I Was Thinking...

My Post's on the past and Family History usually do not involve the town where I was born in England.  Reason being that neither  my Father or Mother were born there.  I have mentioned at the start of the Blog about my birthplace being Preston, Lancashire, England.  A town with a great deal of history.  The name Preston came from some Monks who lived on the banks of the River Ribble originally "Priests Town" I believe.

Coat of Arms.  PP means Proud Preston.

I lived there from birth to the age of 22 so my memory of  my childhood is quite good.  Funny though I seem to remember it all in black and white.  Maybe because  I lived in the town itself and the weather in England is pretty dreary and windy and rainy and all the buildings were old and mostly grey.  I lived on a terraced street of row houses with no grass or flowers in sight.

We did not have far to go to see lovely Parks and countryside like the pictures below. Courtesy of  http://www.PicturesofEngland.com

 

The old building above we actually referred to as the "Public Hall"

In my teens Dances were held there every Friday Night.  Those were the day's before clubbing and Ballroom Dancing was still in fashion. I was at a Dance where the "Beatles" performed during the Intermission.  Right after they cut their first Record. I still remember they sang "Please Please Me" and "I Wanna Hold your Hand" .  We all stood around watching and listening and commenting on how good  we thought they were.  I could have reached out and touched John and Paul we were so close.  Who knew?

No TV and computer game's in those day's our entertainment was the Radio or Books.  I loved to read and it was a Short walk from my house to the Public Library at Market Square.

The Harris Museum and Art Gallery was a lovely old building inside so after exchanging my books I would walk up the Marble Staircase and look at the Art and Museum Displays.

One of my favorite Paintings was by James Gunn of his second wife Pauline.  I recently saw that her dress is now on display next to the Painting.  At the time it was painted it was compared in beauty to the "Mona Lisa".  Named "Pauline in the Yellow Dress"

 

I also stood in line at the Art Gallery to see Queen Elizabeth's Wedding Dress . After her marriage to Prince Phillip her dress was sent on a tour of England.   The picture here is many years later.

A couple of notable people were born in Preston besides me.

The parents of Butch Cassidy ( Real name Robert LeRoy Parker)emigrated to America because of religious persecution after joining the LDS Church. Butch was born in Utah in 1866 the eldest of 13 children.

It makes me laugh to imagine Paul Newman speaking with a Lancashire Accent which I am sure he would have had because of his parents.   Also Benjamin Franklin owned a home on Victoria Street which was a stones throw from my house.  Of course he was long gone before I was born.

When I was home about 11 years ago I visited the Art Gallery with my daughter and her friends and saw on display a Diorama of the Cotton Mill I used to work in.

I can still hear that Factory Whistle blowing as I was running down the street at 5:55am trying to make it through the gate to clock on before it went off.

I learned how to weave on a loom just like the one above.

Well I am really starting to get long winded so better bring it to a close with the  emblem of the Red Rose of Lancashire. I am still a Lancashire Lass at heart.