DAY BY DAY 3 3rd June 2024

 

MONDAY 3rd JUNE 2024

A dull morning in Middlewich this morning following a lovely Summer Sunday.

Apologies if you missed our Cheshire Folk Show on Feel Good Throwbacks Radio yesterday. The transmission time was altered from 1pm to 6pm, and I hadn't caught up with the change.

So that's the new regular time for Cheshire Folk each week, 6pm to 7pm. A good slot, too. Sunday evenings are traditionally the time for Folk Music shows.

Listening to Cheshire Folk is an easy and enjoyable way of keeping up with what's happening regarding the Folk & Boat Festival, and we're grateful to FGTB for giving us this opportunity. Cheshire Folk has been running now since the early 1990s and has featured on several radio stations including YFM, Witch FM, The Cat and Radio Leighton. We are still using the original name coined by YFM's station manager back then and  have no connection whatsoever with any other organisation using the name Cheshire Folk.

FGTB LIVE LINK

Photo courtesy of Lynne Massey

Posted by Lynne Massey on Facebook today, this photo of the top end of Wheelock Street in 1906 makes the point once again that, although this street has changed considerably over the years and continues to change, old photos are still instantly recognisable because the basic structure of the street remains the same. If you're struggling a little, all we really need to say is that to the right of the horse and cart in the present day is that treasure trove of treasure troves, Temptations, just about the most quirkiest and surprising shop you'll ever see. Not only do the contents of the shop continually change, so does the shop itself with new little areas appearing at regular intervals, giving the impression that the whole place is in a state of delightful flux. A shop for Middlewich to be proud of!

On the other side of the street, and to the left of the lady with the perambulator, can now be found the brand new Roman Court residential development.

Coming soon

From Middlewich Town Council:

D-Day Beacon Lighting

Thursday 6th June 21:15

Greenheyes Farm, Bostock Road, Middlewich CW10 9JE

Public are welcome, but the Beacon will be visible from Middlewich.

𝑨𝒈𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎, 𝒏𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒏. 𝑨𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝑾𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎.

DAY BY DAY 2 2nd June 2024

 

SUNDAY 2nd JUNE 2024

10am: A BEAUTIFUL sunny day in Middlewich. Lynne Massey has been up early to post this view of Hightown, Middlewich, in the 1920s.

Courtesy of LYNNE MASSEY

The Parish Church stands, as it does to this day, on the high ground linking Hightown and Lewin Street. To its left is the old Town Hall and a small row of shops  including Summerfields, the Grocers. Everything to the left of the Church has now been replaced by the Amphitheatre, which provides a much improved setting for the town's War Memorial, originally dedicated in 1933. The shops on the right still exist, but are much altered.

DAY BY DAY 1 1st June 2024

 

Saturday 1st  June 2024

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WELCOME to the Middlewich Diary DAY by DAY, in which the Middlewich Diary takes its place as a (we hope) trusted source of information for Middlewich and let's you know what's happening in our home town. For the first time we're operating as a true blog. We can't promise to publish a new post every day of the year, but there will, we hope, be something new to see most days. We'll be trying to make sense of the sometimes baffling things posted on social media in the area and bringing together news from such organisations as the Folk & Boat Festival, the Friends of Fountain Fields, the Crazy Daisies, Middlewich Flowering Meadows and Feel Good Throwbacks Radio, the new local radio station for the area which, among many other delights, brings you the Cheshire Folk Show every Sunday at 1pm starting on June 2nd. 

We'll also feature YOUR news and events if you let us know about them on Middlewichdiary@aol.com. We can't promise to publish everything  that's sent to us, but we'll do our best. 

We'll be looking back at some of the hundreds of Middlewich Diary entries we've published so far, and also, as we've done since 2011, publishing more.

You might also like to take a look at our Middlewich Memories, published every month in the Middlewich edition of  Go Local.

From time to time on DAY by DAY, we'll be giving you our opinion on something you may consider controversial. When this happens, the section will be clearly marked with this heading. We welcome your (constructive) comments:

Happening today:

Rob Dykes, Middlewich URC

Happening tomorrow (Sunday)

Feel Good Throwbacks Radio

NEW SERIES starts tomorrow (Sunday 2nd)
on Feel Good Throwbacks Radio
1pm - 2pm
LIVE STREAM

MIDDLEWICH DIARY EDITORIAL HOLDING PAGE

 

HOLDING PAGE

23/05/2324

THE 2022 MIDDLEWICH FOLK & BOAT FESTIVAL - WHAT REALLY HAPPENED?

 This page is reserved for members of the organising team of the Middlewich Folk & Boat Festival 2022 to explain just went wrong with the Festival and what steps were taken to avoid the eventual disastrous outcome.

You can email us on Middlewichdiary@aol.com. 

We'll publish whatever you send to us, completely enedited, unexpurgated and in full. -Ed

To explain the situation a little more fully, here's a comment I made on the Middlewich Residents' Association FB Group in response to a comment by Cllr Mary Monroe:

I'm always very keen to place the blame for the 2022 Folk & Boat Festival Disaster fairly and squarely where it belongs; with the then town council and the 'contractors' it employed. People tell me that when I bring this up I am 'not being very nice'. Well I don't consider that it was 'very nice' for a team of 'organisers' to wreck our town's premier annual event and lose £100,000 plus on the event, causing the council to escape going into special measures by the skin of its teeth. Although an enquiry was instigated and established exactly how this money was lost and the Festival trashed, we have yet to hear a single word of explanation, apology or contrition from any of the people involved. The current organisers have taken the Festival back to its community roots and have vowed that never again will the Festival have to rely on a council which has no business trying to organise such an event. The Folk & Boat Festival is now once again self-supporting, though it welcomes help from all quarters. FAB makes such a lot of money for local businesses and provides such great entertainment for visitors and residents alike, that it would be strange indeed if those who want the best for the town didn't help it survive. And while I'm here, if anyone thinks I'm being unduly harsh about all this, I can remind everyone that there's a permanent offer to anyone and everyone involved with running the 2022 FAB Festival to tell us what happened and explain why we shouldn't feel the way we do. I have a page on the Middlewich Diary standing by to publish anything that those organisers want to tell Middlewich people. I promise not to alter a word. You can call me all the names under the sun. I'll still publish it. If you can convince me, and the people of Middlewich, that we've got it all wrong, and that things didn't happen the way we think they did, then I for one will be ready to humbly apologise and wear sackcloth and ashes for the rest of my days. I've been accused of 'telling lies' - something I try not to do, so it stands to reason that I've got things wrong somewhere. Please help me tell the real truth, so that I can let everyone know what really happened. 

Dave Roberts.

THE MIDDLEWICH PANCAKE BELL

by Dave Roberts

Middlewich historian and Clerk to the Middlewich UDC Charles Frederick Lawrence was a prolific collector of poetry and verse, particularly when it pertained to the town of Middlewich.

Here, for Shrove Tuesday, is a famous poem about the pancake bell which Mr Lawrence says in the publication Bygone Middlewich (Electro Bleach Club, Scientific Section, Middlewich, 1921) only ceased to ring, along with the Curfew (or 'Curfue') Bell within his 'recollection'.

So we're probably talking about sometime in the early to mid 19th century.

The Pancake Bell was rung to remind the people of Middlewich that it was time to gather all the ingredients together to make pancakes for the great feasting before the fasting period of Lent began.

Shrove Tuesday does not occur on the same day every year. Like Ash Wednesday and other Christian 'moveable feasts', the date is determined by the date of Easter which falls on the first Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or after March 21st. The beginning date, March 21st, was chosen because it is usually the vernal equinox (generally, the first day of spring). That is why this diary entry was published on the 13th February 2018, and the 5th March 2019. It will be interesting to see how the dates differ as the years progress.

VERSES ON THE MIDDLEWICH PANCAKE BELL

by The Rev'd Charles O'Niel Pratt, formerly Curate at Middlewich

What sound is that which greets mine ear,

As it sweeps along through the sky so clear?

Of millions of chickens it rings the knell,

For I wot it is the Pancake Bell.

Full many a farm-yard cock hath crowed,

And tender love on his wives bestowed,

But over her brood has waved the spell,

As sure as she hears the Pancake Bell.

And the housekeeper goes to the huxter's shop,

And the eggs are brought home and there's flop! flop! flop!

And there's batter and butter and savoury smell,

While merrily rings the Pancake Bell.

And with frizzle and fizz the condiment's tossed,

And dished, and dusted with sugary frost,

And the youngsters at home the fun can tell

That follows the sound of the Pancake Bell.

And into the batter will mistress fling

That mystic token, the marriage ring,

And the bosom of many a maid will swell

With hope as she hears the Pancake Bell.

For if smiles and loving looks be true,

Someone may whisper a word or two,

And when Lent is over, then Easter will tell

Its old, old story - the Wedding Bell.

First published on Shrove Tuesday, 13th February 2018
Re-published on Shrove Tuesday, 5th March 2019, 25th February 2020, 16th February 2021, 1st March 2022, 21st February 2023, 13th February 2024

FOLK & BOAT FESTIVAL 2022: BRINGING ON BACK THE GOOD TIMES!

 

Mr Graham Sivills is interviewed, in typically shambolic style, by Mr Roberts and points the way to the future of folk music in Middlewich and the World. Or something. Much has been said about 'putting the folk back into the Folk & Boat', but on Sunday afternoon at the Kinderton Hotel we managed to put the Folk & Boat Festival right back where it belongs. If you have a long memory you'll remember those magical Festival Sunday afternoons in the marquee, where we were all demob happy and up for it after all the stress and hard work of organising the Festival. We managed to recreate that wonderful Sunday afternoon feeling this year as we paid tribute to the Festival we were all a part of creating back in 1990. Right from the very beginning, the F&B has been supported by Middlewich Town Council and we invited along some of the Civic Dignitaries of yesteryear to enjoy the fun. Gracing us with their presence were: Dorothy Kelly-Hughes (aka Dot Roberts), who was Mayor of Middlewich in 1990, with husband Colin; Peter Cox (original F&B Committee member and Mayor in 1992) with son Ian, ex-Cllr Jim Basford and, representing the new breed of councillor, Mr Garnet Marshall. Other pioneers of the F&B present included Rita O'Hare (Secretary) with husband Mike, Mike Hough (Artistic Director), not forgetting Festival founder Richard Devaney and the man who guided the Folk & Boat from the very beginning, Dave Thompson. There were so many stories about how the Festival started and how it has managed, with the help of the MTC to survive and prosper for thirty years. And the music was the Real McCoy - the authentic and original sound of the Middlewich Folk & Boat Festival. Craig and Freddie Moores joined with Dave T to kick of the proceedings as The Salty Dog Blues band; Musical and Comedy genius Stanley Accrington came back to Middlewich to show us just how things were back in the day when we built up a great reputation for presenting comedy folk to the people of Middlewich. The Hayes Sisters from Stockport contributed a fabulous set, representing the younger folk sound which the F&B has always been careful to nurture. Local hero Snagger The Balloon Man was on hand to delight the kids with his amazing creations and Sarah Pearce was there to add some sparkly face-painting magic. And, of course, there were the Middlewich Paddies: Richard Devaney, Dave Thompson and Graham Sivills, the band that started the Festival all those years ago. It was my honour to introduce the whole show, just as I did in June 1990, and I wouldn't have missed it for the world. There were so many well-wishers from the old days there, expressing their appreciation of the way we'd managed to recreate the magic of the Festival's early years. Many thanks to everyone who came along and helped us make it an occasion we'll always remember. If I've missed you out, don't hesitate to give my addled memory a nudge and let me know and I'll include you in this account..

NOW & THEN: TANNERY ALLEY/SOUTHWAY

 

Tannery Cottages as they were in the late 50s/early 60s. Although we refer to old photos of this public footpath as depicting 'Tannery Alley' in fact the name was changed to 'Southway' a very long time ago. Certainly those of us born in the early 1950s can't remember it being called anything else. What the name 'Southway' is supposed to mean is anyone's guess. It's one of those exquisitely meaningless names which local councils love. You can find out more about the area in this Diary entry, written during the 'Jack's' era: 

SOUTHWAY

Southway as it was in January 2024,  and the huge bulk of the Home Bargains store dominates the scene as it has done since the early 1980s. This building, which started life as a Gateway/Somerfields supermarket and later became Tesco and then the short-lived Jack's, looks relatively unaltered from the way it was in the early 1980s, but was in fact comprehensively rebuilt before Home Bargains moved in. The earlier semi-rural feel of Southway has largely disappeared. On the other side of the wall on the left-hand side, great changes have taken place; The much lamented Barclay House and the other prestigious homes in the area have all disappeared to be replaced by new housing, still at the time of writing under construction. Even further to the left, in Darlington Street, the hotch-potch of old industrial buildings, garages and flats which once formed one side of the street, have been replaced by Roman Court a retirement development built by McCarthy & Stone.