Newton & Earlestown Gossip

[Ann Layland]

So far it seems from what I read that all the local landmarks are going. I think it started with the "rink" and the District School which I and my children attended (I know, I know that was quite a few years ago!!!) Now I read, from far off Canada, that the Curzon is a shell to be demolished, Stainier House and now the Irish Club have gone - is the old Labour Club still standing by any chance? I heard that the Town Hall was also threatened but have also heard since that due to some local heros St. Helens council can no longer get their wrecking ball out for that one. Even the old railway station waiting room is in disuse, one of the older and most historical railway parts of Earlestown. As an old timer, even from a distance, it is disheartening and sad to see the town I knew and was part of for all those years being slowly destroyed. I suppose some people would say that that is the price we pay for modernisation. What I see is total disregard by (dare I say it) St. Helens council to make our town a sub division of their own town. My grandfather, years ago, as a member of the council among many others who felt the same , gave every thing he had to make Earlestown a better place - pity the present council don't have the same regard. I guess he would turn over in his grave if he knew what was going on now.

Ann Layland nee Gaskin

[DaveH]

When I was a kid we used to go to the Rink almost every week. It was the original flea pit and very smelly. The place used to get packed and in those days hardly anybody had a bathroom consequently the stench had to be in your nostrils to be believed. The manager came round in the interval with a pressure fed container and sprayed us all with a deodorising product called Crommesal to lessen the smell a little. The old Labour Club in Earlestown has now been demolished after being left empty for many years. Working Men's Clubs, Labour Clubs and British Legions are now places of the past. The days of organ and drums and a paid *turn* Bingo etc etc are old hat, the younger generation aren't interested.

[Ann Layland]

My "local" cinema for saturday mattinees in my younger days was the Curzon being the nearest to Brookfield St. so don't remember being sprayed. My most memorable memories from the Rink was the NADOS productions, and I seem to remember they used to hold them in the Town Hall after the rink was demolished. I doubt from what you are saying NADSO is no longer in style. I really am being to feel old, none of the old clubs, pubs out of fashion, etc. etc.....

[DaveH]

NADOS is alive and well and until recently staged their productions in Earlestown Town Hall. With the closure of the town hall they have moved to Selwyn Jones School. The lighting man for the company is Kevin O'Leary who sometimes makes contributions on the other Newton web site run by Steve Dowd.

[Ann Layland]

Yeah!! I am so glad that something I enjoyed so much is still alive and well.

PS what does "Get those chuffer trains in Parkside NOW!!" mean?

Did you work at Parkside?

[DaveH]

The site of the former Parkside Colliery has been proposed as the site for a very big railway marshalling yard. Trucks will deliver containers by road which will be made up up into trains for onward transmission to the rest of Europe. 14.000 jobs will be created on the site but of course there are the usual objections by the NYMBYS(not in my backyard) Hopefully these will be overruled by the Minister of Sate in the government and the development will begin in earnest. What's holding it up now is the plan to create a new motorway junction adjacent to the site. Permission is needed from the Department of The Environment but the favourable decision is expected soon.

[Ann Layland]

Hmmm... Who or what is NYMBYS - never did have much brain power when working out initials!!!
However, wouldn't 14,000 jobs be one heck of a boost for Earlestown and Newton - at least for those who want to work? I think a new motorway junction, especially running concurrently with a railway marshalling yard, would be an excellent proposition for the area.

PS Why is NYMBYS objecting?

[DaveH]

The NIMBYS are objecting on noise and LIGHT polution grounds...yes, light polution !! They also show concern about property values falling when the opposite is likely to happen due to the demand for property to support all the new jobs. One of them, a tree hugging hippy type also claimed that the project is doomed to failure owing to the site being on ley lines !! How anybody can object to such a big investment for the town is quite beyond me but the objectors are like myself,old farts who are most likely to be dead before the project is finished and up and running which will be 14 years once development starts. It can only be a good thing for future generations. The alternative for them is burger flipping or the dole.

[Ann Layland]

Two questions - if you will forgive my ignorance, what the heck are ley lines and; what is light polution for heaven's sake. I think it's a pity they haven't anything better to do with their minds and their time. This would be a great opportunity for the town. I remember when I was leaving my job to come to Canada the lady that took my place her son went for an interview for one of five apprenticeships at the glass works in St. Helens and there were 1500 applicants!! I would hazard a guess a project like this would be a boon not an objection. As to being dead in 14 years, as old as I am I hope I'm not pushing up daisies by then but could possible have one foot in the grave!!!

[DaveH]

It would take too long to explain lay lines, they are hippyish in origin and a load of nonsense in my opinion. Take a look here... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ley_line

[DaveH]

Incidentally the woman campaigning against the Parkside development came to believe her run of bad luck in her personal life was being caused by two lay lines crossing in her front room. She employed, at a cost of several hundred pounds, a charlatan from Stoke on Trent to perform some kind of exorcism at her house. Whether her run of bad luck continues I know not.

[Ann Layland]

After reading the site you gave me on lay lines - well now I know what you are on about!!! Actually they belong to an era far and away beyond the hippies (of the 60's if they are who you mean.) I have read a lot of Marion Zimmer Bradley's books wherein she writes pre Aurthur and pre christian era periods, yeah, yeah, I know, they are only novels although very well researched!!! To cut a long story short they are described in her books as lines of power (well - the books are mystical!!). Avalon (The Mists of Avalon) was based on one of these lines that supposedly ran straight from the mythical Atlantis but is also connected to Stonehenge as well. If fiction became fact they certainly wouldn't bring bad luck - just the opposite, sometimes think I could do with a couple here!!!

More to the point, why on earth she would use these lines as an objection to putting Parkside to use however, is beyond me. Perhaps she lives in mystical land!!!

[elainef]

I have read these posts with great interest and can't wait to see Parkside developed. It has been allowed to become an eye-sore and how the residents living nearby would prefer that to new development and investment is beyond me. There was always heavy traffic going in and out of Parkside in its heyday and this would be curtailed with the addition of the motorway junction.

By the way, did we ever find out what NYMBYS was? Please Dave, help me out.

[elainef]

Silly me, confused by a different spelling.

NIMBYS - not in my backyard - which Dave told us in the first place. Doh!!

[Ann Layland]

Hi elainef - Glad you joined the discussion, I agree whole heartedly with you. However, I would still like to know what "light" polution consists of.