West Craven Warriors v Hollinwood
Barnoldswick Town v West Didsby & Chorlton
The combination of being on-call and also early morning viewing of the rugby league world cup final meant a relatively local outing today.
So a trip out to North Lancashire, starting with a midday Bridge suffix hop from Sowerby to Hebden, with Northern stepping up to the challenge of the busiest rail Saturday of the year by shortforming their Leeds-Manchester service with two coaches vice four.
Onto the following York-Blackpool, which was termintaing at Preston due to a four month engineering blockade on the Blackpool branch as Network Rail are electrifying it. Two weeks in, the project is eight days behind schedule.
The line over Copy Pitt goes through the middle of no where. It originally served a number of very small coal mines, which became a strange enclave for the Cornish as they moved here as the requirement for miners coincided with the tin mines closing. The local stations between Burnley and Todmorden shut in the 1950s, and the line became freight only. However, in the 1980s, the National and Provincial Building society, a merger of the Burnley Building Society and the Bradford based Provinical Building Society, wanted to base all their operations in the latter, and shut the Burnley head office. As part of the deal for workers, they agreed to subsidise four return trains a day between Burnley and Bradford. These suddenly became very sucesful for other passengers to use for school, college and work, and so the line re-opened to full passenger use. It currently has an hourly semi-fast service between Blackpool and York, but the views are pretty bleak.
I was off at Burnley Manchester Road. This had closed in the 1960s as it was only served by Copy Pit line services, but re-opened in 1986 when the new passenger trains were introduced.
Burnley seems to permanently live its existence as the opening credits to 'Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads', with knackered trains on viaducts...
...and kids playing on brick strewn waste land. Turf Moor sits mid scene here.
The height of gastronomic sophistication in the town being a meal at the mechanics institute
Even more excitingly, I got to make use of the X43 bus which connects Manchester and Skipton, through such quaintness as Colne, Nelson, Burnley, Rawtenstall and Prestwich. As if that isn't a tourist attraction in itself, it is branded 'the Witch Way' to celebrate the area's proud tradition of witch burning. Apparently, nothing more marketable happening in Pendle since the 17th century.
A stunning road related fact; the place I was headed for is the largest town in the British Isles not to be served by any A roads.
That place being Barnoldswick. Now I could tell you that it was originally an agricultural hamlet on the lower slopes of Weets Hill in the Pennines astride the natural watershed between the Ribble and Aire valleys, but you wouldn't be interested. I could tell you that it grew when the Leeds and Liverpool Canal was opened through the settlement and it developed into a major cotton town, and you'd say, so what, so did half of Lancashire. But when I tell you Barnoldswick is the fourth longest place name in the British Isles, not to have a letter repeated, now you are interested.
My final destination being a short sign posted walk away.
No, not the recycling centre. I was heading for Victory Park, which despite opening in 1953, was actually named in commemoration of the first world war, it having taken thirty five years to build the place. It hosts a myriad of sports activities, such as the Bradley Wiggins junior cycle circuit...
...there was some fat people's football going on...
...but I stumbled upon my first (live) game of the day.
West Craven Warriors 68 v Hollinwood 0, Pennine Winter League - Division 2 West.
West Craven Warriors were formed in 1994, when there was enough demand from locals who were having to make the short journey over to Keighley to play. Originally a youth side, they joined the Penine league, and have made steady progress up the many divisions in the league, and are now at the third level, which is good going as they are geographically right at the fringes of the rugby league heartlands.
Hollinwood have been going since the 1980s, mainly as a result of one bloke who seems to do almost every role at the club. They focus on the winter league, winning it in 2015. These two sides are the only teams to compete in it on this side of the hills, it mostly being Yorkshire based.
The pitch is a former picth and putt course which was taken over for rugby use in 2008. It sits above the rest of the park, and has been levelled out, leading to the touchlines being surrounded by grass banking making some ideal vantage points.
Facilities are limited to the statutory Pennine league offering of a shipping container. As well as serving as a storage vessel for maritime logistics and a changing room for North British minority sports, this one also gave a lead for those with stove and flue liner problems. True versatility.
The game got underway.
The home side scoring straight away.
It then became noticeable that the visitors only had nine players.
The banking gave a great distant view of the players warming up in my next game.
The referee was under the impression that he was officiating the earlier world cup final, and insisted on stopping the game every ten seconds, and then giving a minute long narrative on why he had stopped the game.
The visitors bench started to lose a bit of interest once it got to 30-0, which was after about twenty minutes.
The warriors led the way in branded padded touch flags.
The home scoring continued into the second half, despite two more players arriving for the visitors.
The number of scores and the ref stopping play every ten seconds, meant the game was still in progress as the start time for the football neared, so I headed off before the end. A pleasant interlude before the main game of the day, it finished 68-0, though not even the highest score in the division, with Ovenden beating Cowling Harlequins 98-11, which rather oddly suggests that at some points the visitors went for a drop goal. Well, you wouldn't want to lose by eighty eight points, when you can reduce that to eighty seven.
A short walk took me here.
Barnoldswick Town 4 v West Didsby & Chorlton 1, Hallmark Security North West Counties League - Premier Division
After previous clubs had folded, Barnoldswick United were founded in 1972, moving up through the Craven & District, East Lancashire and then in 1997, into the pyramid proper and the West Lancashire League. In 2003 the club merged with some local junior sides to become Barnoldswick Town, with the new set up gaining promotion to the North West Counties League in 2008. They finished as runners-up in their North West Counties League, gaining promotion to the Premier Division at the first attempt.
Formed in 1908 as Christ Church by a local Sunday School, they originally played in the Manchester Alliance League, before changing to become West Didsbury and joining the Lancashire and Cheshire League in the 1920s. They stayed there until 2006, when they joined the Manchester League which they moved through to the North West Counties in 2012, winning the first division and are now in the Premier. I'd visited them last christmas on an annual pilgrimage of postponed Cheshire League games.
At various times, I think I've seen Barnoldswick play on every pitch in the park, but since their West Lancashire league days, they seem to have settled on this one at the far end of the site, and have now developed into into a very characterful ground.
The main cover dates from their old 'United' existence, and sits on the near touchline.
A series of covers are scattered down the near goal line, which also houses the changing rooms and social club.
Oddly, these are the ones with the seating in, the more substantial touchline stand being just terracing.
The far touchline is hard standing, with what appears to be grass banking.
However, it is actually rudimentary cover over a sewage pipe. Proper non-league feature.
Despite its limited capacity, the ground has three different entrances, all with very individual pay huts. This was my favourite, which looked like a teenage goth had adopted the tardis.
The teams emerged.
The game got underway, and it was now a reverse of earlier, being able to watch the rugby from the football ground.
I always thing that Barnoldswick is Britain's most typically northern sounding place name. Cleckheaton and Grimethorpe run it close, but this wins as it is also looks like the most typically northern place. So, spontaneous views of isolated torrential rain and mist on the moors...
...the main stand made of dry stone walling...
...the (original) club initials and date carved into it. Added to that is the northern trait of pronouncing the place completely differently to how it is spelt, in this case, 'Barlick'...
...one end of the ground being a stone farmhouse, in front of which the home side took the lead...
...friendly northern hospitable politeness from the committee. Midlands clubs would have threats of being set upon by guard dogs rather than being thanked twice in two sentences...
...no-nonsense stand names..
...with the sewer still evident, and the lucky sub being issued with the keep net and off to go and retrieve a wayward shot.
The visitors took a corner.
There was an odd @keepers_towel situation, with the away keeper having one in the first half, but not re-appearing with it in the second...
...whilst the home keeper was devoid in the first half, but had seen the error of his ways in the second.
It was a three o'clock kick off with was a very cloudy day, making it very gloomy early on.
Approaching half time and with the sun having given up the battle with the clouds, the floodlights were already required.
The ground is actually known as the Silentnight Stadium, through sponsorship from bedding company who are based in the town. This picture was on the clubhouse wall, and I don't think I've seen a team photo where everyone looks so ill at ease, even the hippo looks like the photographer has its children locked in a cage somewhere.
The second half started, and the lights has warmed up so we could see the play again.
Despite being a goal behind, Wests' were far from out of it, and had most of the play at the beginning of the half.
But it was Barnoldswick scored a second.
And quickly a third, after the visitors made a hash of clearing the ball.
Play was accompanied by a read of an excellent programme, 52 pages of decent content for a quid.
The visitors did pull one back.
Only for the home side to get a fourth.
Both sides then had chances.
But there was no more score.
The game finishing 4-1 to Barnoldswick.
A decent game, a lovely ground and a very hospitable club. Very much recommended.
The other major employer in the town is Rolls Royce, who's design element of jet engines was based in the town. Plane cranks do tick off engine numbers, and the Rolls Royse ones are based in the RB-12345 numbering series, with RB standing for Rolls Barnoldswick. Anyway, walking past the site on the way to the bus stop, I was heartened to see that at last their was a punning sandwich shop name which was actually clever and appropriate. But then it occured that is there actually a saying 'choice of rolls/roles'? It then occurred to me that I may be over thinking the whole scenario.
So instead I concentrated on my main forte; taking blurred pictures of public transport.
I could have gone back via Burnley, but decided to mix it up a bit, and headed into Yorkshire.
Being dropped off outside Skipton station.
Where it was a Leeds bound class 332.
The journey was spent watching middle aged couples, dressed up for a night out in Leeds, trying to dodge the ticket collector and the £3.20 fare into Leeds. However, they were very bad at it as they kept claiming to have got on at stations the train didn't stop at or places that don't even have stations. I escaped the Yorkshire tightness by getting off at Shipley.
Where it was over to the other leg of the triangle and a Bradford Forster Square service.
Where a jaunt across the city centre, buzzing with jubilant Bantams celebrating their 3-1 victory over Plymouth and a place in the FA cup third round, took me across to Interchange, for a train back to Sowerby, though my phone had died by then so this was the last picture of the day.
But I got home safely, and a very pleasant jaunt around more local parts, and also very encouraging to see that a ground can still be developed in modern times, with some character and individuality, rather than just a 3G pitch and an Atcost pre-fab.
Oh, and a fishing net.
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