Wigan International Pool closed on Sunday, 21st September. After serving locals for over 40 years, the baths have become dilapidated and will be demolished to make way for new facilities.

The pool took 4 days to drain and I understand it is only the second time in 40 years that it has been empty! A rare opportunity to get some photos.

The asbestos roof will take some 12 weeks to dismantle before demolition work begins in December of this year.

I was fortunate to get a tour of the place one last time and took some photos to record what the place looked like inside for future generations.

View the Wigan Baths photos.

Well, the secret got out, thanks to my mate John who kindly defaced the wiganworld homepage whilst I was out! Cheers John.

Its no secret anymore, I turned 40 on Saturday.

Many thanks to everyone that wished me a happy birthday on the messageboards, in the forum and by email. I had a great day.

Time for another update as it looks like I'm doing nowt!

Our walk down the Leeds & Liverpool Canal is progressing, just 24 miles to go. The last time I mentioned the walk, Mick left a comment suggesting inviting some wiganworld members to join in on the last stretch. If anyone is up for it, give us a shout, it would be on a Saturday or a Sunday and probably at short notice because of the weather. A 9 or 10 miler which would be fun as we never know what we'll see next along the way.

The photo-a-day section is becoming popular as more people discover it. I'm grateful to everyone that has contributed and have a few photos lined up for the next couple of weeks or so. Thank you to everyone that has sent in pics, I plan to use most of them so if you have contributed please keep an eye out.

Other than that, updating the news, moderating the site, adding pics, working on other sites, I've done nothing.

As usual, more soon...

 

The Wigan Family & Local History Society have a new venue - The Caledonian Hotel on Bolton Road in Ashton-in-Makerfield.

The next meeting is on Monday, 15th September at 7:30pm and everyone is welcome.

A nominal fee of £2.00 per person is charged which goes towards paying for the speaker and the room.

All welcome, members and non-members alike. Refreshments available from the bar.

The next talk is by Peter Watson on the subject of "Medicine & Magic" - if it's half as entertaining as his last talk then it will be a cracker!

Oxford Archaeology North are doing another 'dig' in Wigan at the top of the Wiend / Millgate area.

The site is behind the Wiend Children's Library and Hewlett Street buildings. This is the latest excavation in the area, the previous one taking place before the building of the Grand Arcade. This dig is before Wigan's new swimming baths which will be built within the facade of the Hewlett Street buildings.

Material has been found from every century except the 15th as per the last dig.

What happened in Wigan in the 15th century? Who knows, the plague maybe?

View the latest excavation photos.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Maypole pit disaster, Abram Parish Church held an exhibition and ceremony.

The disaster was on August 18th, 1908 which killed 76 local men. You can read about the disaster here.

Ron Hunt has kindly sent in a few photos of the exhibition which took place at the church, these can be viewed at the bottom of this page.