Personally, I think the money spent on the bridge would have been better spent on making the kiln into a pub/restaurant that would have celebrated the history /heritage of St. Helens glass industry.

And that would have got us across the Linkway nice and safely

Thats a nice thought Rogues however the people paying for the development felt it was more important for the shoppers to reach the Tesco`s safely rather than playing Frogger for real on Linkway East , and it doesnt bear thinking the crowds at the Pelican crossing at KFC when a few thousand Rugby fans try and cross the road at the same time , face it Money is tight we would all love to preserve some of our Heritage but where are the millions to fix the kiln coming from ? , (and it will take millions its falling down now!)

I don't think it could/will ever be 'fixed' and especially not to a social venue. It's listed I think.

Fair enough. I started my professional life in the glass industry ( Forsters / Rockware) and am grateful for the fantastic grounding it gave me. It also made me appreciate the rivalry between our fan bases (although living in Billinge I had a good idea

) I could tell lots of stories about those days back in the 1960's and the fantastic characters who worked in the glassworks.

As a "glassman" I was really hoping that something could have been done with that kiln, even as a Wiganer, and there were quite a lot of us in that industry.

I left in 1972 by the way.

Enjoy Christmas and New Year because we don't know what 2012 will bring. The last few months has been difficult for Rogues & co. but we're still fighting.

An image of Wigans Rugby Ground

My dad worked in Fosters/Rockware all his life, shame when they closed it donw, I remember still going to the kids Xmas party at what is now the Rockware pub , used to be the social cliub, ahh memories , it would have been nice but like I said the money it would take and also English Heritage sticking their oar in would make it almost impossible I think

I also started my professional career in the glass container industry (Ravenhead) in the '60's before moving on to bigger and better things in flat glass (Pilkington).
Over the years many historically important kilns / furnaces etc in St Helens have been demolished - the world's 1st Float Unit for example.
We have to move with the times and replace the old with newer and better technology.
We can't save everything.

in my young days i remember Kiln Lane was the lane named after anything like that,was there a kiln on the lane at sometime in the deep past?.They usually name things after churches/monuments/famous names et all.

Rogues,my mother worked at Fosters/rockware during your time,think she worked on a m/c called a lear (wrong spelling)Alice Heaton,think her chargehand was a guy called Billy Carrol,also molly brown and another lady named brown worked on her shift.I also remember the christmas parties at the club,memories eh,

Was there myself around that time as production engineer on the furnaces and feeders, think Rockware went bust shortly after.

Now that the landscaping is nearly done on the new stadium bridge, will re visit and do a cleaner, special angle shot. Might run off a few prints, I take it that you want to go on the "I want one" list, Rogues.

dont wright off the kiln yet, there are talks about a fesability study. as for english heritage sticking their oar in, you might find they can put a lot of weight behind ventures like this

Will they put a lot of money in though?

looking at the pictures inside and out, its huge, so i'd estimate around a million quid at least to get it safe, then restored, then usable as a tourist attraction or anything else. I'd be very surprised if English heritage have that knocking about

Any links to the pics? I'd be interested to see what it looks like closer up. Agree that it would really finish the site off if English Heritage could do something with it.

there is a link in this thread somewhere! it was taken by those young hooligan type scaliwags who sneak into old or new buildings and take pictures, and cracking ones they are too! damn kids today!
good luck finding the link lol!

There you go www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/sho ... hp?t=51439

There you go www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/sho ... hp?t=51439

I think there is a lot of misunderstanding about how these things work.

You get money for this sort of thing by bidding to various funding sources, usually EU money but it can come from all sorts of different bodies such as the National Lottery. Getting English Heritage backing for your bid is massive tick on the bid and would mean a lot when it is considered by the people with the money.

English Heritage don't have much money themselves.

There is almost no money about at the moment, lets forget it.

I don't know if your remark about English Heritage not having money was aimed at me, but I know they don't, I was being facetious

.

Such funding has been cut dramatically in recent years, the government won't be providing anything and the is starting to hit the fan in the EU so we won't get owt there either.

IMO, it'll be left to rot a bit more for a few years, become dangerously unsafe and then get knocked down.

I agree, i fear someone (kids mucking about) will hurt themselves and then that'll be the end of it

LED fittings make electricity free.

That is usually how it works. English Heritage had identified a forge where the first safety razors had been made (Wilkinson Sword from memory). The developer waited if for it to become completely structurally unsound, so simply knocked it down. Shame really.

We should just go knock the stupid glass place down. It's an eye sore and is of no real value to anyone. We could steal a JCB and knock it down, then say Scott Moore did it when driving home from his New Years party.

Getting Back OT and as it was a nice sunny day I thought I would take a few Pictures as we are getting close to the end of the thread , I think they are quite nice myself

The view for the home fans approaching Langtree Park







The Place positively glows in the late afternoon sunshine and you can see a bit of the Cafe Bar , looking very swish now



As does the club badges on the red frontage







and I could not resist a photo of the King, with a sort of a halo



See you all on the 20th For the Karalius cup , come say hello if you spot me or Mrs G