It was with wistful amusement when I read your article that the statue of Barbara Castle MP was being moved on to the Boulevard in Blackburn.
I thought of the many nights Barbara was having a laugh and a giggle with Blackburn’s gay community all those years ago, when my dear friend Ken Pilling was the landlord of the Merchant Hotel on Darwen Street.
Barbara was a good friend of Blackburn’s gay community. We used to drink in the side bar with Harold banging away on the honky tonk piano. Ken adored Barbara as we all did in those days.
The late Sixties and Seventies - what changes have been made since then. I often wonder what she would’ve thought of it all.
Barbara used to stay in the White Bull Hotel when she was in Blackburn and many a night she was escorted back to the White Bull along the Boulevard with a group of young Queens in those days, linking arms singing “Wish me luck as I wave you goodbye”.
What a pity back then we didn’t have phones with camera technology.
God bless her.
Back on the Boulevard where she rightfully belongs.
Adrian Garner aka Clitheroe Kate
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