I think i can leave my Childhood behind, at least for now.  And  talk about my entry into the adult world, all a bit scary if pondered on to much, but i didnt, i just enjoyed it all as a New Adventure in my life.          I didnt get much choice to either stay at school for further education, or get a job, cos i was only in the B stream, and sadly only the A stream was allowed to advance their education.                        So a job it had to be,  and also this was not a choice for me,  cos my mum new  2 ladies who worked in a factory and had been told they were  recruiting, so off i went with my mum, and yes i got the job.  Let me say  1st,  i did not hold it against either of my parents for not allowing me to choose my own, its just the way it happened.    Also it turned out to be my Best  Ever job,  even wish i was there now.          And to make things even better, my  school and street pal Margaret  also got a job, so we started together on the same day.        

This was   in  1962 at Easter time,   i was 15 yrs old,  and part of me felt so grown up,  the factory was called   Wigglesworths and in  Westhoughton, near the top of Church Strret.  It was commonly, and lovingly   known as   The Pill Factory,  cos they made pills        also  all types of  medical supplies,  medicines, pills, portion,s creams, etc. for all types of illnesses,  even  toffee and ice lolly powder.     We also  printed all our own  cartons, and packaging,  and  had a special  printing dept.  for it.                                     So  Margaret and me and some others got on the bus  on our first day and  chatted  and  laughed, slighly nervous laughter a bit, excited at what awaited us.       We had to report to Miss Hindes first, who seemed very cool and quite old at the time, but she was neither, i found out later.   Margaret was  sent to the  Printing dept. cos she was tallish, and you needed longish legs to work the presses,  as for me, i was sent to the  Powder room,  were they made, packed and did everything  in the making of  Opas Powder,  this was a powder for bad stomaches, which meant nothing to me.  I soon got into the swing, and the lady in charge and the other girls about  6 of them, were very friendly, especially a girl called  Pearl, she  showed me the ropes, but in total honestly, it  was Not  Rocket Science.                                Soon it was my very  1st pay day,  i felt like the  wealthist  person on our planet, with my brown envolope and  with  just over £3 in cash in it,  it felt like a kings ransom to me,  my mum was waiting at our front door for me,  and i proudly gave her my  Earnings.      I still have the  paypacket, could not  or would not part with it.      And i felt like the Bees Knees when my mum gave me my very  1st  pocket money.   i had so  many things to do with it, a list as long as my arm, ok i could not do it all, but it was so good just having my list.

   Back to my  job at the pill factory,  after a few months i  got a transfer cos i was so quick, so i was told, to the  Opas Pill making section, from powder to pills,  Wow how i climbed the ladder of success       this was a  1% more technical cos you had to catch the pills in the cartons as they came down the shute.                But after a bit they were short handed in the  toffee room, and so i went into there for a while, and the lady in charge was so lovely, Millie her name i think,  and after she,d asked me my name, she said  " now you can eat as much and  as many as you like "        now isnt that just  any  child or adults pray, to be allowed to eat it as well as pack it.    And i did, but after a while you drop off, just how it happens.   in that dept. they also made the  ice lolly powder,  so i packed that also.     Talk about  cushy job, it was like being in 7th  Heaven.       Everyone was so lovely even the 2  men,  who actually made the toffee were so friendly, and chatty,  and  hansome to,  but much to old for me.         John  Riley and Bill Sutton,  i later became more  friendly with John,  cos  he  was  dating  another girl i became  very  close to,  Marion  Westhead,   they eventually married, sadly Marion is not with us anymore,  But i,m not opening that very sad box.         After my stint in the Toffee and  Lolly dept. i went  into, what was  called  The Big Room,  why ???  cos it was big. Really no other reason at all.            But it was there that all the  ordrers for all the chemists was made up, and all the  bottles and packageing was labled individually for the chemist.  The labels 1st went to the Printing room to have the chemists name and address printed on, then  the  orders were assembled with whatever the chemist wanted,  and then 1 of the girls over 40 worked in this dept.  labelled the various medicines, and packed them,  ready to be delivered out to them.             I loved this job,  we  had radios to listen to, chatted when we wanted,  again 7th Heaven.      But then  Marion,  who i spoke  of earlier told me her pal Shelia was leaving, they were the 2  girls whos job was to get the orders ready for the others to label them, a much more responsible job,  because if they put the wrong pills in the order, and no one else noticed it could be very serious,  cos there were some   serious medicines invloved,  so the wage  was a bit better for the responsability.     She asked if  i fancied the job, of course in my mind another step higher up the ladder, and with a bit more money, i said  Yes Please.     And after checking it out with  Miss Hindes i was given the job.          Now i really was in 7th Heaven.      Marion, whos name was  Westhead, then Riley after marrying  John,  was brilliant to work with, and also became great pals,  as i did with others,  like  Irene Lythgoe who married Frank,  Irene Westwell,   Delia Yendly, Dorren Slater,  and others sadly i forget full names, but first names were   Phylis, Kathleen, Shelia who worked in the office,   Pearl,  Elsie,  and others,  and some  Mrs ,s  married ladies  who used to sell us  ciggies, for 1p,  yes i know its bad for you, but no one told us that back in 1962 - ish.     The bosses were also very nice and friendly,  Mr. Thompson,  and Mr. Lucas,  they would come through The Big Room, and smile say hello.  Mr. Lucas would enjoy telling us of his recent holidays.      

    And so  my life was so  good and happy,   i would never have thought of leaving, but i also had started courting, and we were trying to save up to get married, i  got engaged whilst i worked there, but didnt earn megga money, not enough to save to get married. So after my  18th birthday i decided i had to find a better paid job,   and i found one at        Turner Brothers in Hindley Green, a  Rubber Factory,     so with very great sadness i left Wiggs, as we affectionatly called it, and  opened a new chapter in my life.        But now looking back over the various jobs ive had,  my life  and times at Wiggs was the best ever. If  we only had a  Magic Ball, but  such is life.                     I wont bore you with my  job at Turners Bros. cos it was boring,   for the 1st  month i hated it, but then i made pal,s  and it was ok, but thats all it ever was  OK.  

I  left my  7th Heaven in  Westhoughton,   and like  Lots Wife  there,s  No Turning Back !!!!

If  youve already read the 1st part of my Childhood in Hindley, then this is a continuation of it.

As well as being a fully fledged and proud of it TomBoy, i also joined St. Peters Brownie Troup,  and i really loved it, dont think i learned much but i made even more friends, and did some great fun activities.   I did pass my basic Enrollment badge, but can remember passing any others.                                        

But when i was old enough i moved up into the Girl Guides, i think i started to lose my Tomboyish stuff then and grew up, a bit.  I really did love and enjoy it in the  guides.  I passed many badges in there, and became a  Patrol Leader,  Bluebell Patrol.  I went on a couple of camps with them, the 1st under canvas, and what a disaster it was. I think it was in the Standish area,  it was in a big field and i,d never done anything like it before in my life.  To make it worse, it rained none stop over night, and our tent was at the bottom of a hill, which is were we were told to pitch it, and the tent leaked.  So by the next morning we were Saturated, and i do mean Wet !!!!!    But now looking back it was still a fun time, and for me a Great Adventure.

 2 of my  proudest badges i and a few others passed was for  Bell Ringing- Campanoligist,  and  for Fire Fighting.      After  getting the Fire Fighters badge, i decided that what i want to do when i left school, but my mum and dad talked me out of it, mind you i dont think i needed much persuading.        I think also only a handful of girls in our area had ever  passed that badge.       

The  Bell Ringing badge was a different story,  i really loved it, we had to do our training in St. Peters Church Bellfry, and the 2 men who taught us were great, i remember 1 was called Mr. Cooper, sadly i forget the others name.   They were very patient with us, i think  3 other girls did it with me.  Alison Taylor, Cicerly her sister, also Barbara Green.         I even have yet a black & white photo of us which was taken and put in the local paper.  Being  very small i had to stand on a box to reach the rope, and at first found it very difficult, but as with most thing it got easier, and i got better.     We all passed our test, and proudly wore our badge, we even rang the bells once in Westhoughton, St Bartholemues - { sorry i,m a poor speller }-  Church.        Myself and Barbara carried on ringing the  bells twice every sunday  for a few years, and loved it,  Barbara carried on even longer than me, and i think i,m correct  her husband was a bell ringer also.            I got such a lovely surprise on my Wedding Day, as i reached the church,   cos they rang the bells for me,   and funnily Barbara got married also just 1 hour before me, and they rang them for her also.     Even to this day one of the lovelyest sounds i  love is the sound of Church bells, sadly some now are recordings and they sound so tinny.     As i grew up in First Avenue, i had listened to them every Sunday til i got married and moved away.  So the sound is a  beautifully Embedded in my  memory.       

This October i had a lovely holiday on  Isle of Wight, and  visited  Godshill, for anyone whos been there, they know what a  Pretty Choccy Box place it is, and for anyone whos Not been, you really are missing out on a  treat.     Whilst there and enjoying a coffee the Church Bells began to ring, and they rung for over a hour, it was like the  Cherry on the Cake for me,    and i was not a Sunday, so i asked why they were ringing on that day, it was their practice day.    What luck at visiting it on that day for me,  and it was 1 of the rare hot sunny days we,ve had this year, and this was in Oct.  2008 - this year. 

So with the  hot sun on me, and sat enjoying a lovely coffee, and surounded by so many lovely Thatched  cottges, and the sound of  the Chuch Bells  life  felt   Perfect !!!!!

Hi to all again,  firstly i would love to say a Big Thank You to the 2 lovely people who added a comment to my  1st Blog about my gnomes, i was so surprised to get them, and it was so lovey to read them.                                                                                                              

and also before i begin my  Childhood Memories, is there anyone out there that know the where abouts of  William Clarke,  who lived in First Avenue  no. 31 i think, in Hindley, and was born about 1948-49 -ish. His mums name was Hilda, and his dad Bill - William also.  he was one of my many childhood pals, and would love to know where he is and what hes doing these days,  in his late teens early 20,s he had a pal called Roger, maybe he will read this and let me know.                                William was great at making plays up for us to act in his back yard, usually me and Margaret.                Please help me if you can.  a message  / comment on this would be lovely

Ok my  stuff.   i was born in 1947 and lived at 7, First Avenue, Hindley, the street opposite the Monaco Ballroom, but in my  childhood was the Rex cinema.   I had a  Belting childhood, the best ever, not cos we had any money, cos we knew how to play and have fun, without any  Materialistic stuff,  in the avenue we had lots of pals to play with, Margaret Gibson, Brenda Aspinall, Kathleen Crank,  to name a few, also the boys were William Clark who ive just mentioned, Donald  Dootson, and his 2 brothers. Michael Grady, Derick Atherton,  and again others.                           The times we spent playing in the brook near our street, making dams in the water, and getting our socks wet, battering them on the wall to dry them before we went home, not realising we were making holes in them.             We also had some great times having May Queens, and our mums making party food for us for after, then sharing the money we collected and buying toffees at Mrs.  Rossingtons shop.               And on Bonfire Nights we would collect wood etc. from all over  and stack it up  and then guard it with our lives,      cos neighbouring kids  would come and rade it.  We also spent  a lot of time collecting money, yes begging, but we didnt call it that, for the  Guy Fawkes, then sharing the money out, and then off to Mrs. Rossingtons shop for toffees.                 .Then on Bonfire night our parents would light it, and the mums would congragate in someones house, usually  Mrs. Dootsons  and make Potatoe Pie and other yummy food.  We would take it round the bonfire and eat it, whilst burning hot at our fronts and freezing cold on our backs, didnt matter, was 1 of the highlights of our year.

   We also played lots of times by going up Darby Lane to the Iron Bridge, and waiting on top of the bridge for the Steam trains to come and stand in the steam,  did we know anything about Pollution, no way, we just knew how to have fun.           Borsadane Wood was another haunt of ours, either by bike, if you was lucky enough to have one, or lots of times by foot, visiting the  park en-route for a bit,  we also new how to picnic then,  Jam Butties and a bottle of  Water,  we didnt want for anything.                    We were lucky cos we had 2 very good parks to visit,  Leyland and Raynor, even now i get mixed up which is which, but 1 let to Borsdane Wood,  and  t,other  went past the Grammer School,  and close to it was an area called  The Seven Turnings, we,d take our bikes there and cycle for hours around the  slag heaps.                         Another of our trates was, cos we lived so close to  the Fire Station, when the bell rang for a fire, we,d watch were the engine was going and we,d follow it, manys the time weve gone a few miles, 1 such time, we ended up  near Turner Brothers factory in Hindley  Green, a few miles away, but when we got there the fire had  already been put out,  i remember it so clearly cos it was a Friday night, Bath Night, and i,d  left my sister with Margaret who didnt want to come with us,  and off i,d gone, but by the time i got back home i was later than i was meant to be, and i knew my mum would be there waiting for me to have my bath, and i,m talking Tin Bath in front of the fire,  so i forced myself to  Cry, dont know how but it worked, instead of a smack on the legs, i just got told, "  get in the waters cold but its your own fault. "     

           Such happy memories in my memory lane.         And lots more, but i think i,ll leave it there,  for now anyway.          If anyone reads this and knows any of the children ive mentioned who i grew up with,  especially William Clark, please leave a comment / message on my Blog.

I would really appreciate it.

what a wet Sunday and  very cold to, a good day to add a bit more to my new Blog.    

So  i,ll add a bit more and some more piccy of my gnomes and other  Pals. but i will write other stuff sometime not Gnome related at all, so if this is not to your taste, please check back and read the other stuff i will add.  I love also to Travel, love Nature and Wildlife, i also have many, many lovely and funny memories to write.       

    Today i am going to add a couple of pics of other pals in my garden,  1 is of  my  Snow White and her  7  Dwarfs,  i really do love her and her tiny pals,  another is of a  very colourful  Chicken, she does have a name, i call her  Chukky Hen, ok not very original but hey who said i had to be original  .  she comes with a  funny story, i bought her in Slovenia, 2yrs ago, and it was love at first sight, but how to get her home, cos she does Not flat pack, but hey where theres a will theres a way.  I always  pack an empty holdall on my holidays, a just in case of bag that every  traveller should have,  and i managed eventually to sit her inside, with her nose and wings a bit poking out the zip a bit, and she was staying with me, no dark,  cramped hold on the plane for her,  so on checking in on our flight home i declared her, which amused the check in lady, but then we had next to comfront the blokes on the xray machine,  did they look friendly or not ???     anyway i  asked them if they could treat her gently, and with a big smile the lovely man transfered her  to the xray machine so very carefully, you,d have thought  Chukky Hen was a new born baby, and with an even bigger smile he passed her to me  after she had gone through, what a nice man he was.  Bet they dont get many request like mine in a day.   And now she brighten up my garden  and enjoys her exercise when the wind blows, but  shes  taken into the shed when a storm is about.

another pic is of  my lovely scarcrow,  who sits below Chukky Hen.   they are the bestist of pals.    The piccy with 2 gnomes on are my latest  ones, which i bought this summer in Mevagissy, the  gnome on the toadstool is in 2 parts, and the one of  the heaviest i have, this and my 2 very large ones, are back breakers.   another piccy is a group hug type, of various ones, some you may see have pointed type ears, bit like Mr. Spock of Star Trek, these are not really  gnomes, but are  Cornish Piskies,  but hey i,m not predudice, i love them all.     And  my final piccy is of another very large and heavy one,  another  back breaker,  and although i prefare my gnomes and pals to be colourful, i love him cos hes different,  hes a  greyish colour, and so heavy we had to have him delivered.    And as you can see he loves his Vintage type car.

And i think i have now written enough of my family of gnomes and various pals, if ive bored you, i am sorry, but if ive made you smile, even a bit, then thats brill !!!!! and who knows, maybe you may start to adorn your garden to,  with some lovely  colourful cheeky chappies to.  Go on you know you want to    if anyone out there already does, i would love to hear from you.      Hope you all have a lovely weekend despite the weather.

hi to all who read my very first Blog, i hope it does not bore you.

 i have many interested but the first 2 that i,ll mention are

1st my love of travel, and 2nd my love of collecting  Garden Gnomes.

so i will begin by mentioned my  garden gnomes 1st i think, and if there are

any other collectors of garden gnomes out there i would love to hear from you.

i have over 70 not sure of the exact total as ive not counted them  lately.

i have collected them from many places, and some have even been gifts off family and friends.

but i do like to get then for a bargain price,  so some are from car boot sales, some from charity shops,  others have cost me a bit more,  like some of the larger ones ive bought off ebay. Some also ive brought back from various holidays.   as far a field as Slovenia and Austria.  and i have also bought a few from St. Ives in Cornwall.    Mevagissy in Cornwall is one of the best places to buy them, as there is a  lovely centre there that make them, its like a  Garden Centre, but with Gnomes instead of flowers.  and theirs are very strong and  very heavy, as i know to my cost of getting them back home.  But worth it.           they have all been varnished before putting into the garden, to help  to protect them through our winters. and so far they are doing fine. 

   Our garden even in the deepest of winter still looks so colourful and bright because of the lovely bright colours on my gnomes,  and they even smile through out the worst that winter throws at us, which can not be said of many humans.      when i first started to collect them about  9 yrs or so ago i gave them names, but now because i have so many and  i am one of those thats very forgetful with names anyway, i stopped naming them, with a few exceptions.  3 i have came named and with their own  Birth Certificates, honest, they  are called Tommy Tipple, Moonie and  Stargazer.  and they live together in a tiny group.          my oldest one is one of my first ones, from a car boot sale, and i,m guessing hes over  15 yrs, which really is quite young in  Gnome years, he was one of my cheapest also.      i will try to list some of my pics of them, once i know what i,m doing more on here.              as well as gnomes  i have a few other garden " pets "  as i call them. Which i will  mention another time.    i have just managed  to add a few piccys of  some of my gnomes.  hope they make you smile like they do me