ON March 30, our guest speaker was Scott Berry, his subject was "More Radcliffe Then and Now".

Although he had lived in Farnworth all his life, a retired schoolteacher and historian, Scott's knowledge of Radcliffe was indeed something very special.

With the help of his projector and slides he took our members back many years in Radcliffe.

First we saw the oldest photo taken in 1854 of Radcliffe Bridge which was later replaced in 1904. Then we viewed Radcliffe's oldest known building, Radcliffe Tower dating back to the 12th century. The hall was a later edition to the tower built in 1403 by James Radcliffe.

We then saw the Tithe Barn at Tower Farm and the parish church at Church Green where the bells were installed in 1923 to commemorate those killed in the First World War.

We saw the Bridge Inn in 1908, an old fashioned tram car coming down Blackburn Street with the old fashioned policeman on duty. We saw St Thomas's Church as it was in 1819. St John's Church in 1866, there no longer, it was demolished in 1979. The new Jerusalem Church on Stand Lane built in 1902 now having been replaced with a new and modern church and Bradley Fold railway station in 1930.

We saw holiday makers boarding the train at Black Lane Station, this station was closed down in 1970. Radcliffe Bridge Station closed down in 1958.

We saw workers laying setts in the road up Sion Street in 1921, one of our members recognised the cottage where he lived 60 years ago. The Iron Bridge up Sion Street was built in 1881.

An old photo of the unveiling of the War Memorial in 1922. These old photos brought back a lot of memories to so many of our older members.

Our President thanked Scott for a very entertaining slide show and hoped that he would return at a later date with more photos of bygone days.

On April 27 Peter Watson will give us a talk on Ghost Stories, and our summer lunch will be on May 4.

TN