Turn Right at Mottram Roundabout - Episode 33
Tue 14th March 2017 | General | By Stewart Taylor
Last week found us at Widnes FC.
The photo was a view we don’t often see of the outside of the Select Security Stadium, which is the home ground of both Widnes FC and Widnes Vikings RLFC.
The quick link asked for a connection between the town and Ali Hassan al-Majid who sprang to prominence in 2003?
Perhaps a bit obscure this one, but a quick Google (other internet search engines are available) of the name would tell you that Ali Hassan al-Majid was known as “Chemical Ali” during the Iraq War and the site of an early chemical works between the Sankey Canal and the railway became known as “Chemical Alley” in the middle of the 19th century in Widnes.
Onward we go. As an avid reader of newspapers, it happens from time to time that a particular article sticks in the mind. No specific reason, at least at the time, why this should be but if we wish to cite the spirit of Nostradamus, or even Mystic Meg, then I won’t argue.
A couple of years ago I recall reading an article which was all about the most expensive place to live in the USA. Instinctively, if asked the question, you might say that it would be Manhattan or Beverley Hills, but it is not.
There is a small town in California which, in 2014, took the title of the most expensive place to live in the USA. At the time, the average (note, average), cost of a house was $9 million. Then the exchange rate was such that this translated into £5.5 million. Regular readers may sense an opportunity here for a bit of a digression, not for the first time, but I will resist the temptation, at least for this week, of expounding any opinions about the effect of the Brexit vote last June, except to say that at current exchange rates this would work out close to £7.5 million.
At the time of reading the aforementioned article then, the idea of writing this series of articles had not even been considered. Given this, then we need to ask why it was remembered and we could suggest that something, somewhere, deep in the subconscious “knew” that the information would be useful at some time.
There comes from this the possibility of a research project so deep and complex that it may never reach the end, even if someone remembered why it was undertaken in the first place.
Let’s leave the last word on this with the eminent Fellow in Psychology at Roehampton University, M. W. Eysenck, who suggested that “memory is vital to experience. Without memory, we are not us. If we could not remember past events, we could not learn or develop language, relationships, nor personal identity”. Thoughtful words indeed!
The town in California has the same name as a town in the North West of England and it is to this town we travel this week. It may be of interest to briefly compare the two towns.
If we start with the one in California, we see a town of around 7,000 inhabitants. Most of these residents work locally and are employed in the computer industry. As such, salaries are high and the trend is for commissioning new houses. A task made easier by the almost total absence of planning law.
Our destination today is a town with a population of around 20,000. Most of the residents used to work in the town but now no longer do so due to the decline in heavy industry locally. Average earnings are on the low side and the housing stock is a mix of Victorian terraces and, newer, developments which have been subjected to the vagaries of our somewhat complex planning laws. The average house price today is not much more than £100,000.
Quite a contrast but what does “our town” have which the one in California doesn’t? Well, perhaps a number of things but the one that interests us is a football team in our League.
We referred in a previous episode of Turn Right at Mottram Roundabout to a football team which was forced to change its name. This is one such team who, on seeking entry into the Cheshire League in 1980, were obliged to change their name as league rules required the name of the town to be included.
As with many of our member clubs, the origin of this one goes back to junior football having been first established as an under 14s side in 1956. The current ground has been occupied since 1966 and it was re-named in 1980 as a tribute to a former Chairman who had worked tirelessly to improve the facilities.
Gradual development saw the side join the NWCFL at the formation of the League in 1982. The club have had spells in both the first and second flight of the League in addition to spending two years in the Northern Premier League. Nationally, the side had some very happy experiences in the FA Vase in the early years of the 1990s reaching the semi-finals in the 1993/4 season. At least three previous managers of this club now occupy the manager or assistant manager role at other NWCFL clubs.
There have been a number of well known professional players who have played for this club. Just a clue to one of them which might help identify the club; this player still holds the record of being the youngest goalscorer in League matches for Manchester City aged 17 years and 83 days. The goal was scored during his only appearance, as a substitute, for the club.
Quick link - What links this club with the Poison Garden at Alnwick in Northumberland?
Turn Right at Mottram Roundabout - Episode 33
Tue 14th March 2017 | General
By Stewart Taylor
Last week found us at Widnes FC.
The photo was a view we don’t often see of the outside of the Select Security Stadium, which is the home ground of both Widnes FC and Widnes Vikings RLFC.
The quick link asked for a connection between the town and Ali Hassan al-Majid who sprang to prominence in 2003?
Perhaps a bit obscure this one, but a quick Google (other internet search engines are available) of the name would tell you that Ali Hassan al-Majid was known as “Chemical Ali” during the Iraq War and the site of an early chemical works between the Sankey Canal and the railway became known as “Chemical Alley” in the middle of the 19th century in Widnes.
Onward we go. As an avid reader of newspapers, it happens from time to time that a particular article sticks in the mind. No specific reason, at least at the time, why this should be but if we wish to cite the spirit of Nostradamus, or even Mystic Meg, then I won’t argue.
A couple of years ago I recall reading an article which was all about the most expensive place to live in the USA. Instinctively, if asked the question, you might say that it would be Manhattan or Beverley Hills, but it is not.
There is a small town in California which, in 2014, took the title of the most expensive place to live in the USA. At the time, the average (note, average), cost of a house was $9 million. Then the exchange rate was such that this translated into £5.5 million. Regular readers may sense an opportunity here for a bit of a digression, not for the first time, but I will resist the temptation, at least for this week, of expounding any opinions about the effect of the Brexit vote last June, except to say that at current exchange rates this would work out close to £7.5 million.
At the time of reading the aforementioned article then, the idea of writing this series of articles had not even been considered. Given this, then we need to ask why it was remembered and we could suggest that something, somewhere, deep in the subconscious “knew” that the information would be useful at some time.
There comes from this the possibility of a research project so deep and complex that it may never reach the end, even if someone remembered why it was undertaken in the first place.
Let’s leave the last word on this with the eminent Fellow in Psychology at Roehampton University, M. W. Eysenck, who suggested that “memory is vital to experience. Without memory, we are not us. If we could not remember past events, we could not learn or develop language, relationships, nor personal identity”. Thoughtful words indeed!
The town in California has the same name as a town in the North West of England and it is to this town we travel this week. It may be of interest to briefly compare the two towns.
If we start with the one in California, we see a town of around 7,000 inhabitants. Most of these residents work locally and are employed in the computer industry. As such, salaries are high and the trend is for commissioning new houses. A task made easier by the almost total absence of planning law.
Our destination today is a town with a population of around 20,000. Most of the residents used to work in the town but now no longer do so due to the decline in heavy industry locally. Average earnings are on the low side and the housing stock is a mix of Victorian terraces and, newer, developments which have been subjected to the vagaries of our somewhat complex planning laws. The average house price today is not much more than £100,000.
Quite a contrast but what does “our town” have which the one in California doesn’t? Well, perhaps a number of things but the one that interests us is a football team in our League.
We referred in a previous episode of Turn Right at Mottram Roundabout to a football team which was forced to change its name. This is one such team who, on seeking entry into the Cheshire League in 1980, were obliged to change their name as league rules required the name of the town to be included.
As with many of our member clubs, the origin of this one goes back to junior football having been first established as an under 14s side in 1956. The current ground has been occupied since 1966 and it was re-named in 1980 as a tribute to a former Chairman who had worked tirelessly to improve the facilities.
Gradual development saw the side join the NWCFL at the formation of the League in 1982. The club have had spells in both the first and second flight of the League in addition to spending two years in the Northern Premier League. Nationally, the side had some very happy experiences in the FA Vase in the early years of the 1990s reaching the semi-finals in the 1993/4 season. At least three previous managers of this club now occupy the manager or assistant manager role at other NWCFL clubs.
There have been a number of well known professional players who have played for this club. Just a clue to one of them which might help identify the club; this player still holds the record of being the youngest goalscorer in League matches for Manchester City aged 17 years and 83 days. The goal was scored during his only appearance, as a substitute, for the club.
Quick link - What links this club with the Poison Garden at Alnwick in Northumberland?
