Royal Ordinance

[Peter119]

Hi John

Right on both counts, the Farington (or ffarington) family are the subject of the first lecture of the new season at Leyland Historical Society in September.

Peter

[William R]

I lived at Bent Bridge in the 1930`s and remember Lindsay Parkinson building the R.O.F. we used to walk on the site on Sunday afternoon, but wasn`t the big house called Buckshaw Hall? Does anyone remember the opening gala day, when Gracie Fields did a song for the crowds, was that at Lisieux Hall up Dawson Lane?

[noel]

quote:

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I lived at Bent Bridge in the 1930`s and remember Lindsay Parkinson building the R.O.F. we used to walk on the site on Sunday afternoon, but wasn`t the big house called Buckshaw Hall? Does anyone remember the opening gala day, when Gracie Fields did a song for the crowds, was that at Lisieux Hall up Dawson Lane?

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Welcome to the forum William , I would be interested to read anything you can offer about the building of the ROF. I was born in 1945 so it's always been there as far as my memory stretches.

The significant owl hoots in the night.

[Martin]

Hi Bill
I'm glad you finally made it onto the forum... I'm afraid 1930 is a bit before my time, but I'm sure someone will have some info on it.


[img]martinsig.gif[/img]
In The Pink

[William R]

Hi Noel, Just a little taster about the R.O.F. The L.M.S.railway built a station to take the influx of workers who wrere directed to work there during the war, it was called the ROF Halt and had 6 or 7 platforms. There were also two large hostels built to house workers from away, one at Balshaw Lane in Euxton the other outside Chorley called Woodlands. Incidentally, I believe only one bomb hit the site,and that landed in the sidings, it didn`t explode and was displayed in the main works entrance foyer. I remember one plane dropped four bombs on the first fairway of Leyland Golf Club in 1943/4, I was in bed at the time - more later.

[anacortesdamp]

I remember the ROF station. I think it was still there when I was going to college at Salford by train in the early '60s. Presumably it was demolished at some point.

The one feature of the ROF that sticks in my mind was the destruction of the old WW1 ammunition. Every 20 minutes, from 09:00 to about 16:00 on weekdays, there was a loud bang. It was very noticeable at school during summer days when windows were open. When the job was finally finished, the lack of the regular bang was almost as noticeable.


Frank Damp
Anacortes, WA, USA