tyke wrote:
Are we not missing the point here. This is a historical discussion forum (a place for open discussion). A place for showcasing new research. Not a historical archive. What some contributors seem to be doing here is trying to use this forum as a historical archive.Tthat is a different thing and would be catalogued and indexed fully. One assumes the contributors on here do keep copies of their research and can access it them themselves. Whats actually needed is a properly constructed archive for this information which can either be online on on someones own computer. Sorry but lets try and stop trying to turn this forum into something that it isn't. Remember the forum is run by unpaid volunteers.
Hello Tyke,
You may or may not be correct in what you say; I really do not know.
But when we had the old forum a few of us posted items of what we believed to be of historical interest to Whaley Bridge. About 6 of us discussed various topics but only one was able to post photographs. Some of the things the others said I already knew about; some I didn’t.
Then along came this new forum and in within it were two separate headings:
General Discussion and Local History.
I have no idea who came up with the idea of a separate section for Local History but whoever it was must have thought that there was some merit in collecting material that related to Whaley Bridge.
Since the start of this forum 2 of the 6 historians are no longer with us. A very close friend of mine who gave me invaluable information about the Town and its people has also died.
On the other hand others have come forward with information and photos.
For instance Mrs Curious put a photo on here showing a fountain in Horwich End. I was immediately suspicious, as I had never heard of this, and even after asking people who I thought might know I couldn’t find one person who knew the slightest thing about it.
Indeed I even suggested at one point that Mrs Curious had somehow concocted the photo. But when I researched the matter further I found that not only was it genuine but there was a mass of background information about it.
This information would never have been available without that photo from Mrs Curious and I know probably most people have not the slightest interest in the history of the Town but some have and when people have lived here a bit longer they might want to know more.
Who knew anything of the Mass Trespass in Whaley? Who new the details of the train crash or the Walker Pit Disaster? Who knew anything about the current thread about Doctor Allan? Probably nobody. But they do now and these articles should be preserved.
I think the Local History section must have been introduced to be an archive. It is hardly a discussion section although the discussion is a very good thing.
On a lot of the threads there are questions and debates and this is excellent but Well Known Norm extracts the ‘pure’ content and puts it on our new web site.
Just as an example I was walking around Fernilee Reservoir just yesterday and I met some people from Bollington and as we were talking I mentioned that there used to be a suspension bridge across the reservoir. They really did find it hard to believe and I told them to look on this forum when they got home but now I can’t find it myself.
Anyway even though I have a fair collection of historical things relating to Whaley I’m not going to be around forever and who knows what will happen to all my stuff then?
So what goes on here should be recorded and archived.
Finally for those nice people from Bollington here is one of quite a few photos that I have of that suspension bridge that you found so hard to believe. I hope you do manage to find it on here.
R. S-S
