4 Clithcroc Advertiser and Times, February 6th, 1975 .© f o r


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lH .BRO V iniB.TD SAY what you wiU, there is


nothing quite like the glow of an open fire to set thoughts racing! particularly when the weather forecast is of gales


with gusts of force 10. . As I listened to the shipping


forecast, my thoughts turned to days spent in a Hebridean croft when similar conditions prevailed. I had experienced it all before and was now glad


to be in Clitheroe. Many people, - dissatisfied


with the tyranny, of the clock and the bustle of town life, long for isolation, solitude and the serenity of the simple life. They are convinced that all would be well if they could only “escape.” It is a common wish, symptomatic of our


artifieal way of living. The ideal is seen as isolation


far from the madding crowd, but in most cases at the end of a telephone. We dare not break away completely from the benefits of civilisation. Those who are disap­


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pointed, frustrated or sadly disillusioned with civilisation, should think very carefully before they cut themselves off from the sound of machinery and human voices. They should by all means have a trial run,” otherwise they may


not survive the often terrible isolation, gales and rain. During the last few weeks


we have experienced very heavy and prolonged rainfall. Gales have swept across the countryside causing great dis­ comfort and yet — I speak from experience — the condi­ tions cannot be compared to those prevailing regularly in the Highlands and Islands. Count your blessings.


Farming is a relentless busi­ ness and throughout the sea­ sons those concerned are faced with numerous prob­ lems. Seldom is corn threshed


as it stands in the field. _ I recall a crofter friend


relating the autumn scene. It was September, and after a nice peaceful day a gale sprang up.


morning most of his crop had been carried to goodness knows where. Of the 48 stooks of oats, only 11 remained. The majority had gone for ever This, and much more, leads


fdllowmg


to the opinion that unless one is bom to such conditions, one should not try to get accus­ tomed to an utterly alien way


of life.


No-one appreciates the wil­ derness life more than I do,


.. ...... ■# #


soul-searching I admit that, if prolonged, it is uncomfortable Ind soul-destroying. This is not idle talk -


just “ S2,” wh. lone W l *


tioti, wM conditions w l plete insulation from all civil­ ised amenities are usually ignorant of reality. They have not lived with isolated crof­ ters when the weather is wild,


with the wind round the house, the roof


creaking for days and theseas roaring like an express train. There is only one recom­


pense. Stay for some tune and you will never forget the


friendly hard-working people, far more civilised than those in town or city. The crofter


loves the natural world and with great philosophy accepts his lot. Equally important, he


is bappy-^ gtay jn Midr


October. Until then, we had cherished life in the remote islands, but the experience brought about a fresh reap­ praisal, for gale conditions during half the year are the rule rath e r than the


exception. How different it is in


summer.er.' I remember a stranger who, thinking I was was the owner of some property,


began to make astute inquiries about it. I was in rough working attire and, not having shaved for a few days, could easily have been part of


the general scene. He, being from the south­


ern counties, evidently didnot know the difference between


a northern accent and that of a Highland crofter. I was bring­ ing water from the well as he asked if the place was for sale. He swept a hand across the landscape, remarking that this was heaven and he was eager to escape to such a place. I wonder how he wou.d react after a complete winter


there. My first baptism began the , ..


day after our trip to the ferry which would take the sheep across to a nearby island. Never in all my expeditions in Scotland have I witnessed such a delightful day. It was, as my friend said, “a day to remember,” a wonderful day snatched from summer with a light breeze, distant moun­ tains etched sharp against a blue 3ky, and the sea blue and


smooth as a mirror. In mid-afternoon we saw a


huge chunk of a rainbow, a “sun-dog” said to presage


^ fn e^ S ” d * ^ p r o ^ g e


- change. How right it was. If this was a day to remember, the days which followed were


never to be forgotten. For three days and nights


we had a force nine gale with


gusts of force 11. We were almosthousebound as the row­ ing aea battered the rocky


coastline. But the usual chores had to • '


be done — water brought from the well, peat from the stack, hens fed and eggs collected. At one period it was difficult even to get clear of


the door. So fierce were the gusts


‘that the com I carried was whipped out of the container and a plastic mac was torn open. Up the brae I went and in less than a couple of minutes felt like a yacht without sails. The hens, only a couple of hundred yards from the c o t ta g e , remained


indoors. Duncan, the crofter, was


forced to tend the cattle and sheep on the hill and during the


next three


enclosed from head to Toot in waterproofs. My heart


out to him as he struggled to get out of them at the end of the day. He was exhausted.


i


days was .vent


“ “ "The There was no respite as the _____ _ ■ .


the


tormented sea roared, rocks were ringed with spume and not even , a sea bird was


visible. Throughout the night we , . , .


were reminded of the fury as the huge anchor stones rum­ bled against the walls. These stones, suspended from the eaves by heavy wire, secured the roof. The noise was like


distant thunder. So to those who are fed up


with the tyranny of city Ufe and have a desire tOj get away” where peace and sol­ itude acts like a balm to the


troubled breast, I say “Think again,” for it is not everyone s cup of tea. It is all very nice in the


glorious summer time, when


cattle and sheep crop the sun-drenched heather-clad slopes in a leisurely fashion. Maybe it is delightful and relaxing, but consider the days and nights from October to March, when a change comes over the Highlands and


Islands. I am convinced, even as a


devoted countrylover, that one had to be bom within such an environment to survive its


rigours. NATURALIST


Women made the cheese men given the praise


A SOLID bronze medal awarded In 1911 for the cheese section of Whalley Agricultural Show, and discovered tucked away


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The years have flown | | for "Dick' and Emma 1


A CLITHEROE couple, Mr Richard Mitchell and his wife Emma, intend to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary tomorrow as quietly as possible, follow­ ing the usual daily routine at their home in Grafton


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Street. Mr Mitchell (73), a keen


pigeon fancier, will be up as usual at 6 a.m. to walk up the road to the pens where his 30 racing pigeons are waiting to


be fed. Unfortunately, Mrs Mitch-


ell (71), is no longer active. She has been ill for some time


and is confined to the house where she was bora and has


lived all her life. Her husband makes her


comfortable in her favourite armchair, and gets to work on the housework and cooking. Once a cotton weaver, Mrs


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Mitchell now spends the day- watching television, reading a little, or occupied with pet hobby, sewing. She used to make all her own clothes and


also those of her family. “Once a fanner, always a


farmer at heart” could well be applied to Mr Mitchell, known


as Dick. Although he gave up farm­


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His sister, Mrs Margaret


Cowperthwaite, ' now runs the family farm at Pendleton with her son John. After his marriage at St


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James’s Church, Clitheroe,Mr Mitchell worked at Salthill Q u a r r y , b e c om in g a shot-firer. When it closed 35 years


later, he spent the last seven years before retirement as a labourer with the North West Electricity Board. Like farming, Mr Mitchell has found that pigeon racing is


another interest which takes a firm hold. He has been a member of Clitheroe Homing Society for 40 years and is also a member of the Accrington Wednesday Club. Having had his fair share of


success'at shows, Mr Mitchell is proud of a plaque he won with one of his birds five years-ago — the Accrington , two-bird specialist award. .; “ Racing pigeons is aii[ expensive hobby today,” says


Mr Mitchell but, nevertheless, ; it is one sport he is not prepared to give up. When he does have a spare moment he likes a game of dominoes. For 50 years, he has been a


member of Clitheroe Conser­ vative Club and has also been in the Chatham Diamond Hill Lodge of Oddfellows. Both Mr and Mrs Mitchell


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are hoping they will be joined on their golden wedding day by their daughter, Mrs Vera


Whiteman, who lives in Duck Street, grandson Jeremy (9),. and granddaughter, Mrs Jac­ queline Pugh, a teacher at Nottingham.


They have not yet decided quite how to celebrate the anniversary, but celebrate it; . they will. ... .


Threats not needed


PLENTY of budding Danny La Rues are making the task o f rehearsing Clitheroe Gang Show a little easier this Year for producer EDMOND CAMBIEN. “We always need to per­


suade some Cubs to dress up as girls,” he explained, “and usually we have to threaten that it will be the ones with the longest hair. But this time we have had no shor­


tage of volunteers.” Rehearsals for the show,


which will be given in Clitheroe Parish Hall from May 5th to 10th, are taking place on Tuesdays at Ribblesdale School and on Saturdays and Sundays at the United Reformed Church hall. But from February 16th, when “The Desert Song” and other functions are over, the Parish Hall will become the regular meeting place. Taking part in the show are 70 Cubs and 60 Scouts


from all parts of the district, including the first ever con­ tingent from Chipping. Assisting Mr Cambien


with the production is former Clitheroe Scout leader MR HARRY PICK­ LES, who now lives at Swinton. In the programme are


burlesque sketches, a skit on the pantomime “Aladdin,” a Red Indian scene and an extract from “The Wizard of Oz.”


LO ST BATTLEFIELD


THROUGHOUT the 4,000 years the archaeologists tell us that men have lived and worked, hunted and died in this north country valley of ours, many battles and skir­ mishes must have taken place. Of some of these I have written previously, of am­


bushes and affrays in the days of the Civil Wars, before that of the futile opposition by the natives to the ironclad hordes of Rome. But a recent inquiry


from a Rossendale reader, Mr R. Pilling, of Loveclough,, brought me a pleasant Sunday afternoon researching in a different direction. The particular conflict on


Whalley Window


“where, precisely, did this battle take place?” I fear that a couple of hours


of searching among all the records at my disposal did not yield very tangible results. We have already had one clue, at BiHington, but the late


which Air Pilling requested information is recorded as having taken place in AD 798, and of this the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says: "Ibis year there was a great fight at HweUeage (which is under­ stood to be Whalley in the land of the Northumbrians) during Lent, on the 4th before the nones of April, and there, Alric, the son of Herbert was slain and many of those with him.” Of the same event Simeon:


of Durham wrote: “A conspi­ racy having been organised by the murderers of Ethelred the king, Wada, the chief of the conspiracy, commenced a war against Eardwulph and fought a battle at a place called by the English Bfflingahoh, near Walalega and after many had fallen on both sides, Wada and his army were totally routed.”


Canon Raines, noted Man­ chester historian, wrote that he believed it to be “on the flanks of Langho FeU” He also recorded that, “ In the year 1836, as Thomas Hub- bersty, the farmer at Broc- khall, was removing a large mound of earth at Brockhall Eaves, about 500 yards from the bank of the Ribble, on the left side of the road leading from the house, he discovered a kist-vaen, formed of rude stones, containing some hu­ man bones and some, spear heads of iron. The whole crumbled to dust on exposure to the air.” Other theories advanced


are that the battle was at Elker and Buckfoot near the Ribble, while our own Doctor Whitaker spent many frus­ trating hours researching near Hacking Hall at the confluence' of - Calder and Ribble. This seems to be all the


history books can-tail us, but with a little thought we can learn much more. We know,


--------- :::: “Well,” inquires Mr Pilling, ■ for instance, that following


this sanguinary conflict, many widows would weep in lonely beds, many children would go barefoot and fatherless, that many maidens would shed bitter tears as they waited in vain for the return of a young hero who lay on a stricken and blood-stained field. We know, too, that many


homes would be ransacked, burned and pillaged, farm­ steads would be destroyed, that crops would be trodden, into the earth and trampled underfoot before they had barely begun to grow and that, for years to follow, the district would bear the desol­ ate and desecrating scars of a fruitless battle. And that nowhere would


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the grief be deeper than four - five miles away in Wadding- ton, to which township the Chieftain, Wada, was said to have given his name. So, is it not, with ad wars? In the greater conflicts that


•have tom the earth in recent years, whichever side was acclaimed the eventual victor, the end result has _ been shortages, poverty and in due course, disaster. Man is awfully slow to learn


from history, all that has been written appears to be ignored as recent events in our own country would tend to confirm and, as' the centuries prog­ ress, it seems, some things don’t become bigger, better, or more efficient, but bigger,


■ more destructive and, regret­ fully, much; much worse. -


... J.F. - \


| H O O A1


g .1


T L<


at the back of a drawer at a Leagram farmhouse, has revived memories of bygone days when cheese-making was a recognised, farmhouse in­ dustry in Chipping. The medal was awarded


to dairy farmer Mr Henry


Rich for “ three cheeses of not more than. 12!b. en.dri. aCircling the inscription


■Whalley coat o f arms. __ On the reverse is a type of goddess figure holding a


tre sheaves of wheat and he three fifties seen on the


sheaf of com and sur­ rounded by farming imple­ ments. The inscription reads “ Whalley A g r i c u l t u r a l


Mr Rich's grandson, Jeff, Jubilation


who farms at Leagram. He remembers his grandmother making cheese at the farm,


and as a boy he slept m a. room once used to store


cheeses. Even more vivid memories


of the award were recalled by Mr Tom Rich, of Chip­ ping, one of Henry’s t«o


sons.


Society, established 1810.” "Ihe medal was found by


the forefront, the custom was for the women to make


With no womens lib to ...


the cheeses, but for the men to show them and collect the


F O RM E R C l i t h e r o e MayorMr Sidney Moore holed in one at the short eighth at Clitheroe Golf Club on Satur­ day. He was playing with a Burnley man, Mr Leslie Saxby.


mother making cheese at Throstle Nest Farm and then at Leagram. It must have been an almost full­ time task for ihe farmer’s wife, for the 401b cheeses were made every day in summer and every other day in. winter. They were taken by horse


praise and the awards. Mr Rich remembers ids


last Thursday in the month. Mr Rich says his mother


entered her cheese at many shows, including the Royal Old England, the London Dairy and the Royal Lanca-


cular medal was for her first he recalls, this parti­


entry at the Whalley Show. Afterwards, being a new­ comer to Chipping, she wa3


congratulated by the then squire of Leagram Hall. The result was a long-standing order from Leagram for & dozen 141b. Cheeses every year; an order which con­


tinued for 40 years. In those days there were


many cheese and wine parties at the hall and the


custom was to place a whole cheese on the table and slice


NFU chief


off the ton. Guests spooned out their


and ixap — and later by hired wagon — to be sold


at Preston market on the


helpings of cheese and at the end of the evening any left-over whisky was poured into the cheese and the " l id ” replaced for another time.


NEW chairman of the Lanca­ shire branch of the National Farmers’ Union is a Lancaster man, Mr Chris Halhead, of Park House Farm, Bay Horse. He will hold the office


for one year.


two sisters would often help their mother with the cheese ■n-oHrig in the farm kitchen.


Mr Rich, his brother and


The curds were kept warm in large containers on the shelves of a dresser by the


side of the fire. Butter was also made and


then the remaining whey was left outside in tube to be fed to the pigs. Hie medal will now be


LADIES i


carefully put away again, possiMy to be brought out in


STEP INTO SPRIN G WITH A NEW


years to come when the cheese story is retold to Henry's great-grandchildren, Sarah and Philip.


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