A Brief Report on The Lancashire Celebratory Meeting held in Chorley on Saturday 18th November 2023

The meeting, attended by twenty-three members and friends was opened by Sid Calderbank, our President who welcomed all present.
Apologies from twelve members were received by Judith, the Chairman.

A surprise guest, in the form of Tony Blagrove, Town Crier, was then introduced by Sid.
With fully operational bell, Tony proceeded to read the Lancashire Day Proclamation in fine fashion, ending with everyone standing to toast King Charles lll, Duke of Lancaster.

A wonderful hotpot was then served followed by delicious apple pie and cream, all washed down with drinks from the bar.

After a short comfort break, we were entertained by our new treasurer, Michael Jackson, who delivered an historical and very interesting talk about clogs and clog making. Michael’s knowledge was amazing. Michael brought along many different clogs from his huge collection, for us to see, as well as some clog making tools and information/photographic folders. At the end, Michael took questions, some from two guests from Yorkshire who had travelled especially to hear the talk.

Judith thanked Michael for his very informative talk. Sid then performed a dialect item to end the meeting.
The meeting closed at 4.50pm with Judith thanking everyone and wishing all a safe journey home.

Footnote: Gill had brought copies of the LAA Anthology 2023 to distribute to those members present and anyone else who wished to purchase a copy.

O.J.R.

Eight members of the Association met electronically at 2.00 pm to be entertained by Tom Preston on the subject of ‘Lancashire Comedians’. While we were waiting for people to join, Gill James announced that the LAA Anthology was ready for circulation. Apologies had been received from Dan Forrester, Julie Lloyd Mullen.

Tom Preston was welcomed by the chairman, Judith Addison and began by putting on his “comedian’s hat” before giving a brief explanation of how his interest in Lancashire comedians had developed from writing a PhD thesis on Liverpool football and wondering why this part of the country had produced more comedians of note than any other part of the country of similar size. He mentioned such famous household names as Arthur Askey, Jimmy Clitheroe, Stan Laurel, Ken Dodd and Rob Wilton, not forgetting Eric Morecambe and Colin Crompton (the latter of the Wheel Tappers and Shunters Club) and Sooty, although Sooty’s operator, Harry Corbet was a Yorkshireman. He continued by explaining that before the C19th, Lancashire had been reported, by at least one person, as being a remote and backward area saved by the industrial revolution that gave rise to unhealthy living conditions, but also, happily to much greater social interaction.

Lancashire was then the most populous county after London and in the terraced streets were many public houses that provided entertainment as well as alcohol. These were the training grounds for performers who would graduate to the music halls, not forgetting the influence of Blackpool and the famous ‘Wakes Weeks’ when whole towns would shutdown for employees to have their annual holiday. Blackpool now has on the promenade, a ‘Comedy Carpet’ of famous comedic names and their catch phrases. Of such were the ‘Lancashire Lad’ comedians, who were always displayed as being ‘gormless’, an example being George Formby senior who used the pseudonym ‘John Willy’. The tradition continued with Les Dawson who, with Ray Barraclough, based their characters Sissy and Ada on Norman Evans’s ‘Over The Garden Wall’

Tom continued by naming other comedians whose acts had similar material. These included Frank Randall of Aspull, Hilda Baker, whose stage act was based on the height discrepancy between herself and her ‘stooge’ Cynthia, who was a man in drag and never spoke. Other names of note in similar vein were Jimmy Jewel, Joe Gladwin, who starred as Nora Batty’s husband in Last of the Summer Wine and the less well-known Dave Morris, who died in 1960.

When. a few years ago, a member of the University of Central Lancashire wrote that Lancashire comedians were a declining breed, Tom disagreed and demonstrated this by listing Peter Kay, Lee Mack, Victoria Wood, Caroline Ahearne,  Bobby Ball, John Bishop, John Culshaw and Steve Coogan. Other names from the ‘Golden Age’ of the C19th were Wilkie Barnes and Harry Tate; from World War II, Tommy Handley and Ted Ray; from the post war period, Thora Hird and Eric Sykes and more recently, Jimmy Tarbuck, John Inman, Mike Harding, Bernard Manning, Alexei Sayle and Craig Charles. Tom finished his talk by saying that today we have some up and coming Bolton comediennes such as Sophie Witham performing in the working class tradition. Throughout the talk Tom had changed hats as appropriate to his subjects and had provided examples of their stage material.

Our chairman thanked Tom for such an interesting and humorous talk and everyone applauded, A period of question and answer and some comments followed. After a comfort break, members entertained by reading their own writing:
Peter read his article, ‘Home For Heroes’ about the true meaning of being a hero as being someone who overcomes\ a disability with fortitude.

Peter read his article, Home For Heroes
Sarah read her short story, ‘The Pier’
David read his poem, ‘Anonymous’
Olive read her entry for the Brown Cup, ‘Slavery’.

Members and guests attended the Awards Day at St. Mary’s Parish Centre, Chorley. The President, Sid Calderbank opened the meeting by welcoming everyone present. Olive Riley, who was chairing the meeting, apologised for changes having been made to the agenda and read the safety notice.

Apologies for absence were received from Judith Addison, Gill James, Peter Jones, Dea  Parkin, Dan and Angie Forrester, Heidi Lancaster, Sally and Ron Williams, Nick Oldham and Alison Chisholm.

The Awards ceremony was then held, the trophies and certificates were presented by the President, Sid Calderbank.

Before the presentations, Olive thanked the previous year’s winners for returning the trophies in a condition that required only a little polishing.

There had been 62 entries, one of which had been disqualified. The poetry judge, Sheila Clift, had commented on the high standard of entries.

The ‘Writer of the Year’ winner of the Rose Bowl, chosen by Nick Oldham, was Tom Ungless. with “Twentyseven”.

Madam Chair then introduced our guest speaker, Judy Beeston, who would speak about the life of Edith Rigby (nee Raynor), the famous Preston Suffragette. Judy began by setting up a display of material relating to Edith Rigby before donning a cloche hat typical of the style that Edith would have worn during the early years of the 20 th Century, to complete the outfit she was wearing, which was a replica of one Edith wore in a photograph.

She then took on the role of Edith to relate the significant features of her life. Edith, born in October 1872, was the daughter of a Preston doctor and attended the Penrhos Methodist College for girls in North Wales. Most girls at that time worked in industry in appalling conditions and Edith, being much concerned about their plight, was instrumental in improving these.

Aged nineteen and no longer a schoolgirl, she married a Dr. Charles Rigby, who was fifteen years her senior. He must have been a very nderstanding and tolerant husband, because Edith, by her actions, was clearly a free spirit with a mind of her own. She was the first  woman in Preston to ride a bicycle and horrified her neighbours when she and Charles were living in Winckley Square: she would ‘donkey stone’ (ie whiten) the front step of their home.

At that time, due to the rapid rate of industrial growth, Preston had the highest infant mortality rate in the country and a movement began to get women into Parliament. Edith naturally became involved and formed the Preston branch of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). She recruited women to become members of the Suffragette movement and with Christabel and Sylvia Pankhurst took part in a march to the Houses of Parliament. She was subsequently arrested many times, took part in hunger strikes and was subjected to force feeding. During World War I, she bought Marigold Cottage at Hutton, Penwortham near Preston and used the orchard to produce food for the war effort by growing fruit and vegetables and keeping bees and animals.

When Charles retired in 1926, the couple built a new house at Penrhos in North Wales but Charles died before it was finished and Edith moved to live there alone until she died in 1950.

In 1918, the government extended the franchise to men over 21 and to all women aged over 30 who met the minimum property requirements. Universal franchise for all persons, male and female was only achieved in 1928.

A vote of thanks to Judy Beeston was proposed by Michael L. Jackson This excellent talk was followed by a comfort break during which members showed much interest in the items Judy had displayed and were pleased to have an opportunity to talk to her.

The meeting resumed and the winning entries in the various categories were read by such writers as were present. Tom Ungless, David Lythgoe and Peter Foster.  

Finally, Michael Higgins read his dialect poem ‘As I read Sam Bamford’s Weaver Boy’. to end the meeting. An amusing conversation between the writer and Sam Bamford’s ghost.

It was good that Jean Blakely, author of one of the final eight stories in the Open Competition 2023, was able to join us and in recognition of her attendance she was presented with a red rose.

Olive Riley then closed the meeting by thanking those who had worked hard to make it a success, and all for attending. She wished us a safe journey home.

Pictures courtesy of David Kevill including Writer of the Year on our index page

For presentation pictures from this meeting, please click here

What a wonderful, uplifting meeting was enjoyed by twenty-four members, patrons and guests, meeting live for the first time in more than two years! It was so good to come together everyone was smiling.

The gathering was opened by our president Sid Calderbank who welcomed all present, expressing his delight at being able to meet face to face once more.

The tasty hotpot lunch was then served followed by tea and coffee. At 2.30pm the AGM commenced, the minutes of which will be sent out, as usual, prior to next year’s AGM.

Main Points:

Sarah Robin was elected as the new Secretary of the Association taking over from Olive Riley who had covered the role for many years.

Julie Lloyd Mullen was elected as the new Editor of the Newsletter. Julie was co-opted onto the committee earlier this year and did actually produce the June Newsletter which was sent out before this meeting. It is very good to have some younger people on the committee.

All other committee members were re-elected.

The proposal regarding complementary membership for students of the University of Bolton.

After some additional explanation as to how this would work, given by Gill James, the proposal was voted on. Those present unanimously agreed.

At the end of the business part of the meeting Olive Riley gave a heart-felt tribute to the late James Lancaster who had been a loyal member for many years.

After a short comfort break, the Awards ceremony took place; the trophies etc. being presented by Alison Chisholm, poet, one of our patrons and well known in the world of writing. The Writer of the Year was announced - Sarah Robin. Congratulations Sarah!

Finally we were entertained by Alan Roby who gave a very detailed and interesting talk about a Lancashire Lady, Miss Nelly Weeton. Alan has recently edited a book about this lady, spending several years researching and going through much archive material to complete the task. Alan very kindly donated one of the books to the LAA library collection.

The Title: ‘Miss Weeton, Governess and Traveller’ can be purchased through Amazon.

She was a remarkable woman!

Judith Addison, our Chairman, thanked Alan for his enjoyable talk then closed the meeting, wishing everyone a safe journey home.

Despite the extension of Coronavirus restrictions preventing us meeting face to face at Lytham, it was important that the AGM was not further delayed. To undertake this meeting on Zoom was a new experience for all in attendance.
The actual minutes of the meeting will be sent out prior to the next AGM as is the norm.

It is necessary, however, to inform members now of decisions made, which will take effect this year.

Your New Committee
Chair   Judith Addison,            Treasurer    Terence Park,     Webmaster    Peter Jones,
Membership Secretary         Gill James,       Publicity Officer         Peter Jones,
Competition Secretary         Olive Riley,      Minute Secretary      David Lythgoe,
Editor  Still Vacant                Secretary        Still Vacant
(Acting Secretary       Olive Riley has agreed to this position for ONE YEAR ONLY.)

Two proposals were put forward:
 1)   Regarding the publication of the LAA Competition  Entries.

‘Future annual competition entries placed first, second, third, highly commended or commended be published in one annual booklet, along with the winner of the open flash fiction competition.’       Proposed Olive Riley.  Seconded Peter Jones.

Following positive discussions the members voted in favour of this proposal.

2)   Regarding the future of the Record.

‘In the event that the position of Editor is not filled, the details normally sent out in the Record go out to members, as a digital newsletter via e-mail. Any member without e-mail could still receive a copy by post.’  Proposed  Olive Riley.  Seconded Peter Jones.

Following discussions in which members spoke favourably of such a newsletter the proposal was amended to:

‘The details normally sent out in the Record go out to members as a digital newsletter via e-mail. Any member without e-mail could still receive a copy by post.’
Proposed Judith Addison.  Seconded Peter Jones.

All members voted in favour of this proposal.

The business part of the meeting was then brought to a close.

Presentation of Awards

Before the presentation of the awards took place the Writer of the Year 2021 was announced. The recipient is David Lythgoe for his poem, ‘A World Above.’ Congratulations David!  The poem will appear elsewhere in this Record.
Prior to the meeting all trophies and certificates had been delivered/sent to the winners and those placed in the competitions. As the winners’ names were read out they held up their trophies for all to see, they were congratulated and applauded. 

Barbara and Peter Snape preferred not to entertain by Zoom, but Peter did join the meeting. The entertainment was therefore given by those winners present, reading their winning poem or story.  We wish to thank them for taking part in this way. They are:
David Lythgoe, James Lancaster, Dan Forrester, Jeanette Greaves and Peter Jones who kindly agreed to read the Sonnet by Sally Williams as she was unable to be with us due to a fall.

The meeting ended in the usual way with a well- known recitation of ‘Sam, Sam, Pick oop tha Musket’ by Stanley Holloway, given by our President Sid Calderbank.

Olive J Riley

Footnote: It is hoped that the publication containing the competition winning items 2021 etc. will be ready for November 2021.

Normally this would have been the Annual General Meeting, but the committee decided to defer it until we could meet face to face.

The meeting which replaced it was excellent. Twenty-seven people joined in on zoom, including one new member.
After the welcome from Sid, our President, we were treated to an extremely interesting talk by Connie Hyde, talented actor of stage and screen.

Connie spoke openly about her life, career; the good and bad times, her family and getting through lock-down.  A question and answer session followed.

The Annual Competitions’ results 2021 were then announced by the Competitions’ Secretary.

Following this we were delighted to hear beautiful music played by violinist Julie Proctor.

(Julie had mentioned on facebook that she was missing playing to an audience, so was invited to play for us – a zoom audience is better than no audience!) Thank you Julie.

Members and friends then entertained with readings of their own works, to bring the meeting to a close.
A very enjoyable afternoon.

Footnote:  Connie Hyde asked that her fee of £50 be donated to a charity. As she lives in Lancashire the committee decided to make the donation to ‘Maundy Relief’ a grassroots charity serving the people of Hyndburn.

Olive J Riley

On a mostly sunny day, around twenty members and guests sat down to hotpot at a rather subdued meeting, which was hardly surprising given the present circumstances. Amongst them were two of our Patrons, author Nick Oldham and poet and lecturer Alison Chisholm.

After all had had their fill, we had the AGM. The committee resigned en bloc and the President accepted the resignation of secretary and minute secretary, Maeve Fagan and librarian, Brian Foster. There was already one nomination for librarian and that was filled by Professor Paul Salveson. Olive Riley agreed to fill the post of secretary on top of her own duties as Competition secretary and Gill James, our Membership secretary, agreed to take on the extra role as Minute secretary; both on an interim basis.

Then we were given an interesting insight into the life and career of Allen Clarke delivered by Professor Paul Salveson who has recently published a book about the poet and social activist who was born in Bolton and wrote under several pseudonyms, the most notable of which was Teddy Ashton.

In his talk titled “Teddy Ashton Resurrected,” Paul spoke of how he would like to see people reading Clarke’s work once more and in Bolton I believe that the council have made all his works available now. His Granddaughter is also due to write a book about him.

He went on to say that Teddy Ashton should never be pigeon-holed as his work was never one dimensional.

The talk was greeted with appreciation by the members present and after fond, contactless farewells, the whole event resembled the end of school when everyone wondered how long it would be before we could all meet again. Indeed, at the time of writing, some six weeks after the meeting, we are still no wiser on that count.

In a way we are lucky that we could all attend, as this was just a week before the lockdown. We can only hope that all our members and committee stay well and safe in these turbulent times and normal life can be resumed sooner rather than later.

It was appropriate that the celebration was held in Rochdale as that was the place where, in 1909, a group of dialect writers met to celebrate the bi-centenary of the birth of John Collier.  Two years later the Lancashire Authors Association came into being.

The event started with the arrival of the Mayor and Mayoress of Rochdale Billy and Lynn Sheerin who were presented with roses by our Chairman Judith Addison.  Apologies for absence were received from Brian Riley and Brian Foster who were unable to attend due to illness.  The Mayor read the Lancashire Day Proclamation and everyone toasted the Queen, Duke of Lancaster.

As the hotpot had not yet arrived Sid, our President, sang for his supper, ‘Potato Pie’ by Randal Mundy of Stalybridge, encouraging everyone to join in the chorus of prayta pie, prayta pie. Olive then spoke about the history of the LAA and how it had developed over the years. Once there was a committee to run the organisation new members from all over Lancashire joined.  Early meetings were held in towns throughout the county and although most people did not have cars attendance at meetings was high.

Next came the presentation of two special awards.  The Mayor presented Peter Jones with the Bill O' Bows Trophy, this goes to a stalwart of the LAA, someone who works hard, supports or is a very keen member.  Unfortunately Brian Foster was not able to attend to receive the Angus Butterworth trophy. Brian has been a long standing member and committee member and truly has aims and ideals very much in tune with LAA.  The lunch arrived as the presentations were finishing and soon everybody was enjoying hotpot followed by apple pie and cream.

After lunch Carol Talbot gave a talk on Annie Kenney a working-class girl from Oldham who started work at the age of eight. She joined the Women's Social and Political Union in 1905 and went on to become an important organiser in the Suffragette movement.  Carol's book about Annie Kenney titled Working-Class Suffragette was recently published.

After this we were entertained by The Tin Pot Poets – Sally and Ron Williams who read several humorous poems they had written.  This was the third time they have entertained at LAA meetings. Their readings were interspersed with songs by Alyson Brailsford accompanied by John Pye on guitar.  For her first song, a poem by Edwin Waugh “Come Whoam to thi' childer and me” she was joined by President Sid Calderbank.  The audience sang along with her next item, another Edwin Waugh piece “A Lift on the Way.”  To conclude Alison continued the Edwin Waugh theme, this time ‘When the Sun Goes Down’ written in Standard English.

The Mayor and Mayoress should have left at 2 pm but stayed until 3 pm because they were enjoying the entertainment so much.  After this there was a table quiz for members, all the answers being about people and places in Lancashire.  The winning team received notebooks and pens as prizes and their winning score of 16 out of 20 showed their extensive knowledge about the county.   President Sid finished with a performance of “Where are the Blackburn Poets gone” by William Billington of Blackburn. Chairman Judith thanked all involved and closed the meeting at four pm. 

A very enjoyable afternoon.

The afternoon commenced with the singing of ‘Happy Birthday ‘to L.A.A., led by President Sid Calderbank, who was then invited to blow out the candles on the birthday cake, kindly made for the occasion by Olive.

Despite the poor attendance by L.A.A. members, (only 2 other than committee members), a select group of guests and friends enjoyed an afternoon of celebration and bonhomie. Whilst the sun shone outside, those inside gave shining performances, in both Lancashire Dialect and Standard English. 

The purpose of the meeting was to celebrate the 110^th birthday of the association. The birthday cake was served with tea and coffee early in the meeting. This was then followed appropriately by an excellent talk by Sid Calderbank on John Collier (Tim Bobbin), with reference to a biography written by Richard Townley, owner of the school where John Collier taught for several years.

Sid was ably assisted by members of Euxton Library Dialect Reading Group who performed, ‘The Dialogue of Tummus and Meary’, by John Collier.  This is now famous as his main published work. We were also treated to a sketch about a Fairground Dentist, where a person of no dentistry skills or instruments, other than a pair of pincers, set up a stall offering to remove teeth. This was well performed and very comical.

After a comfort break, a golden opportunity to socialise, readings of items of past members were given by Peter Jones, Judith Addison and Olive Riley, as follows:

‘Other Folk’s Childer’ by Joan Pomfret – Olive.

‘Another Spring’ by Benita Moore and ‘Girl in a Yellow Dress’ by Joan Pomfret – Peter.

‘Lancashire’s Beauty’ and ‘The Pennines’ by Ronald Y Digby – Judith.

Olive then read ‘Missing’ by Joe Wildman. This was part of a tribute to Joe who, sadly, died recently. Joe was a long-standing, hard-working and active member for many years. He was an excellent poet in both dialect and Standard English and won or was placed in, many competitions. A minute silence was then observed in Joe’s memory.

The final item came from Sid, our president who read, ‘A Sope o’ good, strong Tay’ by Thomas Baron of Blackburn.

Judith thanked all present for their attendance and contributions, wished everyone a safe journey home and closed the meeting at 3.55pm.

Footnote: Apologies were received from 8 members.

On a rather grey and rainy afternoon about 25 members and visitors attended the Awards meeting at our usual venue of Lytham Assembly Rooms.  The Mayor of St. Anne’s on the Sea, Cllr. Viv Willder arrived with her granddaughter and was greeted by our President Sid Calderbank and presented with a rose by our new Chairman Judith Addison.

Apologies were received from Elle-Marie Hinchcliffe, Sally and Ron Williams, Pauline Hutchinson, Ken and Liz Scally, and Nick Oldham.

Nick Oldham should have been the speaker but unfortunately he was ill and had lost his voice so our President stepped into the breach.  Sid gave a very interesting talk about dialect writers who had written about the Lytham area.  He started with a reading from John Trafford Clegg's book about the 1886 disaster when a ship named Mexico was grounded in a storm in the Ribble Esturary.  Lifefboats were sent from Southport and Lytham St. Anne’s. Sadly 27 lifeboatmen from the Lytham boat were drowned.  It was the worst loss of crew in RNLI history.  Sid followed this with information about Sir Charles Macara who was involved in the Manchester textile trade but who lived in Lytham.  He started what were called 'Lifeboat Saturdays'  that were street collections in towns all over the country raising funds for the RNLI.  Sid then recited a poem about the bravery of lifeboat-men by Samuel Laycock a dialect writer who lived in Blackpool.  He finished on a lighter note reciting what he called “the daftest poem he had ever read” and insisted the audience joined in with the chorus. 

This was followed by the presentation of the trophies and certificates by the Mayor.

The Writer of the Year 2019 is Tom Ungless. Congratulations Tom.

The Open Competition winner Susan Massey attended to accept her cheque.  Although there were entries from throughout the UK and some from abroad Susan only had to walk down the road as she lives in Lytham.  The Mayor then talked about her job both as Mayor of Lytham St Anne’s and as a member of Fylde Council.  

After a break for refreshments there was entertainment from the following members:

Terence Park an excerpt from his science-fiction writing.
David Lythgoe an exercise in clichés.
Christine McCherry, ‘Missing Dad’ a personal story.
Tom Ungless, his winning story, ‘Rosemary for Remembrance’.
Olive Riley  ‘You’, Susan’s winning Story in the Open Competition,
followed by two of her own poems, ‘Making a Difference’ and ‘Reality’.

To close the meeting our president spoke about the Rossendale Heritage Festival to be held in July this year.  Members are invited to take part in Library Readings taken from ‘A Rossendale Anthology’ compiled by Ronald Digby, edited by Jon Elliot, published by Rawtenstall Libraries, Art and Parks Committee.

Ronald Digby was once editor of LAA ‘Record’, a copy of this book is listed on the LAA Library database. ( Copies are also available in Lancashire Libraries.)

Dates for Library Readings are :

Wednesday 3rd July              Bacup                  1.30 – 3.00
Thursday 4th July               Haslingden              10.30 – 12.00
Thusday 4th July                Rawtenstall              2.00 – 3.30
Friday 5th  July                 Whitworth               2.30 – 4.00   

Anyone interested, choose your reading and turn up!

PLUS:
Dialect Workshop in the Whitaker Park Museum, Rawtenstall, Wed. 3rd July at 7.30.

On a blustery, rainy, day 21 people attended the meeting. Before official proceedings began, everyone enjoyed a hotpot lunch and a chat.

Once the business side of the meeting commenced, the  committee emerged with  two new members.

Chairman of the past six years, Pauline Hutchinson, resigned but will still retain her position on the committee as the editor of The Record – a job she has done for over twenty years.

At the handover, Pauline presented the new chairman, Judith Addison, with a cup and saucer that came into her possession when she took on the role in 2013. She said that she had no idea of its origin but thought it should be passed on to the new incumbent.

Dan Forrester, who has been treasurer for the past two years, also resigned and will be replaced by David Kevill.

Olive Riley thanked Pauline for her time as chairman and her continued long service as editor of The Record and Dan for his service as treasurer as he stepped in at a crucial time for the association and did a wonderful job. She then welcomed Judith and David to the committee.

President, Sid Calderbank then paid his own tribute and asked for a round of applause for Olive Riley, for all the work she does and has done for the past few years to keep the LAA on track.

Sid then presented the Bill O' Bows Trophy to James Lancaster for his stalwart support of the LAA over the past year, as James was unable to attend the last meeting when he should have received it.

Next it was entertainment time. Sally and Ron Williams who perform under the name of The Tin Pot Poets regaled the gathering with a mixture of dialect and anecdotal poems, helped out by Sally’s daughter Julie Proctor, who also read to give Sally a bit of a rest, as she has recently been unwell. They had the audience enthralled and sometimes erupting with laughter.

Then it was the traditional entertainment by the members. Participants included: Elle Marie Hinchcliffe, James Lancaster, Olive Riley, Ken Scally, Dan Forrester and Terence Park, who all entertained with a variety of poems, stories and extracts from their recent books.

The last to entertain was our President Sid Calderbank, who was originally going to sign off with a dialect poem, but asked Julie Proctor to join him on her fiddle. Apparently she has accompanied him many times before at his gigs around the country. They started with an Edwin Waugh poem: “Tum Rindle,”  which Sid sang and Julie played. They then performed “She’s a Lassie from Lancashire” as their encore. This song was first performed by Florrie Forde in the Music Halls around 1907. The result was a singalong and tumultuous applause at the end of the performance.

Terence Park, one of our newest members, captured the last song on video and there's a link to it under this report for anyone who would like to see it.

I have attended many AGMs in the past but something about the atmosphere of the whole day made this one stand out. Sid and Julie’s performance was the perfect way to bring it all to a close.

Judith, our new chairman, thanked all involved in organising the meeting and made a special mention to Tom and Heather Ungless for  serving the hotpot lunch. She then thanked all for attending and bade everyone  a safe journey home.

To listen to "Lassie from Lancashire" please click here

© Peter Jones 2019.  Pictures Peter Jones

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The meeting did not get off to a very good start as the door of Lytham Assembly Rooms was locked when we arrived to set up the room.  However, once we were inside we worked quickly and managed to get the room ready for the meeting. 

Apologies for absence were received from James Lancaster, Anne Bryan, Tom Ungless, Sid Calderbank, Brian Hollingworth and David Kevill.

The Deputy Mayor Tony Ford arrived at noon and was presented with a red rose by Chair Pauline Hutchinson.  After reading the Lancashire Proclamation followed by the loyal toast, “The Queen, Duke of Lancaster” he told us a little about himself.  He informed us that the Town Crier of St Anne’s would also read the proclamation at nine a.m. on 27th November, as he does every year. 

As the hotpot had not yet arrived, Olive spoke about the villages where no soldiers were killed in WW1.  These villages, two of which were in Lancashire, namely Arkholme and Nether Kellet, had never had War Memorials because there were feelings of guilt that they had escaped.  However, there were soldiers who had suffered terrible injuries and eventually it was decided that plaques would be put up in these villages naming all those who fought. This was arranged by the British Legion with support from some motor-cyclists and sponsorship.  There were also a few villages where nobody was killed in either war. These were known as Doubly Thankful Villages; Nether Kellet was one. Olive then read one of her poems titled Villages that Wept (Thankful Villages)
The lunch arrived as Olive was finishing and soon everybody was enjoying hotpot, followed by apple pie and cream. 

Next came the presentation of two special awards.  Olive said that James Lancaster had won the Bill O' Bows Trophy presented each year to a stalwart of the Association; a supportive member; someone who works hard for LAA. James fulfilled all of these qualities, but unfortunately was unable to attend the meeting to accept the award. Dan took over to announce the presentation of the Angus Butterworth trophy to Olive and spoke about all the work she has done over the years to keep the Association going. The trophy was then presented by Cllr. Tony Ford, Deputy Mayor.

Olive then read an article about the history of Uncle Tom's Cabin in Blackpool.  Pauline had prepared a Lancashire Quiz and many of us found out that we did not know as much about Lancashire as we thought we did.  The winning team of four received notepads and LAA pens as prizes.  After this, entertainment was provided by Peter and Wendy Snape, a folk duo who had performed at the AGM in March.  They gave us plenty of old Lancashire songs with choruses and encouraged everyone to join in. 

The meeting closed at 3.45 p.m. and next year’s Lancashire Meeting will be in Rochdale to celebrate the 110th Anniversary of the Association.

Report by Maeve Fagan Secretary: Pictures by Peter Jones

Footnote:  Olive’s poem can be read on the Members’ Page of the LAA website.

Fun, Laughter, Toe Tapping and Good Food

On Saturday 18th November, members and friends were treated to hotpot etc.,apple pie and cream and a wonderful afternoon of true Lancashire entertainment, when attending Lancashire Authors’ Association’s Lancashire Celebrations.
Dialect poems by Edwin Waugh through to those of present day Lancashire Poets, were all a part of the programme.

Entertainment was provided by the very talented, Lancashire Folk-singer Mark Dowding, who kept things moving with songs from his extensive repertoire.

The Rossendale Cloggers themselves kept moving as they performed clog dance after clog dance, until they had flushed faces and were out of breath. Toes were tapping along as the audience was taken back to a time when clogs were standard footwear for many people in the County.

LAA President Sid Calderbank was due to perform some of his well-known dialect recitations, but although present, he had virtually no voice so had to bow out. He did, however, accompany Mark for one item, playing the ‘bones’. A talent he possesses, of which many were unaware.  

Sid’s spot was taken by ‘The Tinpot Poets’ Ron and Sally Williams, members of the Edwin Waugh Society. Their Lancashire poetry was very funny and in true dialect style, quite saucy, “Naughty Poetry” Sally called it. A good laugh all round.

Olive Riley then read a poem, ‘A Bit O’ Fun’ from her new book ‘A Lancashire Rose’.  The Book is dedicated to the Late Rita Jones and is being sold to raise funds for the East Lancashire Hospice where Rita died last December.
Rita was a long-standing member of L.A.A. always ready to help in any capacity. She also served on the committee as Publicity Officer. Earlier in the afternoon, in special recognition of her service, The Bill O’ Bows trophy and a certificate were presented posthumously to Rita by the Mayor of Rochdale, Cllr. Ian Duckworth. They were received by her daughter Catherine and grand-daughter Keira. The trophy will be held by the family for 12 months. Husband Peter, LAA webmaster, was also present.

The final word of the event was left to LAA Librarian, Brian Foster who read the poem ‘Owd Pinder’ by Edwin Waugh to close the proceedings.

On a cool and showery afternoon about 30 people attended the Awards Day at Lytham Assembly Rooms.  The meeting started with the arrival of Deputy Mayor Elect of St Anne’s Councillor Carol Lanyon who was welcomed by Chairman Pauline Hutchinson and presented with the traditional red rose. 

Apologies were received from Lily Driver, Dana Nadau, Tom Halsall, Mary Cardwell, Lilian Boucher, Carol Talbot, Steve and Chrissie Keelan, Jeanette Greaves and Jill McDonald Constable.
Also Sid Calderbank, who was ill. 

The committee are delighted that Sid has accepted their invitation to become the next LAA President, and had planned to inaugurate him at this meeting.

The first item was a film made by Haywards Heath Movie Makers from a story by one of our members Peter Jones.  The story was titled Cause for Concern but this was changed for the film version to Shock Treatment.  The theme for the story was Drama Queen. It was one of just two entries from LAA for the ‘Write a story for a Film Challenge’ set us each year by the Movie Makers.

This was followed by David Evans, our guest speaker, who gave a very interesting talk on Blackpool's Hidden Heritage.  He told us that Blackpool got its name not from a black pool but a black pull which is an old word for a stream.  It was the first holiday resort set up entirely for the working people of Lancashire in the 19th century as most other resorts were developed from places visited by the middle classes.  He gave many facts about the town that were not known by most of the audience.  For example, Beatrice Potter was cremated in Blackpool, Amy Johnson flew to Blackpool to visit her aunt and her final flight was from the local aerodrome and Jaguar Cars started in Blackpool.

After this the Awards Ceremony took place. First to be presented with his award and certificate was, Neil Wilson, winner of the 2016 Open Flash Fiction competition. We were delighted that Neil was able to be with us, having travelled over the border from Yorkshire. (He enjoyed the afternoon so much he is thinking of joining LAA.)

The trophy for the Batty Cup, went to Elle-Marie Hinchcliffe for her poem Ghosts.
The Mercer Cup was won by Dan Forrester with his story, The Field Trip.
The writer of the year was Elle-Marie Hinchcliffe 
All trophies were presented by Councillor Carol Lanyon.

Dan Forrester, LAA treasurer, spoke briefly about the National Association of Writers’ Groups (NAWG) and the opportunities available to members. LAA has recently joined this association.

After a break for refreshments entertainment was provided by the following members:
James Lancaster, Dawn Prestwich, Christine McCherry, Maria Bertolone.

Neil Wilson also read his winning story – Life after Death.

It was good to have our patron, Melinda Hammond and her husband Terry join us on this occasion, and we must thank Melinda for bringing free copies of her next book, due out in September.
We were also joined by Carol Fenlon, one of the competition adjudicators.  

Tom Ungless gave an interview on Radio Lancashire on the morning of the meeting publicising the Lancashire Authors’ Association meeting. In addition he visited various Library’s/ Writing groups and left details of the meeting. Peter Jones also posted it on several Facebook pages /forums. Despite this there was a disappointing turnout.

The meeting began with a welcome to those present.

This was followed by a Silent Tribute to members who had died since the last AGM; in particular Rita Jones our Publicity Officer.

The A.G.M. reports had been posted to members in advance and proved to be helpful in shortening the time taken up in the formal part of the meeting.

The Officers standing for the committee were elected, but there is still a vacancy for Assistant Competitions’ Secretary following the resignation of Chrissie Keelan.

The proposal to increase subscriptions was defeated. Membership fees will remain as at present.

With the business over, refreshments were served including cake and biscuits.

Christine McCherry read a poem she had written called ’Welcome Lancashire Authors’

The entertainment programme began with Callum Thomas, a young musician from Oswaldtwistle playing Keyboard and singing ‘Hallelujah’.  He followed this with some of his own compositions.

Alison Chisholm, patron of the L.A.A. gave an entertaining performance of some of her poetry.

We were then treated to an interesting and informative talk by Nick Oldham, best-selling author of crime fiction.

To conclude, Callum played more of his own work as well as classics like David Bowie’s “Life on Mars”

The meeting ended with the announcements of the winners of the 2017 competitions.

These results will be put on the website shortly.

Christine McCherry

LAA Member

Pictures by Peter Jones and Dan Forrester

Astley Hall came alive and Lancashire Authors were there.

Although it was 27^th November, Christmas was in the air.

In this sixteenth century building, a tree stood proud and tall,

Santa’s sleigh of red and gold was right there in the beautiful hall.

My mind drifted back in time, to the days when this place was a home,

A huge, log fire would burn in the grate and the table with food would groan!

Ladies and Gents in their finery would dance the night away.

“Hello” said a voice close beside me, bringing me back to today.

A small group of L.A.A. members had joined the activities there,

They took it in turns to do readings, from their works, as they sat by the stair.

Visitors engaged with members, beside the interesting display,

Bracketed by two banners advertising the L.A.A.

Outside were other attractions, clog dancing, Morris Men and bands

The Town Crier making announcements, all day lending a hand.

L.A.A. had its star attraction, from Southport, a published poet came,

Well known across the country – Alison Chisholm of ‘Writing’ fame.

Alison read some beautiful poems selected from her latest book.

Passers-by, hearing her words, stopped, to listen and to look.

Around 3 p.m. it went quiet, so we packed up our things on display

And feeling the day had been a success, set off, each going our separate way.

* * * * *

Thanks for giving of their time go to: Tom and Heather Ungless, Dea Parkin, Jeanette Greaves, Pam and John my two friends from Bristol and last, but not least, our patron Alison Chisholm.

During the afternoon I was delighted to present Alison with the L.A.A. Angus Butterworth Trophy.

This trophy is awarded each year to someone whose aims and ideals are in line with those of Lancashire Authors’ Association.

© 2016 Olive J Riley