I


I CUTHEROEADVERllSERfiTlMES


'www.cliUieroeadvertiser.co.uk Thursday,Decemberll,2014 Thursday, December It, 2014 www.clitheroeadvertiserco uk •.Cv>- Memories of an


and the girl he made his bride


Elsie was swept off her feet by Sapper Ron


BY ERIC BEARDSWORTH eric.beardsworth@]press.co.uk


Twitten@c!ithadvertiser


Elsie Sheather was one of many "Sapper brides” from the CHtheroe area during the Second World War.


And recent articles in the Clitheroe Advertiser, look­ ing back at when a Royal En­ gineers training battalion was


1 based at Low Moor, prompt­ ed her to share the wartime memoirs of her late husband Ron, who was a bandsman. The Sussexlad wrote about


being transferred to a part of the country he didn’t know,' playing with the band for offi­ cial occasions and local danc-


es, and howhe met a Chatburn Mill worker, Elsie Embley, who would become his wife. Elsie,npwnearinghergoth


birthday and living at Bexhill- on-Sea, Sussex, since the war ended, recalls: “There were


quiteafewofuslocalgirlswho started courting with the sol­ diers.


“I don’t think the local lads


liked it much. “We got married at Chat-


burn in June 1945 and Son was demobbed in December.


_ We lived in Sussex ever since then, but I’ve still got relatives around Clitheroe. “it was interesting to read


in the Advertiser about the Royal Engineers and when'; they last paraded in 1974. . “Wecameupfortheparade


■ andrhetafewotherswhowere war-brides like me.”


In his memoirs, Ron wrote:


“The War Office (WO) had tak­ en over the Sunday School, which was more or less in


. the WO property, as it joined up with the hutted camp and


we had it for the band room. The bandmaster’s name was


. Roberts and he still wore the Scots trews. He was not very tall but quite a showman, as we found out. I think that after the first practice he must have thought‘What a motley crew’ aftercomingfromabandwith. professional players. After a while he did get us into a pass­ able band after a lot of shout-. ing and swearing.” The band would play for , the battalion’s Sunday church


Elsie Sheather with her late husband Ron.


parade at St Paul’s, Low Moor, and most Sunday evenings they gave concerts in Clit­ heroe and other Lancashire towns. :


Ron recalled: “One piece


was called ‘The Battle of Wa­ terloo’ which was something like the 1812 overture. We had some extras from camp to let off the gunshots and thunder- flashes for the battle scene, with the lights flashing. It was quite effective.” '


• The “Sappers” got to know some of the local girls and


B :


would walk them home, often pickingupsomefishandchips


• ontheway. Ron wrote: “We were not


allowed to eat fish and chips in the street and so we never opened them. We scratched a hole in the top of the wrap­ ping and picked out the fish and chips from there. Some of the recruits had not learnt this and were caught by the Regimental Police and put on a charge. The first job for thoseon ‘jankers’, as we called it, was to go half a mile up the


road and pick up the fish and - chip papers.”


It was on New Year’s Eve


1943. at a ball at King Lane in Clitheroe, when Ron met El­ sie, whom he described as “a real smasher.” Ron wrote: “At midnight,


as it was tradition to give each other a kiss, we had our first kiss together.”


Ron walked Elsie to her friend’s house in Clitheroe,


and asked her to go to the cine­ ma with him during the week. “We arranged the day and time and what bus she would


be on, and she said that if I was not there she would not wait


•' forme.Thatwastellingme.no messing about.


Sfe-‘ M S # . • “V v ■


7 “I was over the moon and ’ couldn’tunderstandwhysuch


■ a lovely girl like her wanted to talktome.” 1 - „


:■ . Only a couple of months later, Ron was posted to Skeg-


. ness for intensive training and saw action during the D-Day


III I I k ? 1 The band leading a battaiionmarch through Clitheroe d u r iiig t te^ r ' r


>' landingsthenthroughFrance and Belgium to Nyniegen as ■ part of the 50th Division! But


he never failed to send letters back to Chatburn and his be- lovedElsie.' .


c l is a success


Anindicationoftheimproving local economy is the success story of the rural office devel-


opmentatManorCourtwhich is situated between Dinckley andRibchester. Janice and Colin Mus-


© toe acquired the Salesbury Hall Estate 10 years ago. They built a new Salesbury Hall but were left with a number of farm buildings of varying ages which were progressive­


l y faffing into disrepair. Five


years ago following a number of planning applications the redevelopment commenced ’


+ with phase one which resulted Before and after images of Manor Court (s)


in the courtyard development. Before and after pictures are shown here. Some o f the buildings were very old and had to be painstakingly re­ constructed - very little new material was used as almost all the original stonework,


beams, roof tiles were recy­ cled.


This first phase proved


incredibly successful and- planning was then obtained •


.'to add additional offices in a large barn in two further phases. The barn was partly


rebuilt and random stone to match the first phase was add­ ed. These two phases also used a new biomass heating system


which uses timber sourced lo­ cally. In all the total development


has provided 41 office suites and all, but two 624 sq ft offic­ es, are now let. One of the main issues


faced was poor broadband speeds. This was resolved by laying a private fibre.optic cable back to Ribchester Ex- ! change. -


' ’


A further addition has been the installation of-two ‘


powergeneratorswhichauto- matically “kick in” when pow­


er cuts occur-predicted to be more frequent in the future. The offices are run by Ka­


tie Bancroft who takes great satisfaction in helping to cre­


ate such a positiveatmosphere between the many different


companies at Manor Court. They vary from small start up companies to branches of


mqjorinternational organisa­ tions. Katie is delighted that


the offices have all been let so quickly and even has a small waiting list.


The entire project has


been designed by Duncan Isherwood of architects Sun­ derland Peacock based in Clit­ heroe and Chards Interiors


who undertook all the build- ingwork. Due to its rural location,


there are two defibrillators on site - one at Masters Personal Training which occupy two of the offices within the court­ yard development and one within the large barn conver­ sion. Northwest Ambulance Services have held training courses so many of the devel­


opment’s tenants hold a cer­ tificate.-


i&nr- imm* .#*fflfci’V.Sr/J ift £ I CUTHEROEADVERTISERSTIMES -V , m r , ■'\r.r I- j j


Dedication services held to honour wartime airmen who died in the Ribble Valley FEATURE


jm k - ' - ;C > ' b y Fa iz a At z a a l ..


feEaaftaal0jpr0ss.co.uk' Twitter: ©


clithadvertiser- - I H r ^ oignant services


I 1 J f wereh’eldattwo - I H «^-beauty spots'


I i > t0 remember I


-.w ar heroes who crashed and died in the .


Ribble Valley during the Second World War.; .• Ribble Valley MP Nigel


Evanswasamongtheguests ■ who attended to pay his •


respects to the fallen at the dedication services held at


Pendle Hill and Salter Fell, Slaidbum. The services were made possible by community'


.


stalwart arid Clitheroe Youth ’ Forum leader Mel Diack MBE. Along with help from young ' members of the Forum, the : “We Shall RememberThem” project comes after a two- and-a-half-year appeal and. has identified the names and - nationalities of25 airmen who lost their lives in 15 accidents; ; ’ .. Flying conditions were far from ideal on February i’v 6th, 1944, but this did not -. -


deter a flight of five Republic . P47T h u n d e rb o lta ir c ra ft?


Prayersforthe airmen who died in the Ribble Valley . - ThadedicationservieetohonourairmenwhodiedintheRibbleValley


taking off from RAF East Wretham, Norfolk, flyingto


RAF Warton. One aircraft piloted by USAAF Flying -


Officer Runnells became separated from the flight; as conditions deteriorated F/O Runnells is believed to have continued flying on ■ instruments until his fuel ran out and he crashed on Pendle Hill losing his life. Flight Sgt ■ J.L.Goulter.oftheRoyal - - Australian Air Force, was - flying' a Boulton Paul Defiant


night fighterduring”aroutine -


' ferry flight from RAF Manby,. , Lines to Number 10 Air v f . Gunners School at Barrow- v ! in-Fumess on October 24th; '


1 9 4 2 . The plane stalled and crashed in a hailstorm near Gisburn and F/S Goulter


was sadly killed. These two airmen were remembered at Pendle. The'service was - , led by Clitheroe Parish Church’s the Rev. Andy Fraud, and was attended by Peter


Robinson OBE, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire, ■ Coun. Jim Shervey, Deputy


. Mayor of Clitheroe, Squadron Leader Gary Lane and Ralph Assheton. Members of the- ' Lancashire Police Cadets and


Clitheroe Youth Forum were - also present. * ■


:


; ; Another service was held . at Salter Fell near Slaidburn


. MPNigelEvansatthe - * 8 B 8 i ■ dedication service. - Deputy Lieutenant Peter Robinson.


; on the same day in memory of nine airmen who were kflled in different crashes . , . ! inthearea.TheywereT/Sgt. ' Phillip Mazzagatti, 2nd Lt. Orvie 0. Casto, 1st Lt. James


E. Fields, S/Sgt Edgar E. Lyon all of the USAAF, killed when


their B24 Bomber crashed - on Burn Fell on January 2nd,


1945- (By amiracle 15 other -


airmen survived this crash); 1st Lt.H.L.Periy USAAF and ' 2nd Lt.S.L. White USAAF, • ', both piloting Lockheed P38’s '


. killed on January 26th, 1943, SgtW.R.CoveneyRAFand PilotOfficerJ.M.Gilmer ■


RNZAF flying an Armstrong


Whitworth Whitleykilled - on May 2nd, 1940, and Sgt.


P. Struniewski, Polish RAF killed on February 25 th, 1945,- flying a Mustang.


- This service was led ' by the Rev. George Darby,


vicar of St Andrew’s Parish Church, Slaidbum, and was attended by a large contingent ofyoung people from the Polish communities


% \


in Southport, Blackpool, Preston and Blackburn: The' Polish NatiorialAnthem 1 9 was led by Witold Paciorek


• and prayers were said by Ft ■ - Robert Pypelfrom the Polish


Roman Catholic Church in Blackburn.


Commenting on the f ,


services, Mel Diack (61), • said: “The Clitheroe young . people have done a great ; job in researching these ' n


airmen. They should never be forgotten and the work that ■ ‘ . the group has done will gov -. some way to make sure that , - * the stories and the sacrifices ofthe pastare passed onto futuregenerations. - - “Thepresence and -'- ! -'


Polishyoungpeoplewasa'n' , inspiration to us all.”


contribution made by thVv'- 'l ': ; ’ >


39


Valley churches open their doors for Christmas services


Traditional services, carol singing, Nativity scenes and


niuch more have been organ­ ised by Clitheroe churches for their congregations, guests and friends for Christmais. Clitheroe Christians in


Partnership haVe published their Christmas timetable to help people celebrate over the coming two weeks: - -'


Ctithoroa CommunityChurch,ITie . ™>9'» Centro, MDIth'ofnoAvenue ' • . (offHenthom Road)


' .:


Sunday December21st 10-30 am ( ^ ' Traditional CarolSeryice-Carols and ' ' • ' readings followed by mince pies and ’


coffee. 2 pm Activity and Nativity. A nativity a service with a difference; craft activities,


. free refreshments and then all the children are mvrted totake part in the telling of the -


■ Chnstmasstory.Whynotcomedressedas ■ a nativity character, and really enter into the natmtyscene? ChristmasDay,Thursday25thDecembeR ■ 10 am to 11 am Celebrating theSaviour,


■


. a family-friendly time to celebrate and rememberthewonderofthefirst.


.Christmas. • ' StMaryMagdalene'MCIitheroeParish


:: Church)Church Street Sunday December 21st 3-30 pm Nine Lessons and Carols.


. Christmas Eve, Wednesday, December


. 24th:5-30pmChristingle;1l-30pm ;. Midnight Communion. .Christmas Day, Thursday, December25th: lOamFamilyChristmasCommunion., TheSalvationArmy.Lowergate Sunday, December 2isC 6 pm Christmas


1 CarolService. . Thursday, December 25th: 11-30 amto ” "


3-15 pm Christmas Dinner forthe Lonely ' For information please contact Captain Elizabeth Smith on 07709


StPaul's,LowMoor Thursday, December18th:7pm ■Lancashire Sings Christmas'at Low Moor Club.linkingwith Radio Lancashire Sunday,December21st:10-30 am Nativity


service for all ages-come dressed ready- adults tool Followed bya bring-and-share


lunch for the community. 6-30 pm Carol Service with choir.


, ChristmasEve,Wednosday24th December: 6 pm ChristingleService. 8 pm Christmas Communion.


St James, StJamesStreet,offWhalioy Road


• ,


SundayDecember2tst;6pm Carols by ' Candlelight, packed withtheoldand new; : carols,choir,dramaandmore.:


Wednesday,December24th:4pm ! ChrisUngle.ths favourite for allthe femily.


. .11-30 pm Midnight Communion. Be one of „ the firstto celebrate Christmas Day-


Thursday, December25th:9am Holy Communion, the quieter way to start the ■ day. 10-30 am Christmas Day Family Service, celebration for the wholefamity.


St Michael andSt John's Lowergate, Clitheroe


SaturdayDecember20th:1lamtonoon ExposiUon. 11 to 11.45 am Reconciliation:


• ofSunday. .


Noon Eucharistic service. 6 pm First Mass . ■


: Sunday, December 21st 9-30am Mass. Monday,December22nd:7-30pmMass. '


- Tuesday, December 23rd:9 am Mass,


Wednesday,December24th:11amtonoon Reconciliation.5-30pmCarols. 6pm Christmas Mass.


- -


Thursday,Docember25th:10am’- > Christmas Mass'.


.DayMass. • • , Saturday, December 27th:11 am to noon


. Friday, December26tluNoonSt Stephens


Exposition. Noon Eucharistic service. 6 pm First Mass ofSunday. . ■


,StMaryb,Sabden _• . ;


, ‘ Sunday, 21st Docembertll am Mass. : : r Wednesday, 24th Docpmber:11 am to !


United Reformed Church, Moor Lane Tuesdays,December16th&23rd: 12- 30 pm Clitheroe Christians in •


Christmas Eve, Wednesday, December - ‘ 24th:11pmJointMidnightCommunion "


;, preacner Rev. Michele Jarmany , . . ■ ■ ChristmasDay,Thursday,De(^ber25th:


11- 30Reconciliation.7-30pmCarols.8pm ■ ' 9-30amChrisbnasFamilyservice^-•’ - •Christmas Mass.


7 .


PartnershipAdventservicefollowedbya soup lunch. ■ ■ - -


Friday,December12th:7pmReadstone - Choir light music concert in aid of the


' -


Sunday,December 21s t 10am Nativity 77 Service led by theyoung people'. 6pni ' -' /-.• Christmas Carol Service. ■


: / .7; .-•'.•


includingmincepieandmulledwine.-T.-: - . 1 Monday,December15th:7pm‘A Dickensian Christmas' by Ribcaged Theatre - ' :


Company,admlssion£8,refreshments - available. ' .• 7


• - .- '7


Sunday December 21st 10-30 am Nativity - Service forall the family. -


, MidnightHolyCommunlohserviceat Trinity:


.Methodist Church, led by Rev. Michele •-*;•-' Jarmany. v •} ? - x-


ChristmasDay,Thursday December 7 . 25th:10 am qhristmas Morning Worehip, 7 preacher Rev. Ian Humphreys.


' J. ’ .


• Trinity Methodist Church, Parson Lane m, Sunday, DecemberMth: 6-30pm (at St ; -


James'ChurchlJoytoUie World 2014, • a concert by the Ribble Valley Choir


celebrating Christipas. ,7; ;-r ;


\ “ .


,


churchls building project. Admission E6. . ’7 . Christmas Eve, Wednesitay December ! , - 24th:11 pm Joint Methodist and URC; ' v 7 ' - f j j


g s - 0 Service at Tnnity Methodist Church, ■ ■ w »


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