For people to have a sense of belonging to a Village Community, or any other for that matter, geographical identity is an important factor.
'You are now entering Bolton - twinned with Le Mans ' etc.
'You are now entering Tyldesley - twinned with Beirut' --- Joke!!!!
But you get what I mean.
You see these signs repeatedly on any car journey you take - But not if you go through Little Lever.
Some of my ancestors came from a place called Whitby (Near Cheshire Oaks - not Yorkshire) and I tootled along there to rummage through the graveyard. Like many places which had once been small isolated communities, it had sprawled out along the roads in and out and without any signs I had to call in at a local shop to find where it started and where it finished.
Now I'm not the greatest fan of street furniture and signage and I'm sure the Council has a "Department For Thinking Up Even More Street Signs To Confuse The Public". However, having to pass a sign which says 'Welcome to Crompton Lodges Caravan Park' and then not seeing a sign further on saying 'Welcome to Little Lever Village Centre' gets my blood boiling. Let's face it, the last thing a member of the general public would get from Crompton Lodges is a Welcome- at least not the type of welcome he would appreciate.
Equally there are massive brown Heritage & Attraction signs all over the place some of which, like those for the Last Drop Village, are promoting purely commercial enterprises.
So why not Little Lever?. One on Church Street - one on High St - let's not be greedy.
And let's have brown ones to celebrate the Heritage of the Village.
This would fit in nicely with the erection of the Archway on the Memorial Gardens.
(Soon to happen - Thanks Sean)
What Heritage? do I hear you say.
Little Lever Local History Society
Little Lever Family History Society
OK, these don't exist - yet. I'll do a post later on about the possibilities.
The Council, bless them, cost these signs at circa £2,000 each. As one of my friends would say - ' No wonder the country's on it's arse'
So that's the Village Centre identity sorted out. Now, how about the shops?
Before you read the next bit, just think about what catches the eye.
Turn right around the Church into Market St. Within fifty feet the only thing that dominates your vision is - yes, you've guessed correctly - TESCO.
Now I've got to admit they're good at it. In fact they're brilliant at it. Problem is that you could, signage wise, be left thinking that there isn't another shop in the Village Centre. Nothing sticks out - nothing is colourful - and right next to Tesco in Foundry St is Hampson's wall with a piddling little sign saying Hampsons.
Now Tesco has a car park ( signed of course) and albeit there is a planning condition that says that it may be used by the general public who are not necessarily shopping as Tesco ( Not a lot of people know that), the other two car parks behind the precinct are not signed. In fact, it's worse than that. With all the recycling bins on the Precinct side pavement, ( Good idea - Save the Planet), we could almost be saying that everything on that side is rubbish.
At the other end of the Precinct ( approaching from the High St) even though the visitor may see the shops along Market St, there is no indication as to how to reach the car parks. So what does the visitor do - says 'Sod it' and drives on. Why not a 'To the car parks ' sign on the tree plot infront of Cohens?.
How about this for Hampson's wall
This isn't anti Tesco - just a level playing field. Learn from the masters.
Ok, so you've arrived on the car park at the back of the Precinct ( if you can get on )
Where is the signage at the back of the shops?. Westhoughton, I believe, has just decorated it's car park with signs for all the shops on the street. (I'm not 100% sure 'cos I haven't had chance to go and have a look) but I'm sure it's a damned sight more attractive vista than the one that greets you on the Precinct Car parks.
Paul
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