GRANNIE Mary Drew hasn't been back to look at her old home since she moved out three years ago.
She walked past it once; when she took a short cut to the hairdresser's. But she didn't look up.
"I couldn't. The house holds too many memories for me," she told me with a tear in her eye.
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"I thought it was the end of my life when I had to leave."
Her old home, on a corner of Lower Cross Street, just off Sudell Road, is at the centre of the wasteland which is awaiting the building of the new Darwen Academy.
The colourful curtains have been replaced by breeze-block; the flowers in the back-yard tubs have withered and died.
Tomorrow the High Court in London will hear an appeal against the proposed academy. But Mary, 77, has given up the fight.
"I went to all the meetings but we knew we were fighting a losing battle," she said.
"I have to get on with my life. I have to make the best of it."
Mary Drew was married in 1951 and soon afterwards she and her husband Bob, a miner down from Scotland, moved into the two-up-two-down which had been her mum's.
Their son Jim came along a couple of years later.
In 1990 she retired as a school meals supervisor and then her husband died after a two-year battle with cancer.
She lived there on her own until she finally moved out to a flat at Mayfield.
There are a lot of memories packed into over 50 years in that little terrace house. "We didn't need an excuse for a street party," she smiled.
"We'd have jumble sales to raise a few bob for the ice cream and the pop and we all made sandwiches.
"We always had a big bonfire and everyone made hot potatoes and turnip lanterns. No one had much money but we had a real community spirit. Everyone knew everyone else.
"Most folk thought of their home as a little palace. I certainly did.
"My son is a submarine officer in the Royal Navy but he was never ashamed to bring his wife and family down from Scotland to visit."
It was about six years ago that rumours of a new school started to circulate.
Then came the letters and the knock on the door. "It's been awful for a lot of folk," says Mary.
"They've moved out all over the place and they really miss it."
She told me: "I wish the school well. But you can have all your fancy schools. They won't be any good without good parents behind them."
And she has a little gift for the academy when it does open; a small piece of roofing slate with her neat, hand-painted inscription:
"This school was erected on the rubble of the homes of Darwen families who lived and worked in this area - some of them for most of their working lives - who had hoped to spend their retirement days here."
its not over yet,i hope those who started this foolish plan to build this academy,read this article and realise this is one example of a family who's history will disapear for good if the plans go ahead.i hope you rot while you sit at home!!!in your own home.and realise that you have deprived these families of that privelege.
its not over yet,i hope those who started this foolish plan to build this academy,read this article and realise this is one example of a family who's history will disapear for good if the plans go ahead.i hope you rot while you sit at home!!!in your own home.and realise that you have deprived these families of that privelege.
Oh Harry - not a very balanced piece eh? I wonder who you have been keeping company with? Couldn't be bothered to seek out those who have done very nicely out of the demolishion? Not very professional for a so-called seasoned hack. I wish I'd had a house on there to make a tidy profit! I certainly know people who've now got lovely homes with gardens or seen their business improve thanks to being given the opportunity to move with a nice financial package. I do have sympathy for the genuiene cases which I imagine Mary is but what she describes are memories, exactly that, that area is and was of late rough as anything. I certainly wouldn't want to attend a street party - it would be Special Brew all round! Once again - change is proposed in Darwen and everybody decides it can only be for the worse.
Oh Harry - not a very balanced piece eh? I wonder who you have been keeping company with? Couldn't be bothered to seek out those who have done very nicely out of the demolishion? Not very professional for a so-called seasoned hack. I wish I'd had a house on there to make a tidy profit! I certainly know people who've now got lovely homes with gardens or seen their business improve thanks to being given the opportunity to move with a nice financial package. I do have sympathy for the genuiene cases which I imagine Mary is but what she describes are memories, exactly that, that area is and was of late rough as anything. I certainly wouldn't want to attend a street party - it would be Special Brew all round! Once again - change is proposed in Darwen and everybody decides it can only be for the worse.
Posted by: Apolitical, Darwen on 6:07pm Tue 15 Jan 08
[bold]The matter is by no means over[/bold] . The High Court has reserved its judgment for two to three weeks. The Council has acted corruptly from day one of this entire scheme. Let us hope that the Court will see this - bogus surveys - lies as to the intended use of the site, even when a decisions for an Academy had already been made - house holders receiving less than market value for their homes and having to enter into shared equity. The council leaders and administration are to blame. [bold]If the High Court doesn’t decide in favour of the residents the European Courts probably will. There may be some way to go before we see justice. [/bold] Nice article Harry.
The matter is by no means over . The High Court has reserved its judgment for two to three weeks. The Council has acted corruptly from day one of this entire scheme. Let us hope that the Court will see this - bogus surveys - lies as to the intended use of the site, even when a decisions for an Academy had already been made - house holders receiving less than market value for their homes and having to enter into shared equity. The council leaders and administration are to blame. If the High Court doesn’t decide in favour of the residents the European Courts probably will. There may be some way to go before we see justice. Nice article Harry.
Almost everything in central Darwen is built on the rubble of former homes. You only have to look at old maps or photos of the centre of Darwen to see that.
Almost everything in central Darwen is built on the rubble of former homes. You only have to look at old maps or photos of the centre of Darwen to see that.
It is a touching story, isn't it? But was Mary Drew one of the people who lived in a house which the Council acquired or did she move to Mayfield because it was a more modern and better property? These columnists like to tug at the heartstrings and although I don't read Harry's column I expect that he is no different a journalist than the others - they like a scoop!! As I have said previously I have every sympathy for those residents but I now believe that it is time to get on with the job, get the disgusting site cleared and buildings knocked down so that at least the area can be made to look respectable - it is a disgrace at the moment.
It is a touching story, isn't it? But was Mary Drew one of the people who lived in a house which the Council acquired or did she move to Mayfield because it was a more modern and better property? These columnists like to tug at the heartstrings and although I don't read Harry's column I expect that he is no different a journalist than the others - they like a scoop!! As I have said previously I have every sympathy for those residents but I now believe that it is time to get on with the job, get the disgusting site cleared and buildings knocked down so that at least the area can be made to look respectable - it is a disgrace at the moment.
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