Tue 19 May 2009
The scene of a very expensive argument apparently. The railway bridge at Ingleton should have provided a through link from Yorkshire to Scotland in the 1860's, but it didn't and meant that the passengers arriving at the station would have to make their own way through the gorge to the other side. The NW station is now covered by a Community Centre and car park. Although the viaduct, which last carried trains in 1966, is still there and in excellent condition. I thought it was good to see the Aqueduct, Road Bridge and Rail Bridge all grouped together. Joan D.

We decided to have a walk through Astley Park recently, and what a pleasant surprise was awaiting. The old coach house, cafe and toilet area has been transformed. The whole building has been renovated and the outside is quite impressive – once inside you have a large lobby area, all chrome and tiled, with a spiral staircase leading you upstairs to a large airy meeting /function room with views over the park and courtyard, equipped with a kitchen that can be closed off. Upstairs, also, at the other side of the building is a beautiful gallery displaying artwork. Back downstairs you have Cafe Ambio so fresh, clean and relaxing with newspapers and magazines provided for your use whilst having your toasted teacake and cup of tea!! Plus outside there is a seating area with tables and chairs which overlooks the walled garden and over towards the back of the hall area. Toilets are situated in the courtyard and upstairs.
Well done Chorley Borough Council it is a delight.

At Wigan Archaeological Society
Dr Anne Worsley of Edgehill University spoke about the Footprints at Formby
Wed 06 May 2009

Anne Worsley of Edgehill University spoke about the Footprints at Formby, People and the Prehistoric Landscape. Anne spoke about the palaeo-environments of Formby and its changes over the centuries. By studying the prints left in previous sediments that are now being revealed my tidal scouring it is possible to deduce that the area was populates by Aurochs (prehistoric cattle), Wolf, red Deer, Roe Deer, Unshod Horses, Sheep and Goats. Pollen analysis and roots reveal the previous presence of Oak, Pine, Alder and Birch.

Foot detail of adolescent male

Aurochs depicted in the Lascaux cave paintings

We have heard of carbon dating but another dating method I was not familiar with is OSL. OSL dating (optically stimulated luminescence) which is a method of determining how long ago minerals were last exposed to daylight. It is useful to geologists and archaeologists who want to know when such an event occurred. The accuracy obtainable under optimum circumstances is about 5%. Ages can be determined typically from a few hundred years to 100,000 years, and can be reliable when suitable methods are used. Crucial to the optical dating method is that there was adequate daylight exposure to the mineral grains before they were buried. An interesting requirement of this method is that samples are collected in the dark. With the human footprints Carbon-14 and OSL dating, indicates that they are late- Mesolithic to mid-Neolithic in origin.

Dr Anne Worsley and Bill Aldridge (secretary)