The Animals

My mother was a local secretary of the local RSPCA - the Bury branch. Many of her friends and the people who visited were local animal mad people. The local vet Peter and Hazel Nutt ( Yes I know... P.Nutt and Hazel Nutt)became firm family friends. This page may develop links that develop, but at the moment, just about the animals that were special to me... especially Wyn. Her full name was Blodwyn, a Welsh white Border Collie. Beautiful dog, wonderful temperament and she was with us all the way through my childhood and even until I went to college. I suspect she must have been about 16 - 18 when she died. She had to be put to sleep on a Christmas eve... Epileptic fit that she never came out of.

Wyn - on a beach, probably Cornwall

 However her's was a long and happy life. She was there when I returned from school to Whitelegge street in Woolfold. Tom had something to do with her appearance. She was just a very tiny puppy in a basket in front of the gas fire in the dining room. The floors were covered in newspaper. Puddles everywhere.  I really don't recall any other times at Woolfold with her. The family were on the move to Brookhouse.

Wyn, quite young at the back at Brookhouse. That's my Grandmother Jane Lomax and our hero.
The date on the back says 1961 - makes me 11. Wyn will have been about 5. My Dad built the wall.

On a beach with my mother, I guess about the same time as above.
The dog was horribly carsick, I remember her vomiting down the back of his neck.
We used to drive all the way down to Cornwall with the windows open.

It's a sheep, - called Fred. He was found as a lamb at the side of a road with very injuries that appeared to be a fox attack. He was patched up by the vet with little hope of survival. My mother spent nights giving him bottles and keeping him warm. Survived, completely comical followed my mother everywhere (Mary had a little....). He had some very odd traits in the house, Vertical jumping, leaping off furniture, butting everything, Wyn seemed to have weighed him up, but the cat and my Aunt were never quite the same. A 5 stone sheep hurtling of a 3 foot settee is indeed quite scary.

He was a star, and became the club mascot at Derby County FC.
We drove down and we presented the Ram to the club, slap up meal and watched the match from the directors box. Met Brian Clough - seemed a nice chap. I thought the Baseball Ground was very enclosed.Fred the sheep was castrated on the field behind the house by the vet (same vet!)... He just cut off his testicles and threw them to a couple of watching magpies... who ate them as magpies do! I still wince.

Frequently fell asleep with her paw behind her ear, strangely she must have exuded such a gentle aura that even the cat felt quite content to fall asleep with her. I think those are Aunt Irene's legs, definitely taken at Brookhouse.

We tramped miles together, never really saw her tired, one glorious day we walked past Pilgrims Cross, beyond the Grane and close to Burnley before heading home again. She was a really loyal dog and loved every one. The will be more added about the animals in my life later.