A COUPLE of weeks ago I wrote that Vicky Taylor was seeking info about a picture in 'The Abbey', the Joseph Holt pub on Hard Lane.

She said: "It is a stunning picture with the words, 'Near Windle Hall' written at the bottom but I think it was taken on Abbey Road?

"It appears to be a Victorian image, black and white, with a lady pushing a pram away from the camera and children on both sides of the picture who are staring at the photographer .

"Windle Hall is in the background. It appears that one little girl has two faces (obviously she moved her head just as the picture was being taken) but it makes the picture rather eerie and interesting! It is a great picture that captures those hard times so well”

Now Ian Gerrard has responded: “ The photo seen in the Abbey is also in the Gerard Arms, on the first room to your right on entry.

"I have also seen it before in other places. It is in Abbey Road, opposite the bungalow which is at the end of Cowley playing fields.

"It depicts Abbey Road before the East Lancs Road was created.

"Some if not all the children in the photo are from the Bibby family. I have been told that the bungalow was occupied by the cemetery gravedigger who was a Mr Bibby.

"The real expert on this photo is a Mr Vincent Bibby who is a prominent member of the nearby Windle Bowling Club in Hard Lane.

"It is his family in the picture. I have left a message at the club to let Vint know of the request for information and hopefully he will send you all the details that he has in the near future.”

Let's hope we can dig a little deeper then.

Meanwhile, Scars stalwart Colin Greenall, their events and restoration Officer, dropped me a note regarding a June picture.

He said: “The picture is of Pocket Nook Railway Swing Bridge showing the St Helens/Sankey Canal partially drained, probably in the 1950s when a section of the canal in town centre was being filled in. The bridge in the background is Corporation Street Bridge and the buildings on the left are what was once St Helens Iron Foundry.

"The line on the railway swing bridge was the St Helens Shaw Street Station avoiding line, taking the heavy coal traffic from Wigan and beyond down towards Widnes and Garston Docks along the former St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway and thus avoiding passing through the station.

“An interesting story about this bridge is that in 1842 an engine and two wagons fell in to the canal. This stopped all traffic on the canal and railway for many days whilst the locomotive was dismantled bit by bit because there was no adequate lifting equipment available at the time.

"Just out of the picture on the left was the Pocket Nook Foundry and on the right of the picture, out of view, was the railway marshalling yards of St Helens Shaw Street Station.”

Email chrispcoffey@gmail.com or ring 01744 817130 or write to 37 Holbrook Close, St Helens, WA9 3XH.