Here are a few highlights fom the Wirelect year 2012:
But more important than these stats and events is the contribution made by the community that reads and posts on this blog.
I would like to thank everyone who has read and/or posted on the Wirelect site during 2012 and I hope you will continue to do so during 2013!
We are a small community, but we care about our dialect and our linguistic culture and that is why we congregate here. I will continue to do my best to research the Warrington dialect and its linguistic history, and I will share my findings, insights and ideas on here with you all.
Lastly, I would like to thank a couple of members of this community for their contribution:
Tim: Thanks for your comments, I would really like to hear more of your opinions :-)
David Ball: Thank you, David, for your unending support via Radio Warrington and activity on here and the Facebook page :-)
Yorick: You are a mine of linguistic and cultural information, I wish you realised it more :-)
Totty Teabag: Like me, you left the town physically, but still hold it in your heart :-)
And finally, Gaynor: thank you for your constant support, contributions, and opinions. You are the heart of this community, and the entire town should be proud of you! :-)
Thank you! All the best for 2013.
Thanks Wirelector and A Happy New Year to everyone.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone else remember the tradition of taking a piece of coal out of the back door and bringing it in through the front door? By tradition it had to be a dark haired man,not necessarily a relative, who would knock on the front door be met with a kiss and place the coal on the hearth. This was said to bring in good health and fortune. I suppose it was because the hearth was the heart of the house.
A Happy New Year to you Wirelector and all your readers!
ReplyDeleteI remember that tradition, Gaynor; was it called "First Footing"?
It certainly was Totty. When gas and electric fires came into fashion the tradition was still carried out in many homes,but of course without the coal. I have even known my gran to send a light haired man around to the back door if he was her first visitor!
DeleteMy Dad used to do it when I was a kid. I don't think he had any coal because we had a gas fire, but at least he had dark hair in those days :-)
ReplyDeleteI didn't know it was called "First Footing". I'll have to look that one up!
Happy New Year. My dad used to make me do this and I always felt a bit silly. However, he hasn't asked me for a number of years.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, I'm no longer with Radio Warrington, having resigned in late November. I have a contact at radio general - Warrington Hospital's radio station (a closed system only available to patients - and I'll pass him a copy of the interview to see if he can put it into the daytime schedule.
I hope the new year brings a new job David.
ReplyDeleteMy oldest brother could have put "first footer" on his CV in the mid 50s :-). He was always being asked or sent to do it. I bet he got tips too.
Hiya everyone. Talking about traditions. It was my birthday recently and my memory was jogged. Does anyone remember why people my age and maybe a bit younger might have had a "hair raising" experience on their birthday? Put your thinking caps on.
ReplyDeleteFor years I had this hair raising experience every birthday.On my birthday every adult I met would lift a chunk of my hair and pull it for each year of my age. I think this tradition died out in the late sixties.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure it died out that long ago, Gaynor.
DeleteI can remember people doing that to me when I was a kid in the early eighties.
I haven't seen it done for a long time, and I haven't done it to my own kids. Maybe it is dead now?
What was it called?
Hiya Wirelector. Your right. My son had it done to him up until the late 80's. I ahd forgotten about that. He also had it done to him at school,so it was still widespread.
ReplyDeleteI dont think it had a name connected to it. If I find it had I'll let you know.