Brought a few memories back with that one Charlie. As a kid in the late forties and early fifties, I seem to remember a club down there we used to call the Bomb and Dagger (it was an Irish Club) expecting to see blokes with cloaks and round bombs going in! It never happened of course. I remember Johnny and Maurice Entwistle lived there, (I was in the parish scouts with them) and then their mother bought a junk shop (OK - Antiques to be posh!) on Twist Lane opposite what was the Navigation Pub, a real spit and sawdust job in those days. There was an abbatoir on Buchanan Street, where the blood used to run out into the drains and down the grids! Remember Freddie Trueman standing all day outside Boardmans on Railway Road, trying to entice customers? The there was Fred Brooks posh jewellers and Pasquills toffee shop across from the Palace cinema. Happy days! Jimmy Ledgard, Charlie Pawsey, Trevor Allen and Teddy Kerwick (he died last year) were among our best names in those days.

What I found interesting was the early location of the fans who posted. Westleyth and Butts Bridge seemed very dominant. RL = Historic Working class roots, same as soccer. We are still trying to re-establish ourselves since the decimation of local industry in the 70's and more so 80's imo

The Bomb and Dagger was a Socialist club on the corner of Boughey St and Wilkinson St.

It wasn't Irish although I am sure some Irish people must have patronised it.

I remember as a kid going on the annual day trips to Southport on the double decker busses paid for by the club.

Almost all of the kids I grew up with used to be fans of Leigh RLFC.

Clitheroe, did either Johnny or Maurice have a couple of children called Paul & Gillian?

,another thing ,
Jimmy ,you have definatly brought back a few memories for me also , i was brought up in Wilkinson St , at no 50,the Bomb and Dagger , was just a nickname for the club , mainly because of the beliefs of some of the Patrons

all my family were members there,as was Salfordlads , its real name was the Leigh Socialist Club , a green building , part brick ,part wood ,very few strangers went in , well they might of gone in but didnt come out





, my Grandad worked there , and my Grandma used to have the Artists stay at our house overnight ,as Frank says we use to go on trips with them to Southport .
I also remember Entwhistles second hand shop , on Twist Lane , the abbatoir, was Yates and Greers in Bengal St , we used to go and watch them deliver the pigs live , it was very funny when one escaped and ran down Railway Road ,happy days , i remember Railway Road had some very good shops in those days , its nothing now.

Its funny how people remember things that area is unrecogniseable now the Bomb and Dagger is flats now

so is the old Mission Hall ,the People from Boughey St were considered the rough end of the area

Frank , why were the Oddfellows Arms and the Live and Let Live , called Scotches and Toddys ?

You can get lost after your comment about Boughey St.



At least we had flushing toilets.

Frank i remember a few from Boughey St

the Colliers , and Teddy Landers , as well as June Millican ,and Dirty Gertie from Gregory St







.

Sorry Peggy - I don't know. I lost touch with John when we left scouts and I played rugby at Leigh RUFC with Maurice for a short spell, but haven't heard of him since the early 60's

I grew up in Ellesmere St and did some of my "early" drinking in Bomb and Dagger. Best place for a few Irish "sedition songs" was St. Gabriel's Club on Higher Fold. Re Wilkinson St - do you remember Cook's Bazaar?
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