jennellapea

I'm younger than you are but I remember all the old abandoned mills. I remember watching Fred Dibnah demolish a few of them when I was a kid in the 90's. Even in the 4 and a half years I've been here it's changed, which is nice for the town. I always felt Oldham was forgotten, when all the other towns were being re-developed it just stood stale.

scilly

there seemed to be a lack of enthusiasm for things the last couple of times we were back.


Fred Dibnah??? That name strikes a bell with me. I wonder why??

I was delighted to read that Alexandria Park had been re-vitalised, and the boating lake back in use ......

....... I spent a lot of my childhood days until the age of 11 playing in that park ...... we lived less than 5 minutes away! It was freedom back then ............ left home after breakfast, went back for lunch, then back out again until tea.

We moved to Waterhead when I was 11, and that was like being in a village, but there were several mills down "in the bottom". I think all of those were closed down by the time I left.

scilly

Just read up about him!

I remember reading about him somewhere years and years ago.

jennellapea

It's changed in the last few years. They got rid of the train tracks and integrated it on to the tram system. They've finally done something with the old town hall too (I'm pretty sure it's a cinema - which the town hasn't had in a number of years).

He used to have shows on the BBC I think. I just remember him from demolishing chimneys.

I didn't know that about Alexandra Park. I didn't go there often, it was really run down as I remember it.

I grew up in Chadderton and moved to Shaw in my late teens. There was a working mill in Shaw until quite recently but they closed it and put up an Asda.

I'm going back at the end of the month, wondering what else has changed in the 2 years since I was last there.

scilly

well, I know they demolished Counthill school buildings 2 years ago, as redundant

A new estate was built up all around it, no community buildings. It's still a demolition site according to photos I've seen on FB

Why didn't they renovate the school for community use??


It will be interesting to know how you see the town.


I went back in 1970 when my Dad died, 3 years away, and I got lost in the middle of the town!

They'd demolished some buildings, changed roads around ........ I just stood there and looked amazed, as I tried to find out where I had to go to catch the bus to go see my friend's mother

Stinkypup

We rented in Fairfield, Bury and I did an Obs and Gynae job at a Royal Oldham Hospital. Having trained in Manchester, we were used to the old mill towns in the 90s. Oldham was I'm sad to say a tad run diwn, maybe not now. Rochdale similar. Ramsbottom was really smartened up though- nice place now.

We lived in a little miners cottage on the hills in Affetside - our house was in Bury and front garden was in Bolton! Lovely place near Holcombe Moor. No doubt Affetside hasn't changed though the mill towns probably have.Great dog walking area, Wayoh and Entwhistle reservoirs, Tockholes near Darwen was amazing...

scilly

Oh dear ...............

I knew Royal Oldham as Oldham and District General Hospital ......... the very earliest parts were Oldham and District Union Workhouse

I had a horrible experience having my appendix removed in Oldham and District in 1959, a huge ward with over 30 beds in it.

It is famous for being where Louise Brown, first "test tube" baby was born, under Patrick Steptoe. He was well known in Oldham as a first rate gynecologist & Obstetrician, which is why I always remember Louise Brown!

Stinkypup

Yeah, I was working in the dept of Obs and Gynae and there were large wall did plays of Steptoe . Louise has I gather recently had her own baby there

scilly

I once had Steptoe's partner as my gynae doctor ........ and that was where I first really learnt about 2 level medical practices. This was back in 1966, and once again Royal Oldham.

It wasn't me, but a lady on the same ward was diagnosed with uterine cancer ........ Mr whoever (I've completely forgotten his name!!), who hadn't been operating because of a sore throat so we had all been left to the tender mercies of his more or less competent Registrars (I use that phrase advisedly!), told this poor lady that she had a wait of at least 4 months in the NHS, but if she cared to go to his private clinic in Manchester, he could operate on her in 4 days

I was glad after hearing what he said that he'd told me what I had wrong but refused to do anything because "you are too young".

......... and yes, most of the 12 of us then on the ward did hear what he said because we'd all been moved up to one end of the ward while they painted the walls!

In fact, he turned out to have been wrong with his diagnosis of what was wrong with me ......... but that wasn't found out until 2 or 3 years later, over here.

TrishP

11 years here, homesickness kicked in 2 years ago when I became unwell and worsened the more I had to battle with the healthcare system and couldn't help comparing current treatment with previous NHS treatment, which was absolutely brilliant. I also found that the less energy I had, the less able I was to be able to put up with the shallowness of friendships here. I've been feeling less homesick over the past few months since feeling a tad better and energy levels have improved, but it's rearing its head more frequently now to the point where (Canadian) hubby and I have had "the talk" about moving back to the UK and are planning on heading over in 2017 for a recce visit. We don't live anywhere near any of his family, so we're on our own here in Ottawa and flying from the UK to see them would actually be faster than travelling from here.

scrubbedexpat091

Seems anything to do with healthcare is a battle here.

TrishP

Having worked in healthcare both in the UK and Canada for 20 years and been a recipient of services in both countries, I was horrified at the major gaps between services here. I previously managed a couple of programs for seniors here in Ottawa and was very strict with my staff about making sure that no one fell through the cracks, to make sure referrals to other services were completed and followed up until clients were accepted and that clients were kept in the communication loop at all times.
Too much responsibility is placed on the shoulders of sick people here to find out what they're entitled to and having to self-refer onwards for care and chase services providers for basic communication. So many times I was ready to throw in the towel as I hardly had the energy to get out of bed in the morning and what little energy I had was focused on my toddler son.

I gave up my job when I had my son, but can confidently say I will never work in healthcare here in Ontario again, it was too frustrating, too bureaucratic and basically downright inefficient. I'm now in a position where I have to find $20K per annum for a new medication that I will have to take for the rest of my puff!

BristolUK

I can relate to that but there are exceptions and I've come across a fair few - usually with doctors' secretaries and occasionally a service provider - admittedly because their knowledge of what you can get is linked to their ability to make money from it

Tell you what though, it doesn't help when people keep repeating the mantra about programs for people on low incomes and putting people off looking for assistance when there are actually schemes (not very well advertised of course) for people not necessarily on low incomes but with high medical expenses the net effect is similar in that the medical cost can leave you skint.

Siouxie

https://www.ontario.ca/page/get-help...ion-drug-costs like this one, for instance.

BristolUK

You don't need to be a maths genius to see that even if you're on $60,000 NET pay, you may get some assistance with drugs costs if they are above $2,000 a year.