Upidee' they beat the musicians to it. As they started on their own initiative in an awkward keythe flautists could not join in. The camp-fire went very well, and brought the evening to a happy

close. (The only grouse was an east wind which sprang up towards the end.) Altogether 1 NLcould say they had more than took part in making the rally a success, and thus preserved theirreputation of being the best troop in the district, even though they won no events.

WED 2 JUNE - Supposed to help Penwortham Vicar move chairs from St Marys to the Vicaragefor Mothers Union Garden Party. Only two of party of 6 turned up (due to instructions badlypassed on by Simmons. Farnell was supposed to by directing operations under instruction fromhis mother. Not being told he didn't go.

THURS 3 Moved chairs back. Some Penwortham people were unable to attend troop meetingat NL through this.

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LEP RAFT RACE CIRCA 1981

As well as working at Vernons Mill I was also the groundsman tending tothe CricketGround, Bowling Greens and Golf Course. One evening a plan washatched in the clubhouse bar (on a fag packet) to enter a raft in the aboverace. The'prototype'was tried onthe factorylodge andsunk withouttrace. A newstrategy wasrequired and a'TechnologicalMiracle' wasborn ! Thenew raft wasconstructed of:1 ladder12 barrels, 6each sideWire netting4 chairs fromcanteenThe 'marvelofengineering'wasconveyed bytractor andtrailer toTram Bridgefor a trial runon the RiverRibble. Aftertravelling afew hundredyard the raft

hit the river in full flow and panic stations set in as apparently none of thecrew could actually swim ! Somehow the raft managed to reach theriverbank and a full compliment stepped ashore. The race itself started atBalderstone and because of the raft's length it was in the same category astow Oxford/Cambridge type crafts. The raft may not have won the racebut won first prize for best raft. After the race, it was back to theClubhouse for a few drinks and a slap up buffet. Great fun and great daysat Vernon's.

Stan Rudman, as told to Tony Billington.Photos Birth Marriages and Deaths Theme for LEP Raft Race 1981L to R – Bride Tony Beswick, Baby Ray Miller, Groom Paul Tuson,Death Peter Llewellyn. All courtesy of Stan Rudman.

Penwortham Tennis

LANCASHIRE DAILY POST JANUARY 15 1938TH

Blackburn Diocese Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)check available for inspection

Electrician

Glory of the Trees at Hurst Grange –Fascinating Variety

Finding myself with a couple of hours to spare I decided to take a look at Hurst Grange, thepark acquired some years ago by Preston Rural Council at Penwortham. On one occasion Ibelieve I wrote of some of the trees to be found in the park in their winter garb. Now that Isaw them in summer I found them even more interesting. Near the entrance I espied a numberof whitebeams fruiting freely near to a noble Spanish Chestnut, the nuts of which are, ofcourse, of an edible variety. Near to the same spot is a variegated sycamore, a most attractivetree, and easily distinguished by its leaf. There are two of these species in Avenham Park.Along the drive are a few fern-leaved beeches with a delicacy of foliage, which in its fragility,makes the tree look for all the world like a giant maidenhair fern. Lining the drive, too, arebirches in several kinds, and, in fact, the slender silver birches are a notable feature on theestate. Near to where the house stood is a walnut tree, its bark gnarled and twisted andweathered, so that it can be noted at a glance. Incidently, if you bruise the leaves of a walnuttree and smell at them there is a definite suggestion in the aroma of cider or apples. At the endof the sloping lawn are some fine specimens of Californian redwoods side by side with theromantic deodar, while nearby is a grand weeping ash in perfect shape and form. Some of theyews, which were so conspicuous on my last visit, have been thinned out, with the result thatthose that remain are already appearing to greater advantage. Behind one the deodars is a tuliptree, of which there are few in these parts. In a short time will be a picture, with its fine,cream-brown blooms, with the appearance of tulips, and which give the tree its name. The treecan be readily distinguished by its smooth, glossy leaves, lobed and square at its extremity. Isaw too, a flowering ash, which has a counterpart in Avenham Park, and another in theLowther Gardens at Lytham St Annes. There are also a number of foreign oaks and a treewhich has been grafted onto a stock, but its name defied me, as the leaves were too high togive any help. Perhaps someone may be able to assist me here, and if so, I should be glad toobtain any information as to its variety.

Hurst Grange Lodge, Penwortham, was the scene of a somewhat romantic incident onWednesday evening. The house stands at the entrance to the grounds attached to AldermanForshaw's residence, and enjoying repose from the din of both vehicular and pedestrian traffic,it was natural that at an advanced hour the occupants, Mr and Mrs Ravenscroft, should be alittle alarmed at hearing the cry of an infant on the doorstep. The night being dark, a lightedlamp was procured, and on the doormat within the shelter of the porch were found a bundle ofwraps and a brown paper parcel. In the former was found a female child, apparently not morethan a month old, well nourished, and attired in garments which indicated that the mother mustbe a lady with means. The accompanying parcel also contained a change of clothing, awoollen shawl, a bottle of milk, two feeding bottles, a bottle containing gin, and even brusheswith which to cleanse them. There was also enclosed a fine linen handkerchief, in one cornerof which worked in silk the name 'Edith Maud'. This needlework had evidently been recentlydone, the handkerchief not having been washed since the words were inscribed. There wasfurther discovered an envelope containing 5s. in money, and on which a note was written. Themessage began: 'Dear Madam, We want you to take care of this child for a few weeks, and youwill receive 5s. per week as long as it remains with you. You must cherish it as your own, andyou will be rewarded'. The police have the matter in hand.

Lancashire Daily Post 5 July 1940

Lancashire Daily Post 2 March, 1900

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A MOTHER'S MYSTERIOUS CONDUCT. CHILD LEFT ON DOORSTEP.

The Lancashire Daily Post, 11 November, 1932.th

TONY GILENEY

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Craig Walton

Soon after we moved into the

bungalow, my dad built a concrete

coal bunker. This was just outside the

back porch of our home. But this still

meant that in the winter time, we still

had to go outside to get the coal to

keep the main fire & boiler going in

the back room of the house.

This used to mean that we would get

a delivery of coal from the back of a

lorry every fortnight.

Left: A picture of me, my dad and my

brother Andrew, by the back porch

door of the bungalow. The Coal

bunker was about 4 feet to my right.

Although the above picture was not taken outside our house in Penwortham, it

does show however the type of lorry that used to deliver our coal.

Stephen Ward's Life Story

Penwortham Library.

I joined this Library aged 8 and I would visit it at least twice a week. I used to

drive my Mum mad in asking to go to the Library to exchange the books I had

already read for new ones. By the time I was 9, my mum had persuaded the

Library staff to increase my book allowance, so it would extend the time

between visits, plus I was by now visiting the Library on my own after school.

At 10 I was allowed to take out books from the adult section, thus starting my

continuing interest in History of all its various forms. It was here that the love

of books my parents gave me was fostered into what could be described as an

'addiction'. Although it is an addiction that is a good one. Interestingly this

Library was run by Lancashire CC, and when I went into Preston to try to use

the Harris Library. I had to join that one separately as it was run by Preston

County Borough Council.

So from the age of 11 until we moved away from Penwortham, I used to

borrow books from this Library, Kingsfold Library and Harris Library every

week. I asked my dad how many books I used to borrow each week and he felt

is could be between 15 and 20 books per week. Also at 11, I learnt that books

could be ordered from other Libraries, I really used to keep them very busy.

While we were living at Newlands Avenue both by brother and I had a couple of

pets. The first of these was a budgerigar which we called 'Mickey'. His cage

used to be in the dinning kitchen in Newlands Avenue. Having a budgie was

quite interesting, because when we went away on holiday, we used to have to

transport him to our Grandparents in Lytham. The cage was placed between

my brother and me, on the back seat of Dad's car with a sheet over the cage,

so he would be kept calm as we transported him.

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