Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal

Marjorie Engmann.

Ringley Memories We came to live on a local farm at Outwood around 1938 and I had to walk to Ringley School each day. No school dinners then, it was home for dinner in all weathers. Sometimes in Winter I would take sandwiches for lunch, dishes of hot pot and potato pie etc., taken by some of the children, would be warmed up in the old gas oven in the kitchen and eaten at their desks. I well remember Ringley Wakes, with the roundabouts on the village green and the "Lord Mayor" being carried to the banks of the canal, where he was "anointed" with canal water poured over his head from a beer mug. He was then taken by horse and cart, lent by a local farmer, round the pubs in the village.

Adjacent to the Horse Shoe were two wooden huts, one was a cobblers and the other a very busy chip shop. We used to go in to see if they had any "scraps" left over. Further along the canal towards Giant's Seat, a railway came down through Ringley Wood transporting the coal from Outwood Colliery. It was loaded onto barges for Manchester and Bolton. The Whit Walks in the village were followed by tea for the walkers and then a field day for everyone, with games for the children and the brass band would provide entertainment. The Emmanuel Mission Church held their field day on the field at the bottom of Ringley Wood, on the side of the canal. Past Giant's Seat was Rhodes farm which was a very productive and well managed farm around 1940 - 50. Another farm in the area was Ringley Fold farm which was situated at the end of Folds Road. This was another very fertile and productive farm until it was demolished and the land taken over for the Ringley Treatment Works. When the works opened, Rhodes farm became derelict and was later demolished. The canal was also filled in around this time, probably using soil excavated from the above works. Opposite Ringley School was a small hamlet and a toffee shop kept by Mrs. Elliot.It was only the front window of her cottage, but we used to spend our coppers there on the way to school. These houses were demolished when the council estate was built on Hulme Road and most of the people were rehoused there. Quite a change having electricity, baths and inside toilets after the oil lamps and outside "privvies" During the war, air raid shelters were built in the school garden and we had to carry our gas masks and practise air raid drills. A large ack-ack gun was eventually stationed on the hill overlooking the village. This replaced the dug-outs on the road side, our first defences against the expected invasion. The gun was later replaced by a barrage balloon, which was one of about five, forming a protective ring around the Kearsley Power Station. Later in the war, a local RAF man obtained a copy of an aerial map, captured from a German pilot. This was framed and put in the Conservative club for many years. It showed all the balloon sites protecting the power station. In the later stages of the war, a German pilot jettisoned its bombs before crashing and one of them fell at the top of Ringley Wood. Italian and German POWs were billeted on all the local farms and stayed for about two years. We used to bring them down to Ringley School on a Tuesday evening where a local couple ran a dancing class. We spent many an evening there learning all the steps and as I had learnt German at school I was able to act as interpreter. I never thought that learning German at school was going to result in me marrying one of the P.O.W.s, but we spent many happy hours in the village and next year will be our Golden wedding. Our W.I. was formed in the village in 1951 and is a very active group involved in all aspects of village life. In earlier years we had an annual Christmas party for all our children with plenty of food and of course Father Christmas with a sackful of presents. We also had a large over 60s club in the village with almost 100 members. Each year the ladies of the W.I. would entertain them at Vale House and present a musical show with singing and dancing followed by potato pie supper. This was always a very popular event and we put a lot of effort into our various shows and costumes etc. A party of disabled cyclists were also provided with lunch on their tour of the British Isles some years ago, again at Vale House. About three years ago we provided overnight accommodation for a party of W.I. cyclists touring the Lancashire boundary to celebrate our Golden Jubilee. We also played host to a German choir which visited Ringley from Oberhausen. Visitors stayed with host families in the village and I was asked along as interpreter. The choir gave a performance in Ringley Church and also Manchester Cathedral. Their visit was arranged by the vicar of Ringley who was a friend of the pastor of the German church to which the choir belonged. Shopping in the village was relatively easy for the inhabitants. There were two general stores (corner shops) in the houses near the school, which sold bread, pies and a general range of goods. Across the bridge were the Coop grocery and butcher's shop and farther along Ringley Road was Seddons grocery and butchers shop. All these shops have long since closed and our nearest shops are now along Market Street in Stoneclough. Also across the bridge was Mrs. Burke's toffee shop, again in the front window of her cottage. A regular haunt for all the children to spend their coppers on sherbet dips and gobstoppers! Mrs. Marjorie Engmann March 2001