THE END OF AN ERA - R.I.P. THE WHITE HORSE, 10th MARCH 2018

The White Horse, Lewin Street, as it was in October 2012

by Dave Roberts

In the early hours of Sunday 11th March 2018 another piece of old Middlewich came to an end as the White Horse in Lewin Street finally reached the end of the line.

The closure of the pub was widely expected and for several years had been the subject of much speculation.

The problem with the White Horse has never been with its beer, even when the main offering was the notorious Double Diamond which, you'll recall, 'worked wonders', nor with its food, even when that food consisted mostly of Walker's Crisps and KP Peanuts. The problem was never with the pub's clientele - the usual Middlewich mix of hard drinkers, nutcases, dreamers, philosophers and ordinary, run-of-the-mill, 'couple of pints on the way home' amateurs.

And there has certainly never been any problem with the people running the pub. 

Speaking  personally, I can go back to 1970, the first time I ever set foot in the White Horse, when Ken and Marjory Williams were the landlord and landlady.

I used to go in there with my first girlfriend's father Ron Grainger who worked (as I did) for the Middlewich Urban District Council and used to call into the pub to buy the, then new, Walker's Crisps. I'd go with him on occasion and we'd take in a few pints of Double Diamond while we were buying the crisps. It would have been rude not to.

Ken and Marjory were the epitome of the old-fashioned 'mine host' and his lady wife. Ken was a military man who had served in the Tank Regiment and had pictures of some of those tanks and the people he had served with all around the pub.

Marjory was just lovely. A lady with the quirkiest sense of humour I have ever encountered. She had, as they say, all her many and varied Middlewich customers 'weighed up', and wouldn't take any nonsense from any of them. I'm keeping my favourite Marjory story under wraps for the time being (as it's ever so slightly rude).

In later years, after Ken had passed on, a complete lunatic called Jerry Woods was manager at the White Horse. This was the time when, after working Saturday mornings at ERF, I'd call in for a few pints with work colleague Steve Farrington.

Saturday afternoon fun at the White Horse in the 1990s. The late Steve Farrington (and unidentified lady friend) together with his brother Peter. Sadly, Peter also died in 2018.

And this was also the time when the White Horse was just about a minute's walk (or, rather, stagger) away from the Middlewich Folk & Boat Festival site at Market Field (via the adjacent White Horse Alley) and said Jerry Woods would try to get the festival's compere so drunk as to render him incapable of introducing the acts. It never worked, though we came perilously close some years. I know, because I was that compere.

No. The  White Horse never really had any problems until relatively recently. And the problem which has ultimately seen the end of the White Horse has arisen from the pub's position close - too close - to the Lewin Street carriageway. The increase in traffic - in particular the rise in the number of heavy trucks using Lewin Street, in the absence of a by-pass between Sandbach and Middlewich, has made the pub's position more and more precarious as time has gone on.

Our main picture, taken by Bill Armsden for our sister site the Middlewich Directory in 2012, graphically shows the problem. The pub is far too close to the road. Or, to be more precise, the road is far too close to the pub. 

The only real solution would be to move the pub a few yards further back, but we all know that would never happen, even if it was physically possible.

And so, sadly, the White Horse has to close.

The plan, according to reports, is to turn the ground floor of the pub into offices for 'a transport company' with 'accommodation for truck-drivers' above.

Does that ring true? Won't the building still be too close to the road, whatever it's used for? Where will the trucks park? Where will the people working in the office park their cars? Has planning permission been granted? If not, will it be granted given all these questions and the problems  inherited from the building's days as a pub?

Can anyone doubt that the building will eventually be pulled down to ease the passage of traffic along Lewin Street?

And isn't it true that such a demolition would also give some developer access to the prime building land which lies behind the pub?

Not for us to say, of course.

In the meantime we can only mourn the loss of this most popular of Middlewich pubs.

UPDATE (16th May 2020): As of May 2020 our cynicism and scepticism over the closure of the pub and the future of the building seems to have proved unfounded. The building appears to be thriving in its new role as a 'business centre' with a suprising number of  firms making full use of the facilities it offers, and with no apparent problems over car parking. Which shows how much we know....

Many people have tried in recent years to make a go of the White Horse, and it's been something of a local success story, particularly as a disco and karaoke venue, which is how it will be spending its last night.

Other types of music have also been welcomed in recent years, particularly at Festival time:

Unofficial Festival Fringe publicity 2016

We'll leave you with these photos from the Mike Jennings Classic Collection, taken just before the pub closed its doors for good.

The White Horse in March 2018, showing once again just how close Lewin Street comes to the front of the building

Taken the same day and looking in the opposite direction towards Middlewich Town Hall

The dirt and grime which relentless heavy traffic plastered all over the building can be seen here. It didn't seem to matter how many times the White Horse was re-painted, the same thing happened. 

To the right of the building is the tower at Middlewich Fire Station in nearby Civic Way. This steel structure was once used to dry out rubber fire hoses (they were hung from the tower to let the water drain away) and is now used for training exercises.

The White Horse Bar in its final form. Still basically the same bar we all remember.

One unique feature of the White Horse - and  a feature highly prized by the male sector of the White Horse's clientele - was the marvellous Victorian  urinals in the gent's lavatories. Made by Duckett's of Burnley. We shall never see their like in Middlewich again.

Delighting in Music no more...here's the dismal scene at the White Horse on the 31st March 2018, just three weeks after closure. Earlier in the month this had been a place of music, laughter and excitement. Very soon it will become nothing but  boring, nondescript office space and 239 years of pub history will have been dumped in a skip. The building spent 239 years as The White Horse, starting in 1779. That wasn't the beginning of the pub's history, though. It was in existence in 1767 as The Horse & Jockey (Ref. 'Middlewich Hospitality' by Ken Kingston, Middlewich U3A Local History Group 2014).

From the White Horse Facebook page:

Sad times as from Wednesday 21st March 2018 the keys are being handed over to the new owner.
We have had many happy years in the White Horse and each and everyone of you have got good memories of your days n nights out to cherish
All landladies n landlords past n present would like to thank each and everyone of you who over the years have supported us to make this public house the success it was.
Without you we couldn’t of kept it going this long.
The only one good thing is that it is not being knocked down and it’s getting a new face lift for offices n flats
Thank you all once again and we hope to see everyone very soon in the near future.

Janice n Rob
Leon n Steve
Jon n Jackie

15th March 2018

SEE ALSO:

UNEVEN SURFACES

A tale of the Folk & Boat Festival

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Editorial Note

We expected this Diary Entry marking the end of a popular Middlewich institution to be popular. In fact it broke all records with nearly four thousand people from all over the world taking a look at it in the course of its first 24 hours on the Middlewich Diary.

First published 11th March 2018

Updated and re-published 15th January 2019

FAMILIAR MIDDLEWICH FACES IN FAMILIAR MIDDLEWICH PLACES

by Dave Roberts

Well, they'll be familiar to many, we strongly suspect. Here are four photographs from prolific Middlewich Diary contributor Mike Jennings' Classic Collection. Mike originally posted the four photos on our Middlewich Diary Photo Group, always a good way of contributing to the Middlewich Diary. (You can also post them to any of our other Facebook Groups. We'll trim them and tidy them up for you if they look a bit the worse for wear. But please remember we can't perform miracles.)

All four of Mike's photos seem to date from the 1960s.

Picture One: The gentleman in this picture  has already been identified by Celia Burt as her cousin John Appleton.

He's astride a motorbike in the car park of the late lamented White Horse in Lewin Street. On the other side of that low wall is Niddrie's Toy Shop and the HQ of Niddrie's Coaches.

Across the road is a row of typical Lewin Street cottages and shops - no two the same - leading up to a very interesting building, to the left of Niddries as seen in the photo. This was the original frontage of St Paul's Methodist Chapel, later demolished to make way for a car park in front of the remainder of the building which was given a new, modern frontage. In 1998 the three Middlewich Methodist Churches - Chester Road, St Paul's and Cledford, combined together. Chester Road became the HQ of Bamford's Stationery, St Paul's became Dave's Angling Supplies and the Cledford Chapel was demolished to make way for an enlarged building combining the congregations of all three chapels.

Picture Two: ....and who's this cheerful lady, strolling down Booth lane on what looks like a lovely sunny day? Has she, perhaps just got off a bus from Sandbach or Crewe? To her left is the Booth Lane recreation area, then and now a children's playground and now also a skateboard park. In the background is 'Etta Mault's' chip shop which, we hardly need mention, is still going strong.

UPDATE (24th May 2022) On Facebook Rita O'Hare wrote: 'This photo is of  Lavinia Barnet - the mother of the late Ann Hough.Vinnie as she was known lived on Booth Lane near to the Methodist chapel.'

Many thanks to Rita, and also to Julie Bickerton who supplied the same information - Ed.

Picture Three: This gentleman has a strangely familiar look about him. 

UPDATE: Since the first publication of this Diary entry, he has been identified by Colin Appleton as Jack Molineux, who lived just across the road from the place where this photo was taken, on the corner of Ashfield Street. See Colin's comment below.

He's sitting on Booth Lane Bridge, which spans the junction of the Trent & Mersey and Wardle canals and carries the road from Middlewich to Sandbach. We know that the photo was taken after 1962 because the ICI Alkali Works behind him on the other side of the canal is in a derelict condition. Pochins, who took over the site (and are still there)* have not yet arrived at the time of the photo. The King's Lock Boatyard and the ancillary businesses now to be found on that peninsula of land between the canal and the arm which once served the chemical works are nowhere to be seen. One link with the present day, though, is the canal signpost seen to the gentleman's right. In those days it was made entirely out of cast-iron, painted in British Waterways colours of blue and yellow and guided the last of the working boats to important destinations on the T&M and SUC. It still performs the same function today. mostly for pleasure boaters. The modern version of the signpost, restored in the 1980s, has 'fingers' made out of timber.

And talking of signs, look at the cast iron sign on the bridge. It can also provide a clue to the date of the photograph. It was originally headed BRITISH TRANSPORT COMMISSION, but the letters appear to have been chiselled off, meaning that the photo must have been taken after 1954.

But we knew that anyway, because the ICI Works was in full swing right up until 1962. 

There were signs like this on most of the local canal bridges in those days, including a very nice diamond-shaped one on Brooks Lane bridge just a short distance away. The wording was something like:

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT THIS BRIDGE

 IS INSUFFICIENT TO CARRY WEIGHTS

 BEYOND THOSE OF THE ORDINARY TRAFFIC

 OF THE DISTRICT

-that's just from memory. Perhaps someone could enlighten us as to the precise wording?

The gentleman in the picture has one of those 'Middlewich faces'. He seems happy to be photographed, unlike his dog which, as they say around here, appears 'not struck'.

* Or, rather, were until 2019 when the company went into liquidation.

Picture four. Actually we're not entirely convinced that this particular photo was taken in Middlewich. We certainly can't place the buildings in the background. Can anyone else?  Nevertheless the fact that this photo is among Mike's collection points to the ladies in it being from Middlewich. Perhaps they're on an outing somewhere? And sure enough, Celia Burt has identified one of them as Clara Cresswell.

Many thanks to Mike for letting us see these photographs. There's something very poignant about seeing these Middlewichers of long ago going about their business in (mostly) familiar places.

If you can identify anyone, please let us know.

Facebook Feedback:

Pam Leese The 4th picture is Sandbach. The white building is Brook's butchers across from the cobbles.

If this is your photo, please let us know, so that we can credit you properly.

Many thanks to Pam for coming up with the answer to this one. This photo proves the point that our Middlewich lassies were not in Middlewich at all, but just down the road in the estimable town of Sandbach. 

A very distinctive roofline, even if it does make the shop look more like the Alamo than a High Street shop. It's an excellent butcher's shop, by the way!

More excellent Sandbach photos at:
SANDBACH PHOTOS - PAST & PRESENT

Many thanks to:

Mike Jennings
Celia Burt
Colin Appleton
Pam Leese

CATS BAR TOGA PARTY POSTER 2003

2003                                   Mike Jennings Classic Collection

From the Mike Jennings Classic Collection comes this poster advertising a Toga Party at The Cat's Bar, on the corner of Wheelock Street and Nantwich Road in September 2003.

Were you there on the night? And did you go dressed in a toga?

Let us have your memories in any of our Facebook Groups,or email us at Middlewichdiary@aol.com
🔺

Once one of the town's favourite drinking spots, the Cat's Bar, the final incarnation of a pub which originated as the Red Lion and later operated as the Tut 'n' Shive and the Tap 'n' Spile, closed its doors in 2009. The building is now an apartment block called Lion House

SEABANK - EARLY/MID 1970s

Mike Jennings recently sent us this photograph of Seabank in the 1970s. It's one that we can't recall having seen before, and Mike says he has little or no information on it, or where it came from.

We think, however, that we can date it to around 1975, by reference to the colour slide below, taken by Jack Stanier in 1975 and often referred to here on the Middlewich Diary. In the background, beyond the River Croco and the Trent & Mersey Canal can be seen those large  buildings in Lewin Street  which we have seen so often in our Middlewich Diary travels - on the extreme left the Wesleyan Methodist Church and, centre left, the C of E Infants School. The buildings to the right around the town wharf still exist, waiting, like so much of our town, for better days, and beyond them can be seen the buildings on Hightown adjacent to the churchyard, including the white-painted Kings Arms Hotel at the bottom of Queen Street (not to be confused with the Wharf cottage, also white-washed, next to the Town Bridge).

And when we  compare Mike's photo with this old Middlewich Diary favourite, we can get a few clues as to the date of the Seabank photo. Look, in particular, at the shrubbery next to the old red GPO phonebox. Doesn't that look like the shrubbery to the right of Mike's photo? The Seabank car park at that time was being used  as a base for Ashley's contractors, who were re-shaping Kinderton Street to provide better facilities for traffic to and from the M6 (and, eventually, via the Town bridge, to St Michael's Way). The long-demolished cottages on the right hand side of Seabank, seen in Mike's photo, can also be seen on the extreme right of Jack's photo.

MIDDLEWICH SELECT XI TEAM 1985

From the Mike Jennings Classic Collection comes this precious relic of sporting times past at Seddon Street; the Middlewich Select XI Team of 1985. 

BACK ROW (l to r):
Norman 'Nudge' Smith, Mike 'Jake' Jennings, Mike Hatton, Paul McAleer, Tom Beevers, Mike Tully, Dave McIvor, Gordon 'Torchy' Kay, ???*

FRONT ROW (l to r):

Gary Dawson, Glyn  Fletcher, Chris Dodd, Dave Myles and Dave Hardman

* can anyone supply the missing name?

Update: Martin Spurr has been suggested for the missing name. Both the name and the face ring a bell. Can anyone confirm? -Ed.

Mike says, 'This match was held on 20th April 1985 at Seddon Street, when our opponents were Endeavour F.C. from Middlesbrough.  It was one of our annual matches against our friends from Middlesborough, a team we played at home and away throughout the 1980s. Below is a copy of the programme cover.

The kit was the Boars Head Argyle's strip from the 1977 season. It was an Admiral kit from the same batch made for England in the 1976 European Championship Finals. They failed to qualify and so never used it - But Boar's Head Argyle did!'

And so, it seems did the Select XI!

Stretching the meaning of the term International Soccer ever so slightly, here's the cover of the programme for the game (photo: Mike Jennings)

And here's a report on the match, presumably from The Middlewich Chronicle or The Middlewich Guardian 
Note the Boys Own Comic-ish tale of 'Mick' Tulley (sic) who 'just happened to be standing on the sideline with his boots' and was brought on for the second half to score a hat-trick and help the team win a glorious victory  over Middlesborough Endeavour.
Well known experienced official Phil Hitchen refereed, his final whistle no doubt being the signal for an epic evening of celebration at the Boar's Head.

Mike has a lot more information on this series of friendlies which he promises to publish as a series in the near future.

UPDATE: (6/10/2015) Just when we thought we had this one sorted out (after several attempts) and had settled on 1989 as the year of the photo (which would, if the date is correct, have meant that this match took place on the same day as the Hillsborough disaster) our old friend and correspondent Geraldine Williams chipped in with this:
'My nephew, Mike Hatton, says that the year couldn't have been 1989, as his mate Dave Hardman went to the Isle Of Man in 1988. Mike thinks it is more likely 1986'.
So the jury is still out on the actual date of the main photo. It could, in fact, have been taken any time after 1977, which is the year the strip was first worn, and there is no proof that the two pictures featured here were taken on the same occasion. We'll leave things as they are for now, and await further information! - Ed

UPDATE: (16/10/2015) In the light of the above information, Mike's now revised the year once again, this time to 1985. It's not clear whether the press cutting and associated information still relates to the main photo, but we've left it there until someone tells us differently - Ed

Note: This is a revised version of a Middlewich Diary entry, originally published on the 3rd October 2015 under the title 'Boar's Head Argyle F.C. circa 1978', re-published on the 6th October under the title 'Middlewich Select XI 1989 and then re-published again on the 16th and 20th October as 'Middlewich Select XI 1985. Thanks to Mike Jennings and Mike Tully for amended information - Ed

FINAL UPDATE 20/10/2015

CHESHIRE CHEESE DARTS TEAM 1958

We're grateful to Mike Jennings who posted this excellent photo of a local pub darts team of fifty-seven years ago on our Middlewich Diary Facebook Group -Ed

Mike writes:
Here is a photo from my archive.
Cheshire Cheese darts team, January 1958. 
Back row R to L Fred Latham, John Robinson(Uncle), Wilf Barrow, Tom Hemmings.
Front Row R to L Eddie Robinson (Uncle), John Hemmings, Frank Robinson (uncle), J Hitchen.
Mike Jennings

MAKING WAY FOR GATEWAY (3)

by Dave Roberts

These photographs from the Mike Jennings Classic Collection were originally going to form the basis of a series showing the proposed site of the new Tesco Superstore at the  time when its days as an industrial site were coming to an end, and its new life as part of Middlewich's 'retail sector' were in prospect. 

We've kept them on the back burner for a while as we waited for the situation over the future of the site to be resolved.

For a while it looked very much as though the existing supermarket and its car park were going to be transformed by Tesco into a gigantic 'superstore', with adjacent land on the other side of Southway being given over to a car park to service the new store; the only fly in the ointment as far as Tesco was concerned being plans by Morrisons to build another supermarket in Chester Road.

Eventually, after much controversy, and after Morrisons had built their new store, Tesco announced that the plans had been dropped. 

This appears to have been more as a result of a change of policy nationally than being due to local conditions. 

It's very often forgotten that Fine Fare were the first supermarket group to look at Middlewich. They considered the Southway site as well as the old WMC Motors site (now the home to Lidl) and another site near to Middlewich Town Football Club in Finney's Lane. 

By the time planning permission was obtained for the first  supermarket in Middlewich,the company had become Gateway as explained here, with the Somerfield name being introduced a few years later.

These photographs, together with the ones in the above link and also this one show the area in 1987 as it was when it was on the verge of becoming the site of the  town's first real supermarket.

And it's worth pointing out once again that Middlewich now has three medium sized supermarkets, all within

easy walking distance of each other - something which many towns of this size can only dream of.

The Orchard Works 1987. The long, low and utilitarian building was a sewing factory owned and operated by F Coupe and Sons, who also ran the Lily Works across the road in St Ann's Road (now the site of Newton Court) making clothes for babies and children. Notice that, although the F Coupe & Sons sign has been removed, the yellow Orchard Works sign still remains. Quite possibly the company thought it could re-use a sign saying F Coupe & Sons, whereas the Orchard Works  one was surplus to anyone's requirements.

Here we see the sewing factory in its entirety, looking on helplessly as the mechanical diggers start to prepare the site for a new era. On the extreme left are some derelict industrial buildings which, as far as we know, were never part of the Orchard Works. They appear in this Diary entry and a clue to their origin may lie in the old name for Southway, Tannery Alley. Our old friend the St Michaels Church Tower, which has helped us find our way around many a lost Middlewich location, can be seen peeping over the centre of the building's roof. From most parts of Tesco's car park this is now hidden by Wallcroft Gardens, the housing development which connects Wheelock Street with the road connecting King Edward Street to the other end of the car park (or would, if access was not restricted for the general public).

Whether Mike Jennings had inside information about the actual location of the new supermarket only he can tell us, but in this final shot he managed to pinpoint the site exactly. The buildings in the background are still there, the one on the right being the former home of Trevor Williams the delicatessen owner and his family. The land to the right of this house, between Southway and Darlington Street, with access from Wheelock Street,  was to have been the location of the car park serving the new mammoth Tesco store which would have replaced the existing store and its car park. Notice that the all-enveloping greenery which is now such a feature of Middlewich has not yet begun to flourish.

The closest we can get to a present day comparison is the photo below, taken on the 10th July 2013.

The buildings in Mike's 1987 photo are hiding behind Tesco as it basks in the warm Middlewich July sunshine, and those insignificant looking trees in front of the Williams house are soaring to great heights on the other side of Southway.
Tesco seems to dominate the scene but, it must be said, to a far lesser degree than it would have had its plans for Middlewich come to fruition.

As a reminder of what might have been, here's the company's explanatory diagram one more time.

As a public relations exercise it was a disaster, because it brought home to local people for the first time just how gigantic the proposed store and its car park would have been.
In the event, as explained above, the plans were dropped, to a great extent because of a re-think by Tesco on its policy of building massive stores all over the country.
Now Tesco Middlewich is just another supermarket competing for our trade with Morrison's and Lidl.
The demolition of property owned by the company in Wheelock Street and Darlington Street has gone ahead (delayed, seemingly, by the need to remove asbestos from the buildings) and it remains to be seen what happens to that huge area, right in the middle of our town, where the new car park was to have been.

SEE ALSO: BROKEN DREAMS
                     ORCHARD WORKS 1972

STANTHORNE MILL POOL

We believe this image to be out of copyright. If you own the copyright, or know who does, please let us know

Here's another Middlewich postcard which is new to us and supplied by Mike Jennings. As you can see, it's captioned 'Stanthorne Mill Pool', but appears to show a section of the River Wheelock with, on the right hand side, what might be a mill race - i.e. a stream of water taken from the river and carried off in a narrow channel to power a watermill. - in this case Stanthorne Mill.

The presence of Stanthorne Mill might also explain the existence of the weir immediately adjacent to the bridge which carries the footpath from Nantwich Road to Stanthorne. Was that there, partly at least, to increase the flow of the River Wheelock towards the Mill? The fact that the mill no longer functions as such could explain why the weir itself has been allowed to go to rack and ruin over a long period of time.

Or is this a more credible explanation of Mike's postcard? 

Is Mike's picture (photo 1) an earlier version of the scene shown in Jack Stanier's slide from the 1970s (photo 2)? The weir is indicated by a red arrow in each picture. Is that Mill Lane snaking down from top right to top centre, before the houses, such as 'Three Willows', between Nantwich Road and the river were built? Certainly the bridge over the weir is quite distinctive and its curved abutments (as seen in photo 3) might be discernible in both photos. This would mean that 'Stanthorne Mill Pool' was not actually at Stanthorne at all and that the weir, as we've suggested, was there to ensure a good and strong flow of water to the mill, several hundred yards away.

It is, of course, very difficult to make out the actual course of the River Wheelock in any photos taken since the first world war because of the profusion of trees along its banks.

Photo number 4 dates back to the 1960s when the area was not quite so overgrown and shows the 'mill pool' looking from the weir towards the Shropshire Union Canal Middlewich Branch which runs on its embankment behind the trees at the top of the picture.

(originally published 10th April 2013, revised 15th April 2013)

UPDATE (16th April):

Edward O'Hare writes: 

Hi Dave, my Mum and Dad have just confirmed your alternative theory as they both remember the small stream by the side of the river.

Also, the tree that is seen on the right hand river bank eventually grew right over the river, so that you could cross over from one side to the other without getting wet - most of the time!

(Edward is the son of Mike and Rita O'Hare, who live in Nantwich Road, close to the area shown in these photos. Many thanks to him and to Mike and Rita for confirming this for us - Ed)

WHIT WEDNESDAY PROCESSION IN HIGHTOWN 1949

by Dave Roberts
Here's a photo from Mike Jennings, who tells us that his mother knows the names of everyone pictured in this Whit Wednesday walk in Hightown in the early 1950s.
It took us a while to arrive at a proper description for this photograph. At first we thought it might have been a May Day procession (and my description, when the Facebook link was created for this entry talked of a 'maypole', largely because of the ribbons; it reminded me of the maypole we had a Wimboldsley school in the 1950s which I myself used to dance expertly around, if anyone can imagine me doing such a thing), but the obvious religious flavour of the occasion made us think again, particularly when Geraldine Williams said, 'Is it definitely a May Day procession? It's obviously a church group (check the surplice on the fellow holding up the pole); and it's a bit short for a maypole - he would be in great danger of strangulation once the dance got going unless there's an extension somewhere! And is it my imagination or had they caught the short straw in the order of procession and were following a horse-drawn vehicle (judging by the state of the road!)'
Geraldine also had some ideas on who some of the people in the picture might be: 'I think I recognise the tall girl in the centre, who has allowed the compulsory hair ribbon with bow to slip down to a more flattering position! I also think I know the second girl from the left, but I'll await Mrs Jennings' verdict.'
Cliff Astles also recognised at least one of the people in the picture: 'One of them, for sure, is my wife Barbara Elaine Astles, nee Evans of 6 Cross Lane. She is on the far left of the picture'.
Barbara added, 'It was a St Michael's Church event and took place every Whitsuntide. We would walk from the church along Wheelock Street, stopping a number of times to perform a maypole dance - winding in and out of the ribbons. I can't remember if we went back to the church, but there were always crowds of people watching the procession as we went along Wheelock Street'.
The setting will, of course, be familiar by now to even the newest Middlewich newcomer, partly because it's still very recognisable with Fitton's butcher's shop and the Natwest Bank (then known by the rather more dignified title of the 'Westminster Bank' and soon to be just a memory) to the right.
Finally, Mike Jennings got back in touch to say: 'Hi Dave, I've just checked the original photo of the "May Day Parade". It was sent as a letter to my mother who was serving with the ATS in Singapore at the time. The information on it confirms that it was 'The Whit Wednesday Walk 1949'.
We'll be re-publishing this entry soon with Mrs Jennings information about the people in the picture, along with some additional photos of other Whitsun walks in Middlewich which have come to light..

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THE LAST OF SEMI-RURAL WARMINGHAM LANE

by Dave Roberts

Until relatively recently the section of Warmingham Lane between Cross Lane and the Middlewich town boundary had a semi-rural aspect, consisting of fields with just a sprinkling of houses.
All that, of course, has changed and looks likely to change even more in the next few years.
Mike Jennings has sent us these photographs of Warmingham Lane taken just before the start of major housing developments, and he writes:

Hi Dave

Its been a while since I sent you anything so here are a couple of photos I took.

Time for a look at Cledford?

They came to mind as a further housing development is going ahead in Warmingham Lane, not without the usual protest I see! 

This is a photo of Hardman's Farmhouse after he sold the land for the present houses, again not without

protest then, as I remember.

Cheers,

Mike

Mike's referring here to the controversial plans for 350 more  houses  in the area.

Here's a link to the story in the

350 HOMES APPROVED FOR WARMINGHAM LANE

Facebook Feedback (9th May 2020)

Betty Williams Sunday afternoon walks along the lane, into Dragon's Lane to Tetton Bridge, back along the road to Cross Lane, sometimes treated to lemonade and crisps at the Kinderton. Or a bike ride into Warmingham and back as above to Cross Lane. Happy memories.

Jim Bradburn

I remember going down the bottom of my road cross lane & watching them take the first hedging out to get the groundwork machines in. Sad day.

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Sarah Louise

This is quite depressing. I remember when it was all green fields as I grew up nearby