MCC PRESENTS..THE CHRISTMAS STORY

CHRISTINGLE SERVICE 2016 (ARCHIVED)

ARCHIVED

VISITING WINSFORD ROYALTY 1973

For the 1973 Carnival our town was graced by the presence of Winsford's Carnival Queen in a handsome horse and carriage. It's not clear whether the carriage was provided by Winsford or Middlewich Carnival. Was Middlewich trying to upstage Winsford by providing such an opulent vehicle for their Queen, or was Winsford trying to put one over on Middlewich by sending along their Carnival Queen in a vehicle fit for a real Queen?
The only slightly  jarring note is the rather crude piece of paper with WINSFORD CARNIVAL QUEEN written on it in felt tip pen.
Nowadays something a little bit more sophisticated would be run up on someone's computer and, no doubt, laminated. There would probably also be a commercial sponsorhip message saying CHESHIRE FM or somesuch.*
The Queen is waiting to join the carnival procession outside the Big Lock at the end of Webb's Lane where it is joined by Finney's Lane. The building just in shot on the left is part of the pub  itself, although this particular part was not in use as such at that time. In those days the Big Lock was in  a rather strange condition with only small parts of it actually in use as licensed premises.
Looked at from Webbs Lane, or from the canalside, there were large areas of the building which couldn't be 'accounted for' when one ventured inside.
It was, and is, one of those canal side pubs which the late Brian Curzon referred to as 'stack pubs',  on two levels, with a bar at the top for the use of local residents and another on the lower level, opening onto the lockside for the use of the boating fraternity.
By this time the former shop at canal level, which was also provided for the benefit of people working the boats, had been converted into a function room where, the following year, the late Johnny McAlinden would, like me, be part of the early disco boom in Middlewich.
It was only in the 1990s that the entire pub was opened up to become the pub/restaurant we know today.
Note also the once ubiquitous red GPO telephone box (or 'kiosk' as some would insist). These are now very few and far between and found only in areas thought to be particularly picturesque.
There are none in Middlewich.
*Not any more. Cheshire FM closed down at the end of January 2012.

Facebook feedback:

Geraldine Williams Very impressed that the Winsford Carnival Queen's carriage had to be followed by a Group 4 security van (thought it was Del Boy at first!) so her jewels must have been real........!

First published 24th November 2011
Re-formatted and re-published 24th November 2016

C of E INFANTS SCHOOL, LEWIN STREET, 1975

by Dave Roberts

Lingering surprisingly late on the Lewin Street scene in 1975 is the Church of England Infants School, at one time presided over by Mrs McCullough (don't quote me on the spelling) who was the sister of Miss Mason, the headmistress at Wimboldsley. Notice the steel bracing on the outer walls, a sign of the subsidence which would eventually see the end of this and other large buildings in Lewin Street. Next door is 'Square One', a one-time rival for Samuels in the town centre which was, in the sixties, a branch of Dawsons Record Shops. This site is now occupied by gardens which are part of the environs of the Salinae Centre.
On the left, next to the lamp post and actually in Leadsmithy Street is Les Gibbin's (previously Challinor's) Newsagents, a building which still exists. It later became home to J&M Print, and, in 2013, extensive work was carried out to convert the shop into new premises for Forshaw Funeral Services (formerly of Wheelock Street).
I have a vivid memory of this school. It was used by St Michael's as a Sunday School (never popular with me, as it clashed with Sergeant Bilko) and one Sunday during a flu epidemic I was the only child to turn up.
Instead of cancelling, the Revd. L.R. Ridley insisted on going through the whole thing, including hymns and prayers, giving me no chance of adopting my usual policy of hiding behind something and pretending I wasn't there.

This photo was first published on Facebook on the 18th April 2011. The original feedback is below:

Colin Derek Appleton I remember this place. I used to creep in there in the early 80s to catch pigeons! If I remember rightly every classroom had its own fireplace, something I thought was well cool at the time!
I also have a vague memory of Square One becoming a very short-lived youth centre.

First published 6th July 2011

Re-formatted and re-published 18th November 2016

Facebook Feedback (November 2016):

Geraldine Williams re: Square One. That shop used to be a haberdashery when I was at Primary school. I remember Miss Barry sending two of us down there to buy embroidery silks (imagine a school daring to send 9 year-olds out on such a mission these days!). Was it also once an electrical shop? We definitely bought an oil-filled radiator from there in 1963. Or was the haberdashery attached to the newsagent shop?

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MIDDLEWICH TREE OF LIGHT CEREMONY 2016

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Tel: 01606 833434

ELVIS AT THE LEGION, 18th NOVEMBER 2016

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THE NIGEL and BILL SAGA - 2 THE POLL TAX ESTIMATE SKETCH (NOVEMBER 1989)

REMIND ME TO WRITE TO MYSELF...

by Dave Roberts

The Nigel & Bill saga ran in the letters pages of the Middlewich Chronicle, starting with the almost legendary  Congleton Council Hanging Basket Sketch in 1985 until some time in the early 1990s when a new editor, who failed to see the joke, took over. 

We're featuring these sketches not in strict chronological order, but in the order in which the cuttings come to light as we plough through the mountain of paperwork which has now been consigned to the loft here at 29 Queen Street.

Today we've alighted on a moment in time, during a very fraught period in British politics. 

We're looking at the 29th of November 1989 when The Poll Tax Estimate Sketch was published in the Middlewich Chronicle.

Mrs Thatcher's 'Poll Tax' (or 'Community Charge' to give it its Sunday name) has gone down in history as one of the most contentious, unpopular and, ultimately, unsuccessful political ideas in history.

The idea was to replace the hated local government 'rates' with a payment which everyone, home-owner or not, would have to pay.

It sounds, in principle, a lot fairer.

But, in practice, the levying of a 'flat-rate' tax on everyone, regardless of income, meant that the burden of local government finance was shifted from property owners to people who, in many cases,  could ill afford the new charge.

People who had nothing were expected to pay the same as those who owned property worth millions of pounds.

The idea was tried out in Scotland in 1989, where it proved to be wildly unpopular, and so, inevitably, was extended to the rest of the country the following year. 

The 'Poll Tax Riots' which followed are a part of history and led, eventually, to the replacement of the 'community charge' by the Council Tax in 1992.

So here we are at the end of November 1989, with the introduction of the Community Charge in Congleton Borough imminent.

Our heroes, Nigel and Bill, are considering the latest 'crop' of letters in the local Chronicle and thinking about the forthcoming introduction of the new 'Community Charge':

THE POLL TAX ESTIMATE SKETCH

(As Christmas approaches, Nigel and Bill are hard at work in the offices of the famous Congleton Borough Council)

Nigel: Fine crop of letters in the Chronicle this week, Bill.

Bill: I do not wish to know that, Nigel. I regard people who write letters to newspapers with contempt.

N: You're not the only one, Bill.

B: Anything about us?

N: No. They've left us alone for quite a while.

B: Quite right too. Perhaps they're beginning to realise what a first rate job we do for next to nothing. Remind me to write to myself and tell myself how marvellous I am.

N: Certainly Bill. By the way, I've just got hold of the Government's estimate for the Borough's Community Charge.

B: It's wildly inaccurate, Nigel.
  
N: You've seen it?

B: No, but it's wildly inaccurate, and for once those Smart Alecs from Middlewich can't blame us! The Government's figures are based on false assumptions, political dogma and total ignorance, whereas our own estimate is totally accurate. We have the very latest computer technology and fifteen years of experience to call on.

N: Well they put the figure at £228 What's yours?

B: I'll have a gin and tonic, Nigel.

N: No, I meant...

B: I know what you meant, Nigel. I was being humorous.

N: Sorry, Bill.

B: The official figure for the Community Charge, as estimated by the treasurer's department is somewhere between seventeen and a half pence and £497.33 approximately. Taking into account various grants and subsidies, each eligible person can expect to be paying anything from 3p to £1,847.50. Any the wiser, Nigel?

N: No, Bill.

B: Excellent Nigel. I'm glad to know I'm not losing my touch.

N: I'll be sorry to see the old rates disappear, Bill.

B: Me too, Nigel. The opportunities for threatening letters were tremendous. Still, now we'll have the opportunity to threaten even more people.

N: I can't help thinking that some sort of local income tax system would have been fairer, Bill. You know, people only paying what they could afford...

B: Nigel! Second door on the left, down the corridor...

N: Pardon?

B: It's the executive washroom! Wash your mouth out with soap and water!

N: Sorry, Bill...

(All characters are fictitious)

PUBLISHED IN THE MIDDLEWICH CHRONICLE 29th NOVEMBER 1989

REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY 2016 (ARCHIVED)

ARCHIVED

A reminder that the annual service of remembrance takes place on Sunday November 13th this year.

The parade will assemble at the Royal British Legion Club in Lewin Street from 10.15am and will arrive at the War Memorial in the  Bullring for a Service of Remembrance, including the period of silence at 11am.

All Town Groups and Organisations are encouraged to take part in the proceedings on this important date in the town's calendar.

For more information call KEN KINGSTON on 01606 833286
or the TOWN COUNCIL on 01606 83434

(information courtesy of MIDDLEWICH TOWN COUNCIL)

MIDDLEWICH CRICKET CLUB BONFIRE 2016 (ARCHIVED)

ARCHIVED

The annual MCC bonfire is back in 2016 and is bigger than ever!

Gates open from 6pm with the bonfire at 7.30 and the fireworks at 8.00.

We will once again play host to a variety of food and activity stalls and there is a fully licensed bar.

We have kept prices the same for the 8th year in a row!

Adult £5
Child £3
Family £14 (2 adults, 2 children)

Come along for the best bonfire around!

(With thanks to Middlewich Cricket Club/Graham Foster)

LEWIN STREET 1987

by Dave Roberts

Another photograph from the Carole Hughes Collection showing Lewin Street as it was nearly thirty years ago, and packed with nostalgia.
On the extreme left we can see the distinctive bow window of the legendary and much-missed Howe's Bakery, home of what many consider the best meat and potato pies ever made.
Next to that is Roland Wilson's second-hand shop (or 'junk shop' as we weren't too fussy to call such places years ago). Roland was part of the family which ran Howe's Pies.
Roland was in the habit of buying up used stock of such things as gas mantles, oil lamp wicks and packets of 'dolly blue' and was a source of such arcane material long after other shops ceased to stock it.
He also supplied me with an inexhaustible supply of old valve radio sets (or, more properly 'wireless sets') as the transistor radio took over and people were anxious to get rid of their 'old-fashioned' radios.
The fact that the old sets sounded much better than the tinny and often trashy transistors didn't seem to be an issue for most people.
But those old sets are now cherished by the discerning and change hands on the internet for a great deal of money.
Roland also sold me boxes full of old gramophone records (and a wind-up gramophone to play them on) for 10 shillings apiece, as remembered in the feedback on the above link.
Nowadays even the most unpretentious 'junk shop'  refers to itself as an 'antique shop' and no one bats an eyelid at the hugely inflated prices paid for the kind of 'rubbish' we used to buy for next to nothing.
1987 must have been towards the end of Roland's time in the shop.
The next shop along the row is the 'Coral Reef' chip shop which took the place of what had been a Co-op butcher's shop.
By the 1990s the shop had become 'Giorgio's' and it is still going strong in 2016 as The Middlewich Fryer.
Next comes a row of small houses which, like houses all over the town, have gone up in the world a little over the last thirty years and then, slightly set back from the road, the huge Victorian bulk of the former Co-op Drapery Department, which by this time had become Oates  Builder's Merchants.
The builder's merchants are still on site (although the building fronting onto Lewin Street is long gone) and the establishment is now part of the Jewson's chain. There's more about this here.
Crossing the road, just to the right of the red van is the recently demolished Niddrie's Toy Shop.
Christmas 2012 was the first one in living memory without Niddries. Everyone used to look in the window to see what the latest trend in toys was, even if they didn't buy any of them.
And wouldn't it have been nice if that unusual red and white illuminated sign saying NIDDRIES COACHES had been saved to become an exhibit in our future Middlewich Museum?
UPDATE (November 2016): Actually, that sign has been saved and can be seen, neatly stacked, among the unsightly  ruins of what was once Niddries shop (photo follows soon). I wonder what will become of it?

Roman remains are all very well, but nothing is as poignant as something like that sign, which we've all seen countless times in our lives without many of us really noticing it.
Talking of signs, in the top right hand corner of the (main) picture is the bottom of the pub sign which tells us that the present day Narrowboat was, at that time, The Danes.
Slightly further up the street, next to Niddries, is The White Horse, in those days selling Ansell's Ales.

SEE ALSO: VICTORIA BUILDING AND LEWIN STREET 1987

Facebook Feedback:
Rob Farmer: I've just been looking through the old pictures and it's absolutely fantastic. You've done a great job, really enjoyed it.

Originally published on the 4th November 2012
Reformatted, updated and re-published on the 4th November 2016

OPENING OF WILLOW BELL IN WHEELOCK STREET, 2nd NOVEMBER 2016

OPEN FROM THURSDAY 3rd NOVEMBER IN WHEELOCK STREET, MIDDLEWICH.

The Willow Bell Shop on opening day, 3rd November 2016

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WILLOW BELL ON FACEBOOK

QUEEN STREET URC CHRISTMAS FAIR, 12th NOVEMBER 2016

United Reformed Church

A date for your Diary!

MIDDLEWICH URC WEBSITE

MIDDLEWICH DIARY MASTHEAD: NOVEMBER 2016 AUTUMNAL MIDDLEWICH by JIM MOORES

Our Masthead for November 2016 features a photo from that master chronicler of Middlewich waterways, Jim Moores, whose Canals & Rivers of Middlewich Facebook page can be found by clicking on our 'Best Of Middlewich' link in the left hand column of this page.

Jim calls his stunning photo Autumnal Middlewich and it was taken in October 2016. during one of the most spectacular Autumn seasons in living memory.
The location had us stumped.
Is this, perhaps, a scene taken on the almost completely rural Shropshire Union Middlewich Branch Canal, heading out towards Minshull Vernon in the middle of the rich farming land to be found out that way? Or is it a scene from the Trent & Mersey Canal as it wends its way through Cheshire meadowland on its way to Northwich?
In the end, we had to ask Jim for the answer, and it's one that may surprise you, as it did us.
It's the Trent & Mersey Canal all right, but this is no rural idyll. This astonishingly beautiful scene is right in the heart of Middlewich. The Newton Brewery Inn in Webbs Lane is just out of shot to the left, and Middlewich Town Centre is a mere two or three minutes walk from here.
This is an area once dominated by the old open-pan salt works of Henry Seddon & Sons; a short distance away on the other side of the canal (and the River Croco) once stood Middlewich Gasworks.
An astonishing transformation which we hope to explore further with the help of Jim's amazing photographs.