Monday 12th July, 2010



We began the day with an early morning 'constitutional" up Billinge Hill. This shot is of part of the walk up the hill. There is a beacon on top of the hill. In the old days there would be a lookout in beacons on a series of hilltops from the coast going inland and when any threats were seen coming - like the Spanish Armada - a fire would be lit on a beacon as a warning of a potential threat. The next lookout along would see the fire and know to light one himself to alert the next one along and so on.
I forgot to take a photo of the little stone building as we got very caught up with reading the graffiti. Almost all of it was carved in the stone and the earliest one we saw was from about 1870 and it has continued through to modern times. Because it's all carved in stone it doesn't appear to deface the building like modern painted graffiti does - in fact it almost seems to add to the character of the building.
The views from Billinge Hill are fantastic. You can see about 10 counties and 4 countries - England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales - on a clear day, that is!

We walked through some beautiful woods and countryside before going back to the hotel.

The next journey for the day was a bus ride to Wigan. This took us on the route that Ray used to ride his bike along to get to high school. In those days it was called Billinge and Upholland Secondary Modern. We could see the school from the bus. There was lots of reminiscing along the way. The Orrel Council buildings have not changed since Ray was and apprentice plumber on the council in 1965 - even the workshop itself where he was based is still there.

Wigan has changed so much since the last time Ray was there that he found it barely recognisable, but we did find the park where he and his family used to go for Sunday outings. It was quite a lovely park and is currently undergoing quite a bit of refurbishment as it is now heritage listed.

We then went to Wigan Pier - this wasn't in existence in Ray's time, but he knew about it. It was originally developed by George Orwell (of "1984" and "Animal Farm" fame). At the time the locals saw it as a joke. Wigan is not on the ocean, or even a river, but is on a canal. Apparently it was reasonably successful as a tourist attraction for a while, but is no longer in operation.

After we caught the bus back to Billinge, we went for a drive to Windy Arbour where Ray was actually born in a gypsy caravan on a farm. His grandparents (Winstanely) lived on the farm. the house is gone now. We drove around the area some more tracing other former family homes and some Heywoods in the churchyard at Downhall Green. The final drive was a wide loop around the the outer reaches of Billinge and back into town - I can't believe little boys used to ride bikes and ramble such distances. No wonder his mother says he was "never a bit of trouble". He would never have been home!!

Then it was back to Billinge for some elbow-bending work and more yarning to the locals.