This is something which can be undertaken for any street and indeed this was not the first such exercise in Padiham. In 1986, Padiham WEA, with Mollie and Margaret prominent, published a study on St Giles Street in the town. Although not far apart, Mill Street and St Giles Street are historically very different, but the research carried out by both groups has delighted those who have memories of the streets and those who wish to know more. It was a pleasure to be able to welcome so many people from Padiham to a full meeting.

The U3A presentation constituted this year's Walter Bennet Memorial Lecture. Although Mr Bennett did not write very much about Padiham, I am sure Burnley's pioneer local historian would have approved. He might have painted with a broad brush, setting the scene for many others to follow, but reading Mr Bennett's work it can be seen that he is also interested in the smaller, more personal stories in which true local historians delight.

A number of things came out in the presentation which had not fully registered with me. One was that, before the coming, in the 18th Century, of the turnpike road which connected Burnley and Padiham, Mill Street was part of the latter's main thoroughfare. Those of you who know Padiham will be aware that Church Street and Burnley Road perform that function these days and Mill Street, though still there, is no longer at the centre of things.

The picture we publish today shows Burnley Road in Padiham near the point where it merges in to Church Street. As you can see, the illustration comes from a postcard. It was printed by the famous firm of Valentine's and was posted from Padiham to an address in Lerwick in the Shetlands in 1919. Unfortunately, the card does not reach Valentine's usual high photographic standards. This may be because it has been tinted, a process which sometimes obscures details which are often of the greatest interest to historians. For example, only one shop sign can be read: the building on the extreme right was occupied by Dewhurst's, who were tripe dressers, but the firm does not appear at the Burnley Road address in the 1914 directory.

It ought to be pointed out that, in 1914, there was a tripe dresser, Ebenezer Astin, at 8 Burnley Road, Padiham. The shop shown in the picture looks to be number 8 and it may be that it had changed hands but there was a William Dewhurst who carried out the same trade at 43 Shakespeare Street in that year. A later directory (published in 1927) reveals a Richard H. Dewhurst carried out the trade of tripe dealer at 48 Stockbridge Road, adding to the mystery, but I am sure locals will be able to fill in the details.

The shops on the even side of Burnley Road were, in their day, some of the best known in Padiham. I make this point because, to some extent, Padiham's shopping centre has gravitated to the other side of the river. I recall a planning brief for the town noting this had happened and was a little disappointed to learn no attempt would be made to reverse the trend. This, incidentally, is only my personal point of view. I merely find the street scene in the part of Padiham depicted in today's illustration to be more interesting than alternatives.

Let me give you an idea of the kind of firms which occupied some of these premises in 1914. At number 2, there was Metcalfe and Moorehouse's, the tailors.

I don't know anything of Mr Metcalfe, but his business partner was Mr Osborn Moorhouse, who lived at 12 Garden Street, one of the better streets in those days. Number 6 was the home to Messrs Salter and Salter, who were described as boot and shoe dealers in Padiham (and Nelson) but boot and shoe makers in Burnley where they had premises at 71 St James's Street. I would like to know more about Salters, but I suspect they were not a local firm and I might have to make my way to the East Midlands.

Other firms which would have been very well known in their day were Philip's confectioners; the Misses Whitaker, who ran a fancy repository; Mercer's, hosiers and Parker's, the jewellers. The other side of the road, more of which can be seen in the picture, is better known because of the impressive bank buildings which act as "bookends" to the properties here. The building on the extreme left is known by locals as "t'Top Bank" but a number of different banking houses have operated from here. The first Padiham address I have seen for the Craven Bank is 8 Burnley Road, which as we know is on the other side of the street, but the successors of that bank, the Bank of Liverpool, later incorporated into Barclay's, certainly occupied the site on the right.

At the bottom of the row you can see what is now the National Westminster Bank, which is known, as you might expect, as "t Bottom Bank". This was once the Manchester and County Bank and it is interesting to note that, after the recent debacle in the banking sector, the Government is thinking of breaking up the over-mighty banks with which we are now familiar. Could we see a revival in local banking? They could do no worse than the giants of the City of London, run, as they have been, by "get rich quick merchants" who have cast aside the long-established precepts by which banking and business are governed.

This, the odd side of Burnley Road, is different from the even side in that a substantial part of the beginning of the street is not shown in the photo. It contains Webster's Buildings and Central Buildings, two blocks of property most of which provide space for shops. However, to the outsider, the numbering of these premises often caused difficulty. I will leave that aside and remind you of some of the businesses which operated from these buildings.

The most well known must have been Webster's, the butcher's, at number 1. Much has been preserved of this shop. Only a few doors away there was a branch of Metcalf Brothers, a Burnley-owned chain of high-class grocers. Lower down there was a branch of the River Plate Fresh Meat Co. Ltd, which later became British and Argentine Meat Co. Ltd, and, below that, a firm which still survives, Bertwistle's, the confectioners.

The shop below t' Top Bank is probably number 19 Burnley Road and the fact it was once a hairdressers is given away by the barber's pole in the picture. In 1914, the hairdresser was Owen Robinson. It is not easy to sort out the other shops but, just before the First World War, there was a milliner, a newsagent, a tea dealer, a confectioner, a Maypole Dairy and a grocer and corn dealer.

I don't know what you think, but I am sad to see the continued loss of small family businesses. It won't matter to those of you who have been brought up in the days of the supermarket, but my family, on both sides, ran small businesses and were committed to them.

My mother, after a lifetime sending in a weekly order to the village grocers, found it difficult to come to terms with Sainsbury's and Asda of her later years. We can't prevent change, it is a pity it works out the way it sometimes does.