{"id":1254,"date":"2022-10-20T09:38:38","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T09:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lancashireloominary.co.uk\/index.html\/?p=1254"},"modified":"2022-10-23T13:03:36","modified_gmt":"2022-10-23T13:03:36","slug":"northern-weekly-salvo-307","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lancashireloominary.co.uk\/index.html\/northern-weekly-salvo-307","title":{"rendered":"Northern Weekly Salvo 307"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Northern Weekly Salvo<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Incorporating \u00a0Slaithwaite Review of Books, Weekly Notices, Sectional Appendices, Tunnel Gazers\u2019 Gazette etc. <\/em>Descendant of Teddy Ashton\u2019s Northern Weekly <\/em>and Th\u2019Bowtun Loominary un Tum Fowt Telegraph<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Published at 109 Harpers Lane Bolton BL1 6HU email: paul.salveson@myphone.coop<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Publications website: www.lancashireloominary.co.uk<\/strong><\/p>\n

No. 307 October 23rd\u00a0 2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Salveson\u2019s half-nakedly political digest of railways, tripe and secessionist nonsense from Up North. Sometimes weekly, usually not; definitely Northern.<\/p>\n

Dear, oh dear….<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Can anything more be said about the current political mess? Probably not and The Salvo<\/em> always sticks to its firm principles of unbiased objectivity in its relentless pursuit of truth. I have to say I always thought it would end badly for Truss, though nobody could have foreseen things reaching such a pass quite so quickly. Watching the disintegration of what was once (love them or loathe them) a major political party with a seemingly unassailable grip on power makes for a fascinating spectator sport. But never underestimate the Tories\u2019 ability to recover.Writing on an appropriately damp and dismal Sunday afternoon, it’s sounding like we’ll have a new Prime Minister by next Friday. Maybe it’s some kind of elaborate joke but it looks like Boris Johnson will stand. Have the Tories really gone completely insane? Looking back on Johnson’s reign as PM it wasn’t all completely bad (he was actually pro-rail and pro-cycling) but he went because he had lost trust of his own party and the country as a whole and laid the ground for something far worse. To have him back would be an astonishing act of collective suicide by the Tories (go on, make my day…).As I’ve said before, if I was a Tory I’d want Sunak as leader. He might just pull them back from the abyss and present a credible, but fatally weakened, alternative to Labour in 2024. Penny Mordaunt might do it – she performed well in PM’s Questions when Liz Truss was hiding somewhere. Labour will be piling on the pressure to hold a General Election, and that’s fair enough. But it isn’t going to happen until it has to. In the meantime, we’re stuck with whoever the Tory party membership think is a ‘suitable’ leader, which is a chilling thought.<\/p>\n

Coming back to reality, this issue of The Salvo<\/em> includes some thoughts on Labour and its transport policies, reflections on regional sensibilities, as well as various trips and events.<\/p>\n

Transport policy: back to the 70s?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Every aspect of government policy is in a state of chaos and transport is no exception. Truss was already proving to be a disaster for transport, pursuing a pro-roads policy that was threatening to take us back to the 70s. What will emerge from the current shambles is anyone\u2019s guess though one potentially positive outcome might be the scrapping of HS2 in its current form, at least north of Birmingham (see below). What I\u2019d like to focus on here are the opportunities for Labour in crafting an intelligent transport policy which is both deliverable and goes beyond the simplicities of ownership. We\u2019ve had the experience of several train companies and it\u2019s debatable whether their performance has been that much better than the private operators. Success, failure or just mediocre performance is not reducible to whether a company is publicly owned or not.<\/p>\n

Labour is already doing some quite exciting things on transport, in Wales and the Labour-controlled \u2018combined authorities\u2019 across England, particularly Liverpool, Greater Manchester, South and West Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear. West Midlands is an interesting case \u2013 a combined authority with a Tory mayor who is doing many of the<\/p>\n

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Labour needs to modernise the local network. 19th century signalling still in use on the Wigan – Kirkby line<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

things you\u2019d expect a Labour authority to do. What the combined authorities and the devolved nations demonstrate is that any future UK-wide\u00a0 transport policy must recognise the complex and diverse world which we\u2019re now in, with mayoral combined authorities getting on and doing positive things with scope for doing more if they had the powers. Greater Manchester has already taken control of the bus network, reduced fares and wants to take control of stations. Labour has got to learn from these achievements and avoid the danger of going for a centralised approach in which the regions are side-lined.<\/p>\n

This means ceding power to regional bodies within England (which Scotland and Wales already have). It doesn\u2019t make sense for local transport to benefit from strong combined authorities while neighbouring shire counties or poorly-resourced unitary authorities struggle on as best they can. The starting point for building a dynamic local and regional transport system, making the most of rail, bus and light rail, is having the right structures in place. The most sensible approach is to extend the existing \u2018combined authorities\u2019 beyond their current boundaries to create a system of English regional government, which have elected authorities (rather than just elected mayors) in control.\u00a0 For example, the existing Greater Manchester authority should extend northwards to include what remains of \u2018Lancashire\u2019 \u2013 and perhaps re-christen it \u2018Lancastria\u2019. Neighbouring Liverpool city region could take in a wider area.<\/p>\n

If the right structure is in place, the regions could make a big difference. Experience has already shown that some good things can happen even with existing relatively limited powers. Whilst Greater Manchester has majored on bus policy, neighbouring Liverpool has gone out and bought a whole fleet of new trains to operate on its Merseyrail network. This has resulted in getting trains that are one third cheaper than if the authority had relied on \u2018the market\u2019, i.e. the rolling stock leasing companies. They have also got new trains that are more passenger-friendly, the result of detailed consultation with passengers.<\/p>\n

The next step is fairly obvious, and again Liverpool and Wales already offer a model, being directly responsible for the local rail network.<\/p>\n

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Under-used asset: Farnworth station: booking offices must become community hubs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Liverpool has long had responsibilities for franchising local services on the Merseyrail network but has only been able to contract with a private operator (Serco and Abellio). Wales, however, has taken its domestic passenger services in-house with a train operator owned by the Welsh Government. So has Scotland under its SNP government.<\/p>\n

A Labour secretary of state for transport needs to support these initiatives and resist the temptation to re-create \u2018British Rail\u2019. There needs to be a national network with a publicly-owned system operator which controls the network and sets timetable parameters. It makes sense for Network Rail to continue in this role, whatever it\u2019s called (and it looks like \u2018Great British Railways\u2019 has been consigned to the sidings). Try experiments in vertical integration: in some areas Network Rail could partner with a train operator to provide a more unified rail operation which avoids some of the costs of duplication. It could work in regions such as Merseyside and West Midlands.<\/p>\n

With longer distance InterCity services there is scope for looking at a range of social ownership options, ranging from state \u2013 owned route-based companies, such as we already have with LNER on the East Coast Main Line, to co-operative structures, e.g. for Great Western or the troubled West Coast Main Line, with employee and passenger ownership options. An incoming Labour government could do these things quite quickly and ensure long-term stability and investment which is what the railways desperately need. Leave freight alone, other than incentivising the operators through continuing low track access charges and capital grants for wagons and terminals which could be managed (or owned and sub-let) by local authorities.<\/p>\n

Compared with rail, buses are easy and offer perhaps the biggest immediate gains. Franchise local networks but encourage social and<\/p>\n

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A confluence of Blueworks minibuses at Coniston: rural bus services must be supported, but urban networks too<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

municipal ownership – a few bus companies are still owned by local authorities and are doing very well. Finally, the big overarching issue must be reducing dependence on the car, if we\u2019re serious about really addressing climate change and making our towns, cities and countryside more liveable places. Again, it\u2019s at the local and regional level where the big difference can be made.<\/p>\n

This article is based on my \u2018Points and Crossings\u2019 piece in the forthcoming issue of Chartist<\/em> magazine \u2013 see www.chartist.org.uk<\/strong><\/p>\n

HS2: For or against?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

I’ve made no secret of my opposition to HS2 as it is currently conceived, and nothing has happened to make me change my mind. I’m not against ‘high-speed rail’ as such and would like to see a ‘high-speed’ network including London to the Midlands, North-West, North-East and the central-belt of Scotland, with a fast west-east route. It doesn’t have to be very<\/em> high-speed and must be fully connected with the existing network. There’s every likelihood that HS2 will stop dead in its Curzon Street tracks (i.e\u00a0 Birmingham), a victim of Hunt’s spending cuts. Labour needs to commit to a fundamental review of high-speed rail as part of a wider review of future rail development. With that, the currently ‘stopped’ Great British Railways project should be revived, maybe with a less naff title, but acting as ‘guiding mind’, system operator and more.<\/p>\n

Lancastrians: coming out next year!<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Over the last year I\u2019ve been working on a big project: a social and cultural history of Lancashire \u2013 the \u2018historic Lancashire\u2019 not the butchered remnants of what it is today. Lancastrians: Mills, Mines and Minarets <\/em>is being published by the highly-respected publishers Hurst whose catalogue for next year is well worth a look at it. See https:\/\/www.hurstpublishers.com\/catalogues\/spring-summer-2023\/<\/a>. The page on Lancastrians<\/em> says: \u201cThis long-overdue popular history explores the cultural heritage and identity of Lancashire. Paul Salveson<\/p>\n

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Real Lancashire<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

traces to the thirteenth century the origins of a distinct county stretching from the Mersey to the Lake District\u2014\u2018Lancashire North of the Sands\u2019. From a relatively backward place in terms of industry and learning, Lancashire would become the powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution: the creation of a self-confident bourgeoisie drove economic growth, and industrialists had a strong commitment to the arts, endowing galleries and museums and producing a diverse culture encompassing science, technology, music and literature. Lancashire developed a distinct business culture, its shrine being the Manchester Cotton Exchange, but this was also the birthplace of the world co-operative movement, and the heart of campaigns for democracy including Chartism and women\u2019s suffrage. Lancashire has generally welcomed incomers, who have long helped to inform its distinctive identity: fourteenth-century Flemish weavers; nineteenth-century Irish immigrants and Jewish refugees; and, more recently, New Lancastrians from Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. The book explores what has become of Lancastrian culture, following modern upheavals and Lancashire\u2019s fragmentation compared with its old rival Yorkshire. What is the future for the 6 million people of this rich historic region?\u201d<\/p>\n

The book will be published in June 2023 in hardback, price \u00a325.<\/p>\n

Developing a \u2018Lancashire Sensibility\u2019<\/strong><\/h5>\n

A central part of the book\u2019s argument is that we need to revive a \u2018Lancashire Sensibility\u2019 which is forward-looking and inclusive – and takes in the whole of \u2018historic Lancashire\u2019. To do that, we need to go back before we can go forward and look at how a \u2018Lancashire sensibility\u2019 emerged in the past. It was a central part of regional identity and took in speech, dress, manners, diet \u2013 pretty much every aspect of how we lived. In 1951 the (Labour) Minister of Education, George Tomlinson, wrote the foreword to the journal of the newly-established Lancashire Dialect Society:”I have a feeling that we cannot afford to lose the characteristic features of our County, which are bound up in no small degree with the accents of its people and our own particular dialect… for since I became a Minister of the Crown, in every part of the country people have come to me at the end of a meeting, shaken me by the hand and said, \u2018I too come from Lancashire,\u2019 and it was grand to hear the accent again.<\/p>\n

The \u2018Lancashire sensibility\u2019 was very much a part of the social and intellectual make-up of most sections of society by the middle of the<\/p>\n

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Thomas Pitfield – composer with a strong Lancashire sensibility<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

nineteenth century. It included much of the aspiring middle class, sections of the aristocracy and some \u2018respectable\u2019 working men. Women were included, and the leader of the women\u2019s suffrage movement Emmeline Pankhurst was always fond of stressing her \u2018Lancashire\u2019 roots.<\/p>\n

It linked with the idea of a \u2018Lancashire Patriotism\u2019 which emerged in the 1880s. Speaking in the middle of the First World War, Rossendale Liberal politician and historian Samuel Compston said that \u201cif patriotism is a virtue, especially in these days, surely county clanship, in no narrow sense, is a virtue also.\u201d<\/p>\n

An essential part of the \u2018Lancashire sensibility\u2019 was the emergence of a distinctive \u2018intelligentsia\u2019 which provided a network of influential figures.\u00a0 The Manchester Literary Club, founded in 1862, was central to this. Its aims were to \u201cencourage the pursuit of literature and art; to promote research in the several departments of intellectual work and to protect the interests of authors in Lancashire; to publish from time to time works illustrating or elucidating the literature and history of the county…\u201d<\/p>\n

A typical member was Samuel Barlow, a partner in a bleach works at Stakehill near Middleton. As well as being an active member of the Manchester Literary Club he was a founder of the city\u2019s Arts Club, an artist and botanist and had a strong interest in Lancashire dialect. William E.A. Axon was another prominent member with wide interests. He became a central figure in Manchester \u2013 and Lancashire – intellectual circles towards the end of the nineteenth century. In 1874 he joined the staff of The Manchester Guardian<\/em> as its librarian. He had already been writing for the Guardian<\/em>, and used his pen in support of the anti-slavery cause during the American Civil War.<\/p>\n

Lancashire developed a number of cultural associations which provided a network for the county\u2019s intellectual communities. The Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire was founded in Liverpool in 1848. The Lancashire Authors\u2019 Association (for \u2018writers and lovers of Lancashire literature\u2019) was established in 1909 on the initiative of Allen Clarke. Its Library was created in 1921 from members\u2019 donations and is now the largest collection of regional literature in the UK. It is housed as a special collection in the University of Bolton Library.<\/p>\n

The Manchester Section of the Society of Chemical Industry seems an unlikely body to take a broad view of culture in Lancashire. However, in 1928 the Society was instrumental in commissioning The Soul of Manchester<\/em>, to mark the Society\u2019s Manchester meeting the following year. The Earl of Crawford and Balcarres (also vice-president of the Lancashire Authors\u2019 Association) contributed the introductory essay on \u2018The Soul of Cities\u2019 in which Manchester is clearly positioned as the county \u2018capital\u2019 but very much a part of Lancashire.<\/p>\n

The Co-operative Movement came closest to providing an intellectual framework for working class men and women in the years between the 1850s and 1960s. It was a network of local, independent, societies. The larger ones had substantial libraries, reading rooms and lecture theatres, with frequent lectures by eminent speakers, often on aspects of Lancashire history and culture.<\/p>\n

The post-war years saw the coming of mass entertainment, particularly television – which was less suited to a more regional culture. Was it, finally, the beginning of the end that had been forecast for so long? Actually, no. Go to schools in many parts of Oldham, Rochdale or Bolton and you will hear young Asian as well as white English children speaking \u2018broad Lanky\u2019. After its demise being forecast for many decades, it refuses to die, and with it that broader sense of \u2018being Lancashire\u2019. We need a revived Lancashire sensibility that is about more than just dialect and speech, embracing culture in a general sense. We already have Friends of Real Lancashire and the Lancashire Society flying the flag of the red rose. We need to up our game and tap into people\u2019s continuing sense of identity which is at risk of being subsumed into the amorphous city-regions. A campaign to re-unite and re-imagine Lancashire needs a higher profile and cross-party support.<\/p>\n

A reformed Lancashire within its historic boundaries makes sense as a regional economic unit but also chimes with people\u2019s identities \u2013 in a way that artificial \u2018city regions\u2019 never will. People in Bolton, Oldham, Rochdale and other towns don\u2019t want to become mere commuter suburbs of Manchester. Nearly 50 years on from the creation of \u2018Greater Manchester\u2019 the \u2018city region\u2019 still has little legitimacy and if there was a referendum tomorrow on being part of Lancashire or \u2018Greater Manchester\u2019 I have little doubt about the result. There is an alternative \u2013 a greater \u2018Lancastria\u2019 that celebrates all our county, not just the main cities. A starting point must be the re-creation of that \u2018Lancashire Sensibility\u2019 which was so much a part of life in the last century.<\/p>\n

This article is based on a similar piece which will appear in The Lancastrian<\/em>, the magazine of Friends of Real Lancashire. See www.forl.org.uk<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s go to….Heywood<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Heywood is not on most people\u2019s tourist maps but there is more to it than you might think. It is a former cotton town and had its own local government before 1974, when it was absorbed into Rochdale. It\u2019s known as \u2018Monkey Town\u2019 for obscure reasons. Its most obvious attraction is the East Lancashire Railway, whose line from Bury terminates on the edge of town. A good itinerary, when services are operating, is to walk down from the station into the town centre and<\/p>\n

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Heywood Library<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

have a look at the excellent Carnegie Library, which has displays on the town\u2019s history and the library itself. Nearby is the covered market with a selection of small businesses including a cheese shop, selling delicious Lancashire cheese (which Marks and Spencer\u2019s in Bolton don\u2019t!). The town has close links with the Rochdale Pioneers. One of its leading figures, Charles Howarth, was born in Heywood and is buried there. Like many small towns, Heywood had its own co-operative society which possessed a highly-acclaimed library. Like most co-op libraries, the society donated its collection to the new municipal library when it opened in 1906.<\/p>\n

Heywood Corporation was rightly proud of Queen\u2019s Park which opened to great acclaim in 1879 and was subsequently extended. It remains a popular place to wander round with a fine lake and woodland walks, with a cafe. The opening celebrations, on August 2nd<\/sup> 1879, were<\/p>\n

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Heywood’s Queen’s Park in its heyday<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

impressive. The participants represented a cross-section of Heywood society, probably at the height of its prosperity. About 10,000 people took part in the procession, led by six companies of the 8th Lancashire Rifle Volunteers and their band, followed by local Sunday Schools, with flags, banners and more bands. There were 4,000 marchers in the \u2018Noncomformist\u2019 section alone and large contingents from other schools. Behind the children were dignitaries in carriages, including the High Sheriff and Colonel Thomas E. Taylor, M.P. and \u2018Chancellor of Her Majesty\u2019s Duchy and County Palatine\u2019, accompanied by a troop of the Duke of Lancaster\u2019s Yeomanry. As the representative of the Queen, Taylor was responsible for handing over the keys of the park to the Local Board.\u00a0 Serving and former members of the Heywood Local Board were next in the parade, in private carriages, followed by the \u2018friendly and trade societies\u2019. The Heywood Handbell Ringers \u2018rang out a merry tune as they went along\u2019 and the Waterworks Department followed with their float drawn by six horses. Behind them were several horses carrying specimens of coal from various local collieries. There followed floats displaying industrial machinery of local manufacturers, including steam boilers, carding engines and woollen looms. There were also wagonloads of flour, limestone, \u2018bleached waste\u2019, brushes, freshly-butchered pigs, and tinplate. At the rear was a \u2018mounted masquerade, representing Henry the Eighth, Charles the Second, a courtier, a jester, a brigand, and a Russian bear. (Report in The Heywood Advertiser<\/em>).<\/p>\n

The real glory of Heywood is its industrial heritage, particularly the surviving Mutual Mills, close to Queen\u2019s Park. The name reflects the democratic ownership of many of the great Lancashire spinning companies. The four buildings are lying semi-derelict but represent probably the finest group of cotton<\/p>\n

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Mutual Mills: a sleeping giant<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

spinning mills in Lancashire (and Heywood is<\/em> in Lancashire!). There have been plans to convert them into apartments but nothing seems to be happening at present, but happy to be proved wrong. If you walk away from the mill gates towards the main road you\u2019ll come to another gem \u2013 the Engineer\u2019s Arms. The pub is currently empty and available for lease. It is the only pub I\u2019ve ever come across which has a trade union emblem for its sign, from the Amalgamated Society of Engineers. The signage outside is \"\"superb and I very much hope whatever becomes of the pub its heritage features will be protected.<\/p>\n

Crimble Mill is another really interesting survivor, nicely situated on the River Roch. Makes for a nice walk from Queen’s Park returning via Mutual Mills. It’s currently semi-derelict but there are plans to revive it, so I’m told.<\/p>\n

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Crimble Mill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The last place of note is another pub. \u2018The Edwin Waugh\u2019 is in the centre of town and celebrates Lancashire\u2019s great dialect writer who spent much of his life in nearby Rochdale, and was fond of a pint himself. It\u2019s a Wetherspoon\u2019s and there\u2019s plenty inside about the life and writings of \u2018The Lancashire Burns\u2019. Heywood is served by the 471 bus \"\"(Bolton \u2013 Bury \u2013 Rochdale) and the 163 (Bury \u2013 Middleton \u2013 Manchester). But how I miss the train that ran from Rochdale via Heywood, Bury and Radcliffe to Bolton. You can still get steam haulage on the East Lancs, and who would have thought in 2022 you\u2019d be able to travel behind a Southern Pacific or an LNER A4 from Heywood to Bury?<\/p>\n

There are aspirations for a more modern rail service, led by Rossendale Council. It\u2019s highly contentious with the East Lancashire Railway management but involves using ELR infrastructure to run a commuter service from Rawtenstall via Ramsbottom, Bury and Heywood to Manchester. Personally (and I\u2019m a member of the preservation society) I\u2019d like to see it happen, and I\u2019m sure it could with goodwill and give-and-take on all sides.<\/p>\n

Last Train from Blackstock Junction has now arrived<\/strong><\/h5>\n

It\u2019s out \u2013 my new book comprising 12 short stories about railway life in the North. Last Train from Blackstock Junction<\/em> has a very kind foreword by Sir Peter Hendy, chairman of Network Rail, who said “As you read these stories, you\u2019ll find some history, some romance, some politics, a little prejudice \u2013 sadly – and some humour; you will in fact be in the world of railway men and women. I hope you find them as absorbing as I did when I read Paul\u2019s manuscript. Please enjoy his work!”<\/p>\n

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Could this be Blackstock Junction?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Writer and environmentalist Colin Speakman said \u201cit is an amazing collection \u2013 powerful, moving, and what I would call \u2018faction\u2019 which tells truths even though the details may be fantasy, \u2018Hillary Mantel school of history\u2019 perhaps. Director of Platform 5 Publishing, Andrew Dyson, said \u201cPaul\u2019s \u00a0stories provide a fascinating insight into what life was really like for thousands of railway workers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tales include a ghost story set in a lonely signalbox in Bolton, in 1900, which some Salvo readers may remember from Christmas\u2019s past. Other stories are about life on today\u2019s railway, including \u2018From Marxist to Managing Director\u2019 \u2013 the story of a young female political activist who ends up running a train company. Some are set in the \u2018age of steam\u2019 and life on the footplate as well as the rise of the trades unions on the railways and the rise of the Labour movement. The title story, \u2018Last Train from Blackstock Junction\u2019, is set at the time of the Beeching cuts in the 60s and is about the attempts of a group of young boys (no names, at least real ones, mentioned)\u00a0 to save their local station.<\/p>\n

Salvo<\/em> readers will get the book at a specially discounted price, courtesy of Platform 5 Publishing. Go to https:\/\/www.platform5.com\/Catalogue\/New-Titles<\/a>. Enter LAST22 in the promotional code box at the basket<\/strong> and this will reduce the unit price from \u00a312.95 to \u00a310.95.<\/p>\n

The three launches (Elsecar, Bolton and Carnforth) all went well and I\u2019m giving talks to a number of other groups over the next few weeks.<\/p>\n

Dave Burnham<\/strong><\/h5>\n

It’s with great sadness that I have to report the death of writer and historian Dave Burnham at the age of 71.\u00a0 Dave did much to popualrise Bolton’s history, in particular the contribution of novelist Bill Naughton.His most recent book was Bolton A – Z. My condolences to Linda and all of Dave’s family and friends.<\/p>\n

Small Salvoes<\/strong><\/h5>\n