Great Uncle Joe Sunter, Editor of Colne Times and member of ‘The Brains Trust’
http://www.pendletoday.co.uk/columnists/Flashback-to-halcyon-years-of.4449797.jp
Dresser’s Club was just one of many in Colne
A RARE scene from Colne clubland’s past this week, with a picture from December, 1946, taken by the late postman and supreme cameraman, Fred Whitaker.
The venue for the post-war photo is the Dressers’ Club in Hall Street, Colne, and the well-known steward behind the bar is Harry Potts, who ran the club for many years with his dear wife, Peggy. The Dressers (official name: Association of Preparatory Workers) has little changed from our picture from over six decades ago and behind the bar today is lively Dianne Monk, who has been at the helm running the busy club for almost three years.
Around 20 years ago, my then work colleague and good friend Albert Wilshaw (he and his wife Carole ran the Dressers for two decades) presented to me several items of club memorabilia for my “Olde Colne” collection, including a 1930s Massey Brewery glass, complete with an engraved owl and a 1899 beer and spirits price list with no item priced over one shilling (5p!).
When Harry Potts ran the Dressers during the 1940s and ’50s, the legendary “Dressers’ Brains Trust” was known throughout the town and, in 1949, was featured on the television. Over 100 notable Colners appeared at the club on the panel, including Teddy Maxwell, Hubert Smith, Charlie Hargreaves, Ebbie Folley, Noel Earnshaw, Arthur Ingram, Frank Wilson, Allen Exley, Lawson Wharton and the prince of words and, for many years, the editor of the Colne Times, Joe Sunter.
Back in 1946 when the Dressers had hundreds of members, clubs in Colne numbered around 20 and, today, the long-standing Hall Street club is a proud survivor with well over a dozen of the former clubs now long gone. Who remembers the Savage Club down Waterside Road, the Trinity Club in Garden Street, the Midland Club on Primet Hill (known to all as the “Rat Pit”!), the NUR Club on Primet Bridge, the Pigeon Club in Peter Street, the Sefton Club in Shed Street, the Clothlookers’ Club in Newtown Street, the College Club down Ivegate and many more – today, all gone forever.
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- Last Updated: 02 September 2008 2:46 PM
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