In the 1970s and 1980s we all used to go out on trips and nights out together, socialising with the neighbours. The community was thriving and there was lots going on.
Some of the trips were arranged by locals in the Falcon Bearer. We went to Blackpool and to the pubs and clubs in Manchester. The Calypso Night was one I remember. Milly, who was a big lady, her husband was called Frank, she dressed up as Carmen Miranda, complete with the fruit, and didn’t stop dancing all night. The band were so pleased with her reaction, they asked if she’d come to their next gig to help create the atmosphere!
Tag Archives: Charlie Lockwood
Lily Bell, the Lady of the Lakes
I can remember a lady called Lily Bell, she was also known as Lily Cooper. She was a championship swimmer who came to live on Longridge. She joined Warrington Swimming Club and started to swim various local lakes and meres as part of her training for long distances. She started with Pickmere and other local meres, then went on to swim Windermere and Coniston Waters. She became known locally and further afield as ‘The Lady of the Lakes’.
From an interview with Charlie Lockwood in 2015.
Interviewers: Diane Lomax and Lucy Beesley.
An interview with Charlie Lockwood
Lucy Beesley’s handwritten notes from an interview with Charlie Lockwood in 2015.
Amy Long memorial, 1997
The order of service for a memorial held in Sarasota, Florida, USA, for Amy Moreton Long, 17th Oct 1997. Amy lived on Longridge in the 1980s and had been a Tiller Girl. The memorial leaflet was donated by Charlie Lockwood, who said:
I remember Amy Long. She was born in 1908, had been a Tiller Girl long before moving to Longridge in the 1980s. She moved from Hulme [in Manchester] and lived on the estate for 12 years. She was a local character, and I remember how she would entertain the regulars at The Falcon Bearer for hours, telling stories from her Tiller Girl days, recounting funny episodes and some famous names!
After she died, I looked after her ashes, which she had wanted scattered at The Falcon Bearer. In the event we couldn’t do that – it had to take place on consecrated ground. So we held a short open-air service on the estate instead. But I can recall that when her ashes were scattered, the wind blew them towards the direction of her flat, which was number 5, Longridge.
Interviewer: Diane Lomax
Inside the Falcon Bearer
Inside the Falcon Bearer on 1st May 1976, just after Manchester Utd had lost the FA Cup final to Southampton, which explains why Charlie Lockwood (far right) looks so glum!
Charlie Lockwood said in an interview in 2015:
The seating was in alcoves, which helped people to chat and get to know each other, and there was a medieval Bayeux-style tapestry mural, very 1970s. Everyone was keen for the pub to open, as there were so few places for neighbours to socialise before then.
Toasting the start of a new community
I remember the opening night of the Falcon Bearer. The pub opened just over a year after the first residents started to move in on Longridge. Colin was the landlord; he came from The King’s near Smithfield Market in Manchester.
The opening night was in the winter of 1970/1971. I was there with my wife Agnes. I can clearly remember Mrs Frank Wilson, Rowena’s mother, bringing over a tray of drinks, spirits and beers, and she invited everyone to take a drink and proposed a toast that this now marked the start of the new community and we should make a great success of it.
From an interview with Charlie Lockwood, 2015.
Interviewers: Diane Lomax and Lucy Beesley.
CREATION OF A COMMUNITY 
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