| Royal Ordinance |
| noel | I'm getting a bit lost in all these subjects . One we haven't mentioned, I suppose strictly speaking it's in Chorley but I always regarded it as Leyland near as dammit is the "development" of the R.O.F. site. There were originally 1500 houses going on there but now with the attempts to save green land , this has been increased to 2000!!!
I don't welcome these developments . One reason I left Lancashire to go down to Wiltshire was the Central Lancashire New Town . Sadly my wife couldn't settle after 10 years down there and now I see the same sort of development is happening at my old stomping ground in Westbury.
Very sad.
The significant owl hoots in the night. |
| Lady Griffin | Mum worked at the R.O.F during the war and used to come home quite yellow as I remember at times.
They must still have been making shells for some time after the war as I applied for a job there in 1953 and had a l-o-n-g interview and an even longer medical then they decided it would be too much for me dealing with those huge shells.Glad they turned me down.
Mum used to tell me of the clean side and the dirty side and the perils of stepping from one to the other.Added to that was the target the place was for enemy bombers.As far as I can recall the bomb that wiped out Ward Street in Lostock Hall was on its way to Euxton.
When did it close?
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| Martin | quote:
I'm getting a bit lost in all these subjects
Would it be easier if we got rid of some of the Leyland forums and had all the topics listed under one Leyland Talk folder?
In The Pink |
| noel | quote:
quote:
I'm getting a bit lost in all these subjects
Would it be easier if we got rid of some of the Leyland forums and had all the topics listed under one Leyland Talk folder?
In The Pink
I think it would Martin, many of the topics seem to merge into each other. If a subject is not listed as "active" i.e. not been added to since your last visit, it gets a bit tedious searching around.
Noel
The significant owl hoots in the night. |
| noel | quote:
Mum worked at the R.O.F during the war and used to come home quite yellow as I remember at times.
They must still have been making shells for some time after the war as I applied for a job there in 1953 and had a l-o-n-g interview and an even longer medical then they decided it would be too much for me dealing with those huge shells.Glad they turned me down.
When did it close?
It's been winding down for a while. It was very active still back in 1987 when I returned from Wiltshire. I remember making some copper strip for their explosives. A girl of about 25 years of age used to visit me. Just after one visit back in 1992 she had a hand blown off in an accident. I believe the final straw, and I am a bit vague here was when they lost a huge contract to foreign opposition. Later the person in charge of procuring was sentenced to prison for accepting bribes from the opposition. It didn't do the factory any good though. Thet were bought out by BAe and closed down maybe 3 years ago? For a few years part of the land has been used by Runshaw College for it's business studies section. I stand to be corrected on the above history of it's closure, if anybody knows different please put your penneth in.
The significant owl hoots in the night. |
| anacortesdamp | Martin:
I would suggest a "Retired Topics" folder, so that people could revisit the old stuff if they needed to. Qualification for "Retirement" would be if nobody has posted a reply in 8 weeks. Just my thoughts.
Also, I'd recommend merging the forums that don't get very many posts.
Frank Damp
Anacortes, WA, USA
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| Martin | Hi Frank
Some folders have now been merged to make 'surfing' easier. There is also an archive feature that can put older posts into a seperate area.
In The Pink |
| Peter119 | While on the subject of the ROF, it would be an idea to think about one of Leyland's oldest houses within its confines, namely Worden Old Hall (the Farington's lived there until they rebuilt Shaw Hall and renamed it Worden Hall in Worden Park).
According to the English Heritage site, (which displays a pic of the present Worden Hall - by mistake - and yes they have been told numerous times), this is a grade II listed building that has been allowed to fall into disrepair in the care of the ROF.
Its supposed to be in the plans for restoration, we will see.
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| rocketmanjohn | Were the 'Farington's' the ones who spelt it 'ffarington'? Was the Squire the same chap ? I seem to remember these things, but senility is setting in.
John
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| noel | quote:
While on the subject of the ROF, it would be an idea to think about one of Leyland's oldest houses within its confines, namely Worden Old Hall (the Farington's lived there until they rebuilt Shaw Hall and renamed it Worden Hall in Worden Park).
According to the English Heritage site, (which displays a pic of the present Worden Hall - by mistake - and yes they have been told numerous times), this is a grade II listed building that has been allowed to fall into disrepair in the care of the ROF.
Its supposed to be in the plans for restoration, we will see.
That's news to me Peter, I didn't realise Worden Old Hall was within the boundaries of ROF. You live and learn. Must look that up and learn a bit more about it unless anyone else can throw more light on it.
The significant owl hoots in the night. |
| Peter119 | Hi John
Right on both counts, the Farington (or ffarington) family are the subject of the first lecture of the new season at Leyland Historical Society in September.
Peter
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| William R | I lived at Bent Bridge in the 1930`s and remember Lindsay Parkinson building the R.O.F. we used to walk on the site on Sunday afternoon, but wasn`t the big house called Buckshaw Hall? Does anyone remember the opening gala day, when Gracie Fields did a song for the crowds, was that at Lisieux Hall up Dawson Lane?
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| noel | quote:
I lived at Bent Bridge in the 1930`s and remember Lindsay Parkinson building the R.O.F. we used to walk on the site on Sunday afternoon, but wasn`t the big house called Buckshaw Hall? Does anyone remember the opening gala day, when Gracie Fields did a song for the crowds, was that at Lisieux Hall up Dawson Lane?
Welcome to the forum William , I would be interested to read anything you can offer about the building of the ROF. I was born in 1945 so it's always been there as far as my memory stretches.
The significant owl hoots in the night. |
| Martin | Hi Bill
I'm glad you finally made it onto the forum... I'm afraid 1930 is a bit before my time, but I'm sure someone will have some info on it.
In The Pink |
| William R | Hi Noel, Just a little taster about the R.O.F. The L.M.S.railway built a station to take the influx of workers who wrere directed to work there during the war, it was called the ROF Halt and had 6 or 7 platforms. There were also two large hostels built to house workers from away, one at Balshaw Lane in Euxton the other outside Chorley called Woodlands. Incidentally, I believe only one bomb hit the site,and that landed in the sidings, it didn`t explode and was displayed in the main works entrance foyer. I remember one plane dropped four bombs on the first fairway of Leyland Golf Club in 1943/4, I was in bed at the time - more later.
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| anacortesdamp | I remember the ROF station. I think it was still there when I was going to college at Salford by train in the early '60s. Presumably it was demolished at some point.
The one feature of the ROF that sticks in my mind was the destruction of the old WW1 ammunition. Every 20 minutes, from 09:00 to about 16:00 on weekdays, there was a loud bang. It was very noticeable at school during summer days when windows were open. When the job was finally finished, the lack of the regular bang was almost as noticeable.
Frank Damp
Anacortes, WA, USA
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