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Lees
Lees maps
Historic maps of Lees and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Lees maps
Lees photos
We have no photos of Lees, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Oldham| Grasscroft| Mossley| Delph| Shaw| Chadderton| Denshaw| Castleton| Hyde| Tintwistle| Mottram| Rochdale| Marsden| Norden
Lees area books
Displaying 1 of 17 books about Lees and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Lees
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Lancashire memories
Tay Mill And Lodge
As children we used to play in the half demolished Tay Mill, and fish for tiddlers in the mill lodge. Our parents used to tell us to stay away otherwise Granny Green Teeth would get us.
Billy's Greengrocer
Billy's Greengorcer - a small shop on the corner of Hebron Street where you could buy fruit and veg, and almost anything else. In those years there was not an awful lot of choice.. two lots of potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, and lovely spring cabbage (although I hated anything green at that time). Billy Greenwood was a very enterprising older (at least he seemed very old, but probably only about 40 ) purveyor of goods. You could ask for almost anything, if he didn't have it stock he would somehow magically produce the item the next day. Mrs Greenwood boiled beetroots in her tiny kitchen behind a heavy curtain that separated the shop from the living quarters. Her home boiled ham was second to none... Many times my mother would ask for 1/4 lb of boiled ham with some salad, and tomatoes and that was our Sunday tea for 4! No wonder there was never any question of being "overweight". Further up the road was "Alfie's" sweet shop, complete with a small... Read more
The Knight Family
My grandmother Maria Knight nee Ward born 1888 was brougt up in the Hillgate area of Ashton where her father owned three shops. The eldest of tweve children she rarely went to school her father would rather pay the fines as she was needed to help at home. Eventually she escaped by marrying a customer Harry Knight from Bolton. In 1910 they emigrated to Canada where Harry worked for The Bell Telephone Company. On the outbreak of war in 1914 Harry joined the Canadian Army I remember a huge photograph of a battalion of men plus horses by Niagara Falls taken before they were shipped off to the Western Front. Maria was fortunate that Harry's wage was paid to her throughout the war and on his return in1918 had saved enough money to return to Ashton and buy a business. They opened Knights Fish and Chip Shop in Warrinton street which became a thriving family business. I remember porters from Charlestown Station bringing fish packed... Read more
Ashton 1940 - 1947
I lived in Ashton from 1940 to 1947 when I joined the Royal Air Force. I went to Heginbottom Modern School until 1944 and then became a tool maker apprentice at the Joshua Heap factory. At the same time I became a member of 247 Squadron ATC at the grammar school, as it was war time, we trained ready to enter service. Ashton was then a safe place to walk about, it had plenty of cinemas and I enjoyed dancing or roller skating at the Palais de Dance. I had many good friends, to name a few: Harry Henshaw, Bill Podmore, Albert Henshaw and Norman Carter.
FAILSWORTH
We came to live in Failsworth in l956 when I was 8, we lived in Firs Avenue where the school clinic was held at what used to be Firs Hall, where I believe the owner or manager of the local mill lived. There was an air raid shelter still in the back which wasn't knocked down until the mid 1970s - so it had 30 years of kids playing in it, sliding down it on coal shovels when it snowed. A lot of my relatives lived in Failsworth, Dean Street, Dalton Street and Mather Street where I went to school until I was ll. There was a pig farm nearby and an old clay mine which was still dug out, full of rubbish and water in which we floated about in old, leaky tin baths - in all that muck, getting covered in lead paint and burning oily rags in tins with holes in, my sister used to make with a handle made out of string so they could... Read more
I Remember Firs Hall
I remember Firs Hall, I lived on Oldham Road next to the Brown Cow pub, our house was 303a. It was this number because it apparently used to be part of the house next door and so when it was made into two they could not re-number the whole road so we got an 'a' after our number. I also used to play in the air raid shelter just like Jaques and I remember the brilliant bonfires we used to have in "the backin" as we used to call it, all the mums used to make food hot pot and parkin and toffee and the dads let off fireworks, good good days they were.
St Johns's School
I was at St John's about this time and I am looking for infomation re teachers' names, the name of the sweet shop on the corner of Flag Alley, plus any other interesting info of that time. I lived in Hibbert Crescent and was born in 1937. Thank you.
