REV RON GREENALL: A step back in time at Preston Railway Station

A lot of comments have been made and written recently about the new Butler Street entrance to Preston Railway Station.
Rev Ron reverent reflections January 22 Avenham Park, Preston Railway Station, cotton mill postcard, Humber Hawk car advert, cleveley's cub scouts, telephone box and big ben

Nicola JaquesRev Ron reverent reflections January 22 Avenham Park, Preston Railway Station, cotton mill postcard, Humber Hawk car advert, cleveley's cub scouts, telephone box and big ben

Nicola Jaques
Rev Ron reverent reflections January 22 Avenham Park, Preston Railway Station, cotton mill postcard, Humber Hawk car advert, cleveley's cub scouts, telephone box and big ben Nicola Jaques
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REV RON GREENALL: A step back in time at Preston Railway Station

Recently, I used the traditional entrance as on the first nostalgic picture I give you today

It took me back to my first railway journey memories from Preston to Blackpool in 1945.

Rev Ron reverent reflections January 22 Avenham Park, Preston Railway Station, cotton mill postcard, Humber Hawk car advert, cleveley's cub scouts, telephone box and big ben

Nicola JaquesRev Ron reverent reflections January 22 Avenham Park, Preston Railway Station, cotton mill postcard, Humber Hawk car advert, cleveley's cub scouts, telephone box and big ben

Nicola Jaques
Rev Ron reverent reflections January 22 Avenham Park, Preston Railway Station, cotton mill postcard, Humber Hawk car advert, cleveley's cub scouts, telephone box and big ben Nicola Jaques
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So many aspects of this picture are still recognisable today on this hub of the West Coast Line.

Oil and gas lamps may have gone in the course of modernisation but other aspects still remain as they always were.

I like the postcard I use for my second offering.

How true these words were and what feeling and sentiment they bring back to many people in our readership area.

Rev Ron reverent reflections January 22 Avenham Park, Preston Railway Station, cotton mill postcard, Humber Hawk car advert, cleveley's cub scouts, telephone box and big ben

Nicola JaquesRev Ron reverent reflections January 22 Avenham Park, Preston Railway Station, cotton mill postcard, Humber Hawk car advert, cleveley's cub scouts, telephone box and big ben

Nicola Jaques
Rev Ron reverent reflections January 22 Avenham Park, Preston Railway Station, cotton mill postcard, Humber Hawk car advert, cleveley's cub scouts, telephone box and big ben Nicola Jaques

The limited leisure time people had then was miniscule to what we enjoy today.

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When I read about the unemployment and suffering caused by the American Cotton Famine to the Lancashire mill workers, it makes my hair stand on end.

You may recall my comments last week about Avenham Park in Preston.

Both parks were built as public works to try to keep local cotton workers employed during the cotton famine and both parks contain unique buildings, art work, grottos as well as superb gardens and grasslands.

As a youngster, my biggest memory of Miller Park was the “Keep off the grass” signs.

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My third picture for you today is another very early one of a group on Avenham Park in Preston, and my next is of cubs and scouts in Cleveleys some years ago.

It was in January 1908 that Baden Powell set up the first boy scout troop in Britain.

This is why 110 years on I ask do any of you readers have scouting or guiding memories or pictures to share with us?

How much I owe to my time as a member of the 13th Preston St Thomas’ cubs and scouts from 1946 to 1955.

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Remember this now worldwide movement started on January 25, 1908, and scouting and guiding has influenced for good many millions of lives since and still does today in 2018.

As a member of Preston Patrol Leaders’ Council, I remember being given a lift to Broughton HQ by a rover scout in his new Humber Hawk.

Just look at the claims made for that in this advert.

As nostalgia should include national as well as local things, my last picture includes a telephone box as well as Big Ben.

Why do I use this? Because the first London telephone directory was published this week in 1880 with just 255 names in it, covering three London Exchanges, all within the sound of Big Ben!

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