n From P17

LAST week’s memories of 91-year-old Alan Longworth will have brought back memories for other Looking Back readers.

There are many of you, we know, who have enjoyed a lifetime of living in Bolton and loved every single minute of it.

Although things have changed in the area — sometimes not for the better — we know you are all fond of the town you call home.

Alan is one of those readers who love his home town.

He was born and bred here and has written some funny and engaging stories about his life here.

As well as being amusing and slightly tongue-in-cheek they are also very interesting, explains his grandson, Ben.

“They give an insight into what life was like in 1920s and 1930s Bolton,” he says.

Alan recalls a window cleaner named Bobby Bisset who it is possible other readers will also recall.

He was the window cleaner to the “better off residents” explains Alan.

“Bobby had only one leg and did his rounds on a bike using a strap on his pedal to secure his foot and assist propulsion.

“He wore his cap back to front and carried his ladder horizontally on his shoulders, his head sticking up between the rungs and his bucket similarly balanced at the front end of his ladder.

“He used his ladder as a crutch and could heave himself aloft, faster than a squirrel up a tree.

“He carried his wash leather in his teeth and used his cap to give the windows a final polish,” says Alan.

Apparently, however, there was a sorry and rather sad end to this tale.

One dark morning Bobby was cycling to clean the windows at the hospital mortuary — of all places — when a runaway carthorse, startled by the thunder, collided with the end of Bobby’s ladder sending it spinning round his neck like the rota blades on a helicopter.

“Bobby suffered a sore throat and dizziness which turned into vertigo.

“The insurers claimed it was ‘an act of God’ and no compensation was paid.

“Bobby had to give up his business. He applied for a job as a painter at Blackpool Tower but was unsuccessful because of his age. Being self-employed he didn’t have a company pension but at 65 he fortunately managed to secure a long-term job as a scaffolder,” explains Alan.

Alan also recalls the history of the humble toilet, with his own particular humour.

“The evolution and history of toilets can be closely studied in Heaton. I am personally well qualified to enlighten any student of the subject in a particular type know as the open back to back.

“We had this arrangement in our own backyard and shared it with the Whittles next door. It was a simple layout of two adjacent wooden seated cast-iron lavatories, separated by a low dividing brick wall.

“Why this design every came about escapes me but it was well received, especially by the men folk, as the spoken word was so easy over the low dividing wall. Hours upon hours of conversation could be carried out, often causing discomfort to other family members.”

His memories of toilet roll were interesting. “For the men and sometimes the ladies the subjects under discussion were wide and varied, sometimes continuing until after dark, thus making it difficult to locate the square cut pieces of the Bolton Evening News tied together with a loop of string.”