MIDDLEWICH LAMP-POST POPPIES 2018

The Middlewich Royal British Legion Club writes...

This year we are extending the'Poppies on Lamp-posts' scheme in Middlewich, and we are looking for additional sponsors at £10 per lamp-post.

We hope to have the poppies in place before the extra names on the War memorial are unveiled on the 20th October.

If you're interested in sponsoring a poppy, please contact:

Margaret Scarlett: Marscar49@aol.com

or

Iwonna Francis: ikfrancis48@hotmail.com

or enquire at the Middlewich British Legion Club in Lewin Street.

Tel: (01606) 833286

STP(MD)141018(fp)

HEAR YE! HEAR YE! DEVLIN HOBSON, TOWN CRIER!

FIRST PUBLISHED: 11th JUNE 2014

UPDATED AND RE-PUBLISHED 17th JULY  and 17th September 2014

RE-PUBLISHED 17th SEPTEMBER 2018 (FOUR YEARS ON)

UPDATE:
On the 17th September 2014 it was announced that, after a gap of a hundred years, Middlewich was to have a new Town Crier and that Devlin Hobson had been appointed to the post.
Congratulations to Devlin and his wife Jenny. We look forward to seeing you both at events in Middlewich for many years to come!
Dave Roberts, Editor.

Below is our original Diary entry on Devlin which was put together to publicise the idea of reviving a Town Crier for Middlewich. You'll note that, at this point, we didn't know that the idea was for Devlin himself to become our MiddlewichTown Crier.

DEVLIN and JENNY HOBSON Photo: Devlin Hobson

Just before the Middlewich FAB Festival of 2014 the question of whether or not Middlewich should revive the tradition of  having a Town Crier arose and, after initial scepticism and doubts, the idea was enthusiastically embraced by people seeing a great opportunity for this symbolic figure to help in promoting the town. Any lingering doubts were swept away at the festival itself when Devlin Hobson, Kidsgrove's Town Crier, came along to show us all how it should be done.

Here's Devlin's biography:

I'm 59 years old and been a town crier since July 2013. In my first competition in Nantwich I was placed 5th out of 13 criers and at the British Championship Huddersfield 2013 I achieved 15th place out of 24 criers. I have also  won best content of cry and, with my Escort, best dressed couple, both of these at Garstang 2013. Given the short time that I have been a Crier this was a pleasing achievement. I keep involved with my town and enjoy putting Kidsgrove on the map with the competitions.

I had an unusual job before I retired, I was a High Security Papermaking Technician I made it and you spent it Banknotes.

I was a Samaritan for 7 years 5 of which I spent in Prisons supporting inmates and staff. I helped to organise and train inmates for Listener scheme's which operate in prisons. I became part of a regional team which looked after 13 prisons in our area. I have seen and heard many things. I found this very fulfilling work and to see that you actually make a difference to someone is a fantastic feeling.

On retirement I moved to Nantwich and was able to attend St Marys Church regularly, I am now a sidesman and do duties every 6 weeks.

I take my Town Crying seriously and enjoy being a member of both The Loyal Company and The Ancient and Honourable, which enables me to promote the ancient art of Town Crying and my town of Kidsgrove throughout the country.

(from visitchester.com)

After a little research we were able to establish that Middlewich did indeed have its own Town Crier right up, it would appear, until a few years before  the start of the First World War.

ORIGINAL DIARY ENTRY (JUNE 11th 2014)

by Dave Roberts

An extra special guest at this year's Middlewich FAB Festival is Kidsgrove's Town Crier, Devlin Hobson, who will be here on Saturday 14th to enliven the proceedings and make sure everyone knows what's going on and where.

There's been talk lately of Middlewich having its own Town Crier once again and reviving a tradition which was, surprisingly, still carried on in the town as late as 1906. Devlin will be here as a sort of trailblazer for the idea, as an ambassador for Town Criers in general and also, I imagine, as an additional blow to the Keep Middlewich Miserable Brigade, members of which desperately try each year to pretend that the Festival is not happening around them as they try to go about their same-old same-old business.

As you can tell just by looking at his photo, Devlin will be a hard man to ignore.

Watch (and listen) for him on Saturday.

When the idea of a new Town Crier for Middlewich was first mooted I was, at first, sceptical, being (to my eternal shame) under the impression that Middlewich had never had such an official in its long history and feeling uncomfortable with the idea of 'inventing tradition'.

This misconception is a little hard to understand as Allan Earl, invariably our first port of call for information on Middlewich history, mentions him  in Middlewich 900-1900 (Ravenscroft Publications 1990), a book which is required reading for anyone interested in Middlewich and its history and one which I have pored over numerous times over the years. 

Old age creeping on and causing memory lapses, perhaps?

On page 170 of the above publication Allan is talking about C.F Lawrence becoming Clerk to the Middlewich UDC in 1904 and says:

Mr Lawrence would have known the town crier of this time, a man named Peter Jackson. His nickname was 'Crutchy P' because he was crippled in both legs and had a humped back, but managed to get along on crutches. He would stand in the Bullring under the centre gas lamp, ring his hand bell and shout 'Oh Yes! Oh Yes!' and then announce such things as a crockery sale at the White Bear, giving the date and time. This type of bell man followed the bell man of earlier years who announced parish meetings, declarations, changes in the law, victories or defeats in war etc.

On the left of this old view of Middlewich Town Centre is the gas lamp where 'Crutchy P' would announce the local news all those years ago. The Parish Church in the background gives us a clue as to what the scene looks like now.

Allan Earl's Middlewich 1900-1950 (Cheshire Country Publishing 1994) also mentions the Town Crier who was still around in 1905/6 (and was, presumably still 'Crutchy P' although Allan doesn't say so) and was able to announce the building and completion of the Council Schools in King Edward Street.

The foundation stone of the new Council School was laid on Wednesday January 3rd (1905) by Col. France-Hayhurst and by the following November 1906 the building was completed and opened.....The new Council School was designed to accomodate 288 junior and 297 senior (pupils). The Town Crier was still operating at this date and he would have announced the school information as well as the dates of bazaars, smoking concerts etc.

The Council School in King Edward Street, now Middlewich High School and still going strong.
Paul Hough Collection

And having thought about the idea of Middlewich having a new Town Crier, I'm all in favour of it. Not only would it be a quite legitimate revival of an old tradition, it can serve a very useful purpose, particularly at events like the FAB Festival where a crier could act as an audio Notice Board, telling people what's going on.

A kind of human PA system (only much more entertaining and authoritative) which doesn't need batteries or electricity.

We'll leave the last word to Devlin....

(Please note that, in this instance, the use of capitals is not intended to denote SHOUTING!!!!! but merely talking in a loud, well projected, voice)

'I WILL BE IN MIDDLEWICH ON SATURDAY, HELPING WITH THE FESTIVITIES! IT'S A GREAT EVENT! COME ALONG AND ENJOY A GREAT DAY!'

Acknowledgments:Kidsgrove Town Council

                                     Devlin Hobson

                                     Jenny Hobson

                                     Margaret Poniznik (whose idea it was to revive a

                                     Middlewich Town Crier)

                                     Allan Earl

Facebook Feedback:

Geraldine Williams Great piece about the history of Town Criers in Middlewich, Dave - and a timely reminder of the days when the world was populated by 'Crutchies', 'Stumpies' and many other non-PC names for anyone unfortunate enough to have a physical or mental disability.

Dave Roberts Absolutely Geraldine. I don't care what people say, we now live in a much more compassionate and caring society than we did before. And what a lot of people refer to as 'political correctness gone mad' is, in most cases, just plain common decency.

Photo: Devlin Hobson

UPDATE JULY 17th 2014

Devlin (extreme right) and Jenny (extreme left) with a whole host of colourful Town Criers at the National Town Criers' Competition in  Lichfield, 2014

The competition was held, appropriately enough, at Lichfield's Speakers' Corner. 

Devlin in full flow. He was placed a very respectable 5th out of 12 contestants

Devlin and Jenny enjoy the company of  fellow town criers including, in the background, Shrewsbury Town Crier Martin Wood (in red and blue and sporting a white beard) who, at 7ft 2ins, is the world's tallest Town Crier!

 Although he's only been in office for a year, Devlin Hobson is already a veteran of quite a few competitions. Here's a particularly good report on the 2013 Nantwich event from our friends at the CREWE NEWS, featuring many photographs and even a video:

NANTWICH TOWN CRIER COMPETITION 2013

Devlin and Jenny can be seen at this year's  Montgomery event on July 19th, and at the Nantwich Competition on July 26th. They'll be back in Middlewich for the Makers' Market on the 30th August.

You can find out more by going to Devlin's Facebook Page:

DEVLIN HOBSON ON FACEBOOK

And, assuming that Middlewich embraces the idea of a Town Crier, which it surely must, how long will it be before we have our own Town Crier competition?

We're guessing not too long...

(UPDATE: In fact after Devlin had arranged for a National Town Crier Competition to be held here in 2015 the first Middlewich Competition was held in 2016. The contest is now a permanent fixture on the Middlewich events calendar each year. - Ed.)

(ARCHIVED)

SALT TOWN RADIO: HIGHLIGHTS FROM 'MEMORIES OF A BOATWOMAN'

'Homeground' programme three brings you highlights of 'Memories of a Boatwoman' featuring the late Maureen Shaw of Wardle Lock Cottage in Middlewich.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM 'MEMORIES OF A BOATWOMAN'

Now also available on our YouTube channel:

YOUTUBE VERSION

With grateful thanks to Kerry Kirwan

SALT TOWN RADIO: HOMEGROUND PROGRAMME TWO

Listen to our second 'Homeground' programme on Audiomack.
 Highlights from part two of this year's Middlewich Town Crier competition.

HOMEGROUND: PROGRAMME TWO

Editor's note: It will be obvious that the intricate scoring system for the competition is not explained properly during the programme. The range of available scores is 7.0,  7.1, 7.2, 7.3 etc up to 7.9, followed by 8.0 to 8.9 and 9.0 to 10.0. This is what gives the range of 30 points which is designed to make a tie unlikely. A score of 10.0 is, of course, considered 'outstanding'. Apologies for the error. DGR.

SALT TOWN RADIO: HOMEGROUND PROGRAMME ONE

Listen to our first 'Homeground' programme on Audiomack.
 Highlights from the first part of this year's Middlewich Town Crier competition.

HOMEGROUND: PROGRAMME ONE

THE SALT TOWNS RALLY 2018

UPDATE: (17th August 2018):
KING'S LOCK RALLY LINE-UP

The Salt Towns’ Rally
Friday 17th Aug - Mon 27th August
Middlewich - Northwich - Winsford

The Hive and The River Weaver Navigation Society have teamed up to produce the first ever UK waterways’ boat rally to take in three events across three towns!
On Fri 17th August canal boats will be gathering at The King’s Lock in Middlewich for the reception and launch party for The Salt Town's Rally a brand new mid cheshire waterways event.
After a weekend of festivities in Middlewich the cavalcade of boats will head for Northwich via The Anderton Lift, a stage is being erected in Baron's Quay on Thursday 23rd where artists and bands on stage will entertain boaters and locals from midday.
On Friday 24th the boats depart for Winsford where they will form a parade upon arrival and enjoy a reception at The Red Lion.
The Marina island will be alive with festivities and pageantry until 7pm on Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th whilst the
Offcut Festival on the parkway behind the Red Lion, now in it's 5th year the festival runs from the Saturday through the bank holiday Monday 27th. A trip boat trip will run between The Marina and the Offcut stage and link the two waterside arenas.
The idea of the three towns working together on projects such as this have been long discussed given the shared salt mining heritage and waterways linking Middlewich, Winsford, Northwich. Together the towns are known as The Weaver Valley.
The Salt Town’s Rally sets out to highlight the fantastic waterways that link the three towns whilst campaigning for a boat lift in Winsford to raise boats from the end of the Weaver to the Middlewich branch of the Shropshire Union Canal so as to create The Weaver Valley Ring of water which will become the most popular stretch of water in the country for leisure boaters and tourists.
Intrepid waterways enthusiasts the inland waterways association navigated through broken down canals years gone by to force government to repair them, similarly this cavalcade of boats plan to make an annual pilgrimage from Middlewich to Winsford via Northwich to campaign for the link
The waterways that brought industrial prosperity to mid Cheshire once before are ready to bring prosperity once again in the new age of leisure tourism on and around the waterways connecting the three towns.
The events in Middlewich, Northwich and Winsford are all free to attend!

Courtesy of Damon Horrill.

Ordnance Survey © Philips 2002

Dave Roberts writes:

The idea of a boat lift linking the River Weaver and the SUC Middlewich Branch south of Middlewich has been put forward several times over the years  as a way of boosting the canal tourist trade in the Cheshire salt towns by creating a new 'canal ring' taking in Middlewich, Northwich and Winsford to add to the existing Cheshire Ring and the other  canal routes in and around  Cheshire. The very much simplified map above shows how tantalisingly close to each other the SUC Middlewich Branch and the River Weaver are. The Weaver comes down from Winsford on  the top left, past Winsford Bottom and Top Flashes and winds its way through the valley to a point near Wimboldsley where the Middlewich Branch, coming down from Middlewich top right, passes on an embankment a matter of yards away. The black line, top right, is the West Coast Main Line Railway which runs over the SUC via a girder bridge. 

And the idea of a boat rally linking the three Mid-Cheshire salt towns together as a means of promoting the proposal for a new Cheshire canal ring is also excellent.
There has, historically, been a lot of rivalry between the three towns - in particular between Winsford and Middlewich - based on the fluctuating fortunes of the salt industry. Ironically much of that rivalry was based on the fact that Winsford, unlike Middlewich, had direct access to the River Mersey via the Weaver. Middlewich had to rely on the Trent & Mersey Canal, with its link to the Weaver, and onward to the Mersey, via the Anderton Lift.

Attempts to forge closer links between the towns with, for example, a Mid-Cheshire Council (proposed in the 1930s) always foundered because of this commercial rivalry and the residual ill-feeling it engendered.

But that was then, and this is now.

In this post-industrial age it's high time that the three towns got together to promote their common salt making heritage. 

The Salt Towns Rally looks like a very good start.

Find out more about the Salt Towns Rally here:

www.facebook.com/thesalttownsrally/

For information about the River Weaver Navigation Society visit:

THE RIVER WEAVER NAVIGATION SOCIETY

First published 7th August 2018
Updated and re-published 17th August 2018
1stPFNOAR70818

FAB FESTIVAL 2017: LOST IN THE MIST AT THE NEWTON BREWERY (ARCHIVED)

NEWTON BREWERY ON FACEBOOK

Note: This originally appeared on QSC (and on our sister site The Middlewich Diary) as a straightforward plug for Lost In The Mist's annual appearance at the Middlewich FAB Festival. 

What we didn't know at the time was that circumstances would conspire to make this LITM's last appearance at the FAB Festival and one of my last  appearances with the band, instantly turning this poster/flyer into something of a historical document.

I'd been working with Bob Webb, doing 'humorous' poems and the odd song, for around five years when it was decided to form a band, with melodeon maestro Ian Murfitt as the third member.

This band needed a name and Lost In The Mist was thought as good a name as any. The band celebrated its tenth birthday in May 2018.

 We had some good times and played some really fab places as well as some really naff ones - the lot of the 'pub band' for ever, of course.

Like any other band, Lost In The Mist's personnel changed over the years, and eventually, in 2017, it was time for another personnel change, when what might be called my 'musical career' came to an end and the sound of LITM was 'refreshed' once more.

No loss at all, of course, to the band. I was never a musician of any sort, and my singing voice was not the best.

But I like to think that, if nothing else, I added a touch of fun and good humour to Lost In The Mist.

I'd hate to be seen as pretentious, but I have to admit that I've always  identified with the words of the immortal Noel Coward:

'I believe that since my life began, the most I've had is just a talent to amuse...'

Better than nothing, though, eh?

Dave Roberts

February 2018

P.S. Current publicity for Lost In The Mist suggests that the line-up changes every two years or so which, apparently, 'keeps our sound and performance fresh and full of life'. Well, thanks a bunch!

This also appears on THE MIDDLEWICH DIARY

First published 4th June 2017
Revised and re-published 12th August 2018

THIS ALSO APPEARS ON THE QUEEN STREET COLLECTION

MAKING WAY FOR GATEWAY 1987 (1)

by Dave Roberts

At the beginning of March 2012 Cheshire East Council gave the go-ahead for a  much-enlarged Tesco supermarket on the company's existing Middlewich site between Wheelock Street and St Ann's Road and taking in a lot more of the adjacent land between Darlington Street and  Southway, which is currently given over to housing.

It's fair to say that these plans have caused a lot of controversy in the town, with many people saying that the development is far too large and out of keeping with the character of the town centre and others claiming that expansion of shopping facilities in Middlewich is vitally important for the town's survival and that the new store will be a big boost to existing traders in Wheelock Street, who will benefit from the increased numbers of shoppers in the town.

UPDATE(Dec 2014): In the event, all this proved to be useless speculation, as Tesco later withdrew their plans for the giant supermarket, leaving a huge amount of blighted land right in the middle of town, with no indication of what would, or could, be done with it. As at December 2014 nothing seems to have been decided. The existing Tesco store continues to trade, with empty houses and derelict land in the place where the new store was to have been - Ed

We thought now might be an opportune time to look at the area before it was developed as a Supermarket site in the late 1980s, and, quite fortuitously,  Mike Jennings has sent us a wonderful set of photographs taken in 1987, just as work was beginning to transform  an old industrial site into what has become, for better or worse, the hub of Middlewich's shopping facilities.

In the 1980s the site was more or less just a field with F Coupe & Sons' Orchard Works 

and a few other industrial buildings at the top (Southway) end.

The site had long been earmarked as a suitable site for a supermarket and the Co-operative Wholesale Society (Co-op) had submitted plans on several occasions, only to have them rejected by the Middlewich Urban District Council's Planning Committee who 'wanted to protect local traders'.

Eventually the Co-op reached a compromise and built their 'Co-operative Superstore' not on this site but in the Bull Ring.

That 'superstore' (or part of it at least) has, somewhat ironically, now become one of two Tesco Express shops in the town.

This left the Southway site ripe for development and finally, when the 1980s were more than halfway through, the Gateway store and its associated car park were built on the site.

(I have a niggling feeling at the back of my mind that the 'Gateway' brand was used alongside another name at the time, but can find no trace of this anywhere on the internet. Does anyone remember this elusive 'other brand', or am I imagining things?

UPDATE: Having asked umpteen people and drawn a blank, I've come to the conclusion that I'm probably getting confused with the time when Gateway changed its name to Somerfield and the two names were used side by side for a while. But, as Mike Jennings said when he sent the original photos on which this entry is based, and as we've repeated below, many people in Middlewich still use the name 'Gateway' for this supermarket, whatever its official name might be.)

This was the first supermarket ever to open in Middlewich and it made quite an impact - so much so that, even after all these years, many local people still refer to it as 'Gateway', whatever it says on the building itself.

Gateway was beset by financial difficulties in the early 1990s and began a major re-organisation which included re-branding of the company, and all its stores, as 'Somerfields'.

Thus, in 1994, Gateway Middlewich became Somerfields Middlewich.

Fourteen years later, in 2008, The Co-op (ironically) took over Somerfields and, for a short time, it looked like the Co-op Supermarket which should have been built there in the early 1970s was going to become a reality on the Southway site.

It never happened, as the Co-op sold on the site, together with others, to Tesco, beginning that company's association with Middlewich which, like it or not, looks like becoming even stronger in the future.

The Somerfield store became Tesco in 2009, according to the information we have.

Can that really be right? Is it only three years since Tesco took over the site? It certainly seems a lot longer.

The date of this Office of Fair Trading  document seems to confirm the year:

OFT ADJUDICATION 2009

Mike's picture shows what is now the Southway end of the Tesco car park, with the rear of the Alhambra Chinese Restaurant (at that time a bingo hall) to the right. The tall building above it is Barclays Bank. Southway itself is behind the trees on the left.

UPDATE 1st AUGUST 2018): In July 2018 Tesco announced that it's main store in Middlewich would be closing in August, making the existing staff redundant.
After much speculation it transpired that the firm were creating a chain of cut-price, no-frills stores to compete with the likes of Aldi and Lidl. It seems likely that the Middlewich store will become one of these stores, the provisional name for which is 'Jack's', supposedly commemorating one of the firm's founders, Jack Cohen.

SEE ALSO MAKING WAY FOR GATEWAY 1987 (2)

First published 9th March 2012

Updated and re-published 9th March 2018

Updated and re-published 1st August 2018