Janice Hayes – författare

Warrington is an old, established town with a rapidly changing townscape during a transformation from a traditional industrial Lancashire centre to a twenty-first-century Cheshire New Town. In Warrington Reflections, local author and historian Janice Hayes reveals these fascinating changes captured by the cameras of local amateur and professional photographers over the last 170 years.Snapshots and official images document changing daily life around the many districts that make up present-day Warrington, while the town centre seems changed almost beyond recognition. Remarkable images from the dawn of photography in the 1850s captured the last days of the medieval marketplace, while contemporary photographers have recorded the rapidly changing streetscape around Bridge Street and the newly developed Time Square.Over the last fifty years Warrington has been a town in constant evolution. Long-established Warringtonians struggle to remember the once familiar landmarks of shops and workplaces while newer residents have yet to discover the town’s rich history. Warrington Reflections provides a superb opportunity to travel through time in 180 unique images, which reveal clues to the town’s past by merging archive and contemporary pictures. This fascinating visual chronicle will evoke memories for residents and all those with links to the town.

Warrington is a twentieth-century New Town with a history stretching back to prehistoric times. Behind the present-day streetscape of a thriving Cheshire economic centre lie the ghosts of its Lancashire past. Secret Warrington reveals the often-forgotten fascinating stories of the famous, infamous and ordinary characters who have shaped its past and trodden the national or even international stage. Rediscover lost landmarks and the hidden history beneath the modern townscape. Explore Warrington’s urban myths and delve into forgotten scandals swept under the carpet of time.A companion to the A–Z of Warrington, this fascinating volume combines in-depth stories with quirky facts to capture your imagination and features many previously unpublished images and documents from the archives and collections of Warrington’s historic museum. Local historian Janice Hayes and Warrington’s Archives Officer Philip Jeffs provide the keys to help history detectives unlock the town’s secret past and become guardians of its future heritage. Well-illustrated throughout, this engaging and informative book will appeal to residents and all those with links to the town.

By 1938 Warrington, like the rest of Britain, was preparing for war with Germany. From 1939 to 1945 every Warrington man, woman and child was affected by the Second World War whilst the wartime years also shaped the twenty-first-century town. Of those called up to serve in the Armed Forces, many were killed, injured or suffered in captivity as prisoners of war. Civil Defence Forces were formed to protect Warrington people and property from enemy attacks, but all lived through the terror of German air raids. Thousands worked in local factories to produce essential goods, campaigns to ‘Make Do and Mend’ and ‘Dig For Victory’ exhorted people to support the war effort and all endured rationing and shortages. Wartime Warrington was the site of key installations including Risley Ordnance Factory, Padgate Camp for training RAF recruits and HMS Blackcap, a Royal Navy Air Station. American GIs from Burtonwood USAAF Airbase became a familiar sight about the town and the noise of engines were heard day and night. VE Day and VJ Day celebrations marked the end of war but the impact on Warrington had been immense: the post-war New Town was partly created from acres of derelict land on the old wartime bases and Risley Ordnance Factory became a focus for Britain’s atomic development in the Cold War.Warrington at War pays tribute to the people of this town who served, died and lived through the Second World War, and how they managed to endure the horrors of conflict. It features contemporary archive material from the collections of Warrington Museum, fascinating stories from the town’s official archives as well as personal history collected by public appeals for wartime memories.

From its heyday in the nineteenth century as a major centre of wire making, textiles, chemical production and brewing through to its Second World War role as the largest US Army Air Force base in Europe and subsequent reinvention as a new town in the late 1960s, Warrington is now the largest town in Cheshire, with a proud heritage and distinctive identity.Celebrating Warrington highlights some of the significant aspects of the town’s history including its important moments, worthy individuals, notable achievements and newsworthy events. Local heritage curator and author Janice Hayes brings together a superb collection of images and stories from Warrington Museum and Archives. There are a number of firsts the town is famous for from within its industries, entertainments, sporting successes, seasonal, national and local events and celebrations. Discover Warrington’s unique Walking Day parades and explore how this unique local celebration has evolved.Remember travelling fairs and when the circus and other travelling entertainers came to town. Join the crowds at Warrington sporting events and be part of the welcome home parades for the town’s successful rugby league team. Readers can witness the excitement around the unveiling of new enterprises and heritage sites, or the launch of locally built ships and the opening of the Thelwall Viaduct. Then there are the reflective acts of remembrance for national and local events from major conflicts to local tragedies. Open the family album to discover how Warrington has recorded key milestones in people’s lives or marked royal events from coronations and jubilees to when Warrington turned out to welcome its royal visitors.Illustrated throughout, this book will appeal to local residents, visitors and all those with connections to the town.