Hello there! Welcome to Ashton-on-Ribble

Tang Chinese restaurant is on Fylde Road, on the right as you drive towards the town centre.

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The restaurant offers its own dedicated Karaoke rooms so you can enjoy a Chinese meal whilst listening to your friends sing 'I will survive' without the fear of other people hearing your X Factor audition! According to the restaurant's website: “It doesn’t matter if you are a bad singer here because you are just in the room with your friends.”

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For more details, visit the restaurant's website.

Logos are available on Preston Guild's website so you can place them on your website, blog or in your email signature. A simple way to help promote Preston's once-a-generation event.

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Click here to find the logos on the Preston Guild website.

St Walburge’s has always been an inspirational building, and a glance at the church will tell you why.

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It is one of Preston’s few grade 1 listed buildings. The tower is famed as one of the tallest in the country, yet where you might expect it to be pompous and bombastic, it is sleek and elegant. The building’s interior is also noteworthy thanks to the huge expanse created by a 160-foot-wide hammer beam roof(1).

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St Walburge’s is a Catholic church but its fame is not only religious. Train passengers for generations have known the church as one of the most prominent landmarks on a train ride to Blackpool: when you’ve spotted St Walburge’s tower, you know which tower is next, and it’s not the Tower of London.

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We've heard rumours that there is a photo out there of Jimmy Saville on the docks in the 1970s, suspended from a net being lifted out of a ship. Why? Well, who knows? - we'd like to find that out too.

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The latest search comes after the success of our hunt for a photo of Bruce Forsyth in Tulketh Mill in the 1970s (see here). That search took three years so we're patient!

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Do you have a copy of that photo? If so, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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Thanks!

Blogging is thriving in Preston with a couple of recent blogs displaying the passions of Prestonians.

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Preston's Inns, Taverns and Beerhouses looks at the history of pubs in Preston.

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Cottam Conservation is about the wildlife on the fringes of Preston.

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Great to see these new blogs - tell us about yours: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

ashtononribble.com is on the hunt for personal photos of guilds past. So please rummage around the bottom of your wardrobe and dig out those photos you haven't looked at for years. We'd love to share them with the whole of Ashton and Preston.

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Contact Simon at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it so we can work out how we can collect the photos. It would be great to hear from you!

Preston's '52 guild was particularly special because it was the first guild after the Second World War.

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Preston's 1942 guild had been cancelled due to the war but when the 1952 guild finally came, it was, according to Brian Saul, the man who gave us these excellent photos: '[an] opportunity [...] for people to throw off the repression of World War Two and the rationing which was still in place in 1952'.

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These photos show Mr Saul in his youth when he headed St Andrew's church choir in the procession. 

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Click photos for full size.

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Above: St Andrew's choir alongside the cenotaph.

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Above: Overview of participants assembling for Avenham Park's 1952 service to celebrate the guild.

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Above: St Andrew's Sunday school followed by the choir, which had recently won the Blackpool Music Festival.

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Above: Great view of the parade and the crowd in 1952, with Mr Saul on the left.

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Above: Photo taken on Avenham Park. Mr Saul holds the cross.

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Thanks!

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Many thanks to Brian Saul for giving us permission to put these great photos online.

Did you see 1992's Guild? Here's an excellent set of photos of that year's events.

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Click the photos to see the full size

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