Blackburn Old Pals.

Tuesday 25th April 2017

Nice early start as we dumped our bags at the Waddington Arms around 9.30am and set off by 10am.

Four Vernons on the loose! Lancashire be afraid!

Our route was from Waddington to Hurst Green, Ribchester, Longridge, Wilpshire, Blackburn, Billington, Whalley, Clitheroe and back to Waddington.

O Pendle, O Pendle, thou standest alone

Twixt Burnley and Clitheroe, Whalley and Colne

Where Hodder and Ribble's fair waters do meet

With Barley and Downham content at thy feet.

Some of our interesting visits were

Stoneyhurst College at Hurst Green. We had several family visits and picnics whilst we were growing up.

Our first coffee stop was at Longridge.  Halfpenny Lane is where we believe Grandad Bolton was born.   We had our first Anzac biscuit supplied by David's wife, Wendy.  They were very nice if a little on the small size.  It just happens to be Anzac Day today in Australia - a nice coincidence.

Lunch time.

First pint of Thwaites.  We were brought up on this beer.

After lunch we decided to cycle to Blackburn Rugby Club.  We didn't expect to see anything except the old clubhouse and the empty pitches.  We were greeted by Deano, the club 1st team coach and told him that the three brothers had all played here.  Even though we didn't know him he chatted about  people from our era.  Then Peter asked about a family called Newman who used to live on the hillside opposite.  He then told us that Dave Newman actually was inside the clubhouse and we dashed in to meet him.

Here's Dave Newman with Peter.  We chatted more about people we played with.  We had already arranged to meet Alan Nicol and Guy Foster (two other friends we played with) in the evening in Waddington.

We cycled onward back towards Waddington, via Whalley.

The upstairs flat at Billington was where David and Alan Nicol lived together.  They lived off Hellmans mayonnaise and pot noodles as they had a friend who was a salesman who sold those items!  Not the best diet!

Just before this picture we had a hail shower, so we had to take refuge in The Dog at Whalley.  It was probably our preferred drinking pub of our youth.  We had to explain to John what Bar Billiards was.  It would be rude if we didn't try a pint!  We then went quickly to Whalley Abbey where our Dad had been a volunteer for several years.  We recalled that he occasionally dressed as a monk as he did guided tours.  We suspect he did it to escape from Mum so he could smoke his pipe in peace.

The next move to to see our cousin Alice in Clitheroe.  She is the only remaining close family member in the Lancs area.

Alice knows how to look after Vernons.  The biscuits were.....Anzacs'!  Bigger than Wendy's!  Surprisingly we ate the lot.  Thanks Alice.

Back to Waddington in hail and sleet.  Overall, we did 40+ miles and apart from a couple of showers at the end it was a great days cycling in lovely countryside (apart from Blackburn, which I cannot accept as being as beautiful as Burnley)!

The pub rooms were pretty decent.  Certainly fit for our purposes.  After a shower and change we gathered again in the bar and to our surprise were met by a big chap we didn't initially recognise.

The chap, second from the right, is Chris Rawson who played second row at Blackburn with us.  The guy second from the left is Guy Foster who also played at prop but Guy is my oldest friend as well who lived two houses away from us at Simonstone.

Old stories flowed.  We always repeat the story about Guy at around 6 years old, playing and getting stuck in the foundations of the house we eventually moved into.  His parents were frantically looking for him but he wasn't tall enough to be seen over the deep foundations.  Obviously he was found but it took several hours.

Chris is still very connected to the rugby club and had lots of information about other ex players and lots of memories we had forgotten.

We had our evening food....of course I had the Lancashire Hotpot.

Alan Nicol is on the left.

We were joined by Alan Nicol as well.  Alan was a year younger than me but we played rugby together and he shared a flat with David.  He went on to join Lancs Police and I have seen him several times through our careers and at police rugby events but he hadn't seen David for maybe 30 years?  Back in the day I remember teasing Alan about his girlfriend that had missed a period!  He was worried she might be pregnant and David and I kept playing Up the Junction by Squeeze to wind him up.....it worked.   By the way, she wasn't pregnant.

Lots of other stories were told through the night.  I think we all agreed we were all great rugby players!