SCOTIA NORTH


Who remembers Scotia North?

Scotia North was opened in September 1950 to provide additional accommodation for servicemen and their dependants.  It was located on Hesketh Meadow Lane just off the East Lancs Road in Lowton near Leigh.


The site, once used by the Royal Navy, comprised a number of H-shaped blocks which were converted into 5 - 8 apartments each, totaling 110 units of family accommodation.  In some cases internal walls were knocked down to make rooms larger and all of the units were redecorated and boasted steam heat.  Each block had hardstands for family cars outside.  Additionally each block of apartments had washrooms for laundry.


The site included a 500 man theatre with 35mm movies shown on a regular schedule, a large playground for children, first aid facilities and a large car park holding 150 vehicles.


The site plan below originally published in the Burtonwood Beacon also shows a school and Nissen huts which were not used.  Penny Hooper, a former resident when she was a child, contacted me on the 5th of April 2004 to say the school was in use.  Dependants children were transported to the school in Site 1 at Burtonwood.

Below is all that remains of Scotia North.  The theatre building remains and is used as a local community centre.  It has been extended and re-roofed.  The car park has been enlarged.  The  blocks to the north have been replaced by playing fields and to the south are housing estates.

 

Below is the picture published in the Burtonwood Beacon used to entice people to move to Scotia North!

 

 

Below are a series of pictures taken on June 7th 2001 (election day)

Click on the thumbnail for a larger picture

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Does anyone have any photographs or memories of Scotia North?


Email received on 2nd May 2004:

I too lived at Scotia North...!!!!!  I found this site by pure luck and just clicking away on things.  I was in THE SCOTIA NORTH SCHOOL!!!  4th and 5th grade.  Ms. Sweeney was my teacher.  She taught two grades at once.  Her husband was in the military and she had twins, Shawn and Sharon...we used to think they were so cute.  After 5th grade we were bused to the Base School.  My dad took pictures of our teachers when they made home visits.  We used to skate on a large concrete area that was the floor of some building that had been torn down.  I learned how to play baseball on the little field there across from M-4 where I lived with my family, The Thomas Collins family.  Louise, Connie, Carole, and Tommy.  We went home when I was in the middle of the 6th grade to Hunter Air force Base in Savannah.  I always wondered what happened to the friends I had there.  What a unique experience we had, trading comic books, going to the little movie for  25 cents, and coming home for lunch each day!  Once a year we went to the indoor swimming pool in Burtonwood.  We had girl scouts, and push mores for grass, daddy even had a real color movie camera which was probably the first one made!!!  We have movies of us riding our bikes and playing in the little yard which he fenced in with a white wicket fence.  He also painted the little window sills red and white.  Several years ago, my sister, Carole, went back to England and visited our little M-4 apartment.  She was moved to tears to see the little window sills still standing amidst the rubble and they were still painted with that red and white paint.  She took pictures and I will never forget seeing them.  It was like a picture out of the past.  We used to walk to a railroad track and watch the trains go by...we weren't supposed to go over there but being kids, we did anyway and were ready to run if we saw anything.  We took a picnic of saltine crackers to eat!!!  Kathleen Wackley, Trevor Parks, a Catholic Family of 13 kids, Denny Queen, Larry ?, and others I may be able to recall.  My mom taught us how to cook in the little kitchen and the adults played volleyball until 11:00 pm when it was summertime cause the day was so long. 
Well, I have carried on a long time but it is so neat to find a site like this. 
Thanks and let me hear from you if you have any connections to people who were there in around 1954- 1957.
Connie Collins Gay
Georgia

connie31@cox.net


Victor Bradford's Account

--I was a family member when Dad was stationed at Burtonwood from '55 to '58 -- he was the Supervisor of the Clothing Sales Store and was on the Supply Inspection Team for the European stores. We lived at Wigan the first year (I went to St.Cuthbert's) and we then moved to Scotia North. Mom volunteered at Scotia North with the Scouts and the crafts section, and they, like nearly everyone else, were active in the community. My younger brother and sister also lived at Scotia North and I will pass on this website to them. Alas, Dad and Mom have passed forward (they were married for many years), and they would have loved to see this website (perhaps they were guiding me to it!). Not many places have as active an historical perspective as you do, and at the time the Air Force, as a new service, really had no heritage yet.  I am sure Dad knew and worked with some of the folks on the Message Board -- I did not recognize any of the names, but then I don't remember many visits to Burtonwood as a small child and Scotia North was a small place (actually, it was just the right size for a ten year-old!).  I have also contacted Connie Gay, who wrote the letter found in your Scotia North Section.

--I have often thought of the wonderful people at Scotia North -- the friends my age, the adult leaders who helped us, and the people in the local community -- who helped us grow up happy in a challenging world.  I also remember a little pond near the community where we used to watch how tadpoles and newts lived and grew, the coal (coke) yard near the school which seemed like mountains to us (and which the custodian had to clean up many times after our games), spending many hours making grass forts in the area to the north of the housing area, excursions into the nearby villages with their markets, and so much more!  I think this kind of environment helped many of us grow into basically optimistic and positive adults.  These people can be proud of the gift they gave to young children.

--We are thinking of visiting England in the spring, depending on the work schedule (I retired from the Air Force a few years ago, and am now a community health dentist and an Indian Health Service contractor.  This probably resembles the British national health service, and I often work with young children. My wife of 36-1/2 years is a librarian and also a "brat;" her dad was stationed at SHAPE around the same time we were in England). If we can make it we will definitely stop in; if not, then we will plan a visit for the future. I see a reunion is scheduled in New Orleans for 2008 and I hope there will be other activities too (perhaps sooner).

Vic Bradford  
stpdk2000@yahoo.com