Growing Up As A Boy In Stubbins

A Memory of Stubbins.

I was born at 12 Ashwood Avenue on Peel Brow estate Ramsbottom in 1952.
My father after being demobbed from the eighth army in 1945 had always and continued to work in cotton mills.

In 1960 our family moved to 270 Bolton Road North Stubbins as my father was working twelve hour night shifts at Cuba mill and felt it prudent to be living in close proximity to his work place.

In the sixties the village of Stubbins was a real booming industrial workplace with hundreds of mill workers descending upon the various factories every working day via means of the trains and Ramsbottom urban district councils single decker "Rammy Rocket" bus service.

Some of the mills worked seven days a week such as the paper mill that was then known as Cromptons but the majority of employment was generated from "King Cotton" and the Turnbull and Stockdale Mills.

The initial process started with the bales of raw cotton being brought to Chatterton weaving shed.
Once woven into fabric it would be transferred to the "Croft" mill to be bleached.

After this process the material would be moved to either "Rosebank or "Edenwood mills for printing.

The next procedure would encompass the printed cotton to be manufactured into curtains, cushion covers or the heavy duty plain white material made into military uniforms.
These finished goods were without doubt of the best and finest quality and exported through out the world with customers that included the royal yacht "Britania".
The whole concept of the T&S company provided a very close knit community spirit that generated lots of jobs with plenty of shops to serve the public and where most people cared for each other.

The "Corner Pin" pub was at the start of the premises that purveyed goods and services to the residents and workforce of the village followed with an off license that traded as Nolans. Next door was a bakery that was known as Brierleys that was later sold to Fosters.Further on was the post office that was next to the fruit, veg and fishmongers of Mr. Roy Barnes.The Smethurst family traded from the next shop selling just cigarettes and tobacco, ice cream and sweets.Burt Braddock butchers was the next shop with a road gap that separated the block from the news paper shop that was run by the Crook family for whom I became employed as a paper boy.A second bakers shop was Sergeson's that was on the next block and above was a gents barbers. Virtually opposite was another butchers shop that was owned by Dick Ireland and his wife followed by a ladies hair dressers and of course the Co-op.Finally opposite the Co-op was the fish and chip shop that was owned by Mary and Norman Booth.

Porrits and Spencer was also another large employer within the village and several people were also employed at the gas works.

To allow double decker buses to travel from Ramsbottom to Edenfield via Stubbins the road under the arch of the railway bridge needed to be modified to accomodate the extra height of these vehicles, hence I can remember the road being closed for what felt at the time an eternity whilst the work was carried out.

Unfortunately, cotton is no longer "King" but I have fond memories of the sixties and those days plus the real characters of so many people many of whom spoke in local dialect.

Today I am very proud to live in this village in a house known as "Fernclough" that was formally the residence of William Turnbull the founder of the process of calico printing that brought jobs and prosperity to so many Lancashire folk.

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