Jen and I have been to Barnoldswick a few times over the past couple of years and we were back again on Friday night to see The Real People. They are probably best known these days as early Oasis collaborators whilst I remember them for their 1995 EP which I had in my car for quite a while when it came out.
This was an mainly acoustic performance by the two Griffiths brothers. They put on a good show in front of a crowd of about forty people. Hopefully the Oasis royalties are still coming their way.
The next morning, we had a plan to walk some of the Pendle Way and I identified a car park on the edge of town that was close to the trail. I like the convenience of the national trails as you don’t have to do much navigation. Once you are on the trail, you follow the way markers (in this case a witch) until you’ve had enough.
Unfortunately, it didn’t go well. The lack of signs meant that it was twenty minutes before we escaped from the park. Then we found ourselves on the Pennine Bridle Way, before stumbling across the Leeds to Liverpool Canal and deciding that we’d walk along that instead.
We did nine miles in total, mainly on the flat. Part of the route actually covered a section of the Pendle Way. There were plenty of barges, but little in the way of wildlife. We’d hoped for otters but had to settle for cows.
It was interesting watching the boats navigate the locks and I think I’d like to do more of the canal route.
We were back at the car in good time to head off for some football. My plan had been to go to watch Barnoldswick Town who play in the ninth tier North West Counties Premier Division. We arrived early and I spotted another game going on at the nearby Victory Park. It was the Barnoldswick reserves side, which competes in the somewhat less prestigious fifteenth-tier East Lancashire League Division One.
The game was around twenty minutes old, and I’d intended to watch the remainder of the opening half before moving on to the first team’s fixture.
It’s easy to get sucked in though and when it reached half-time, I thought we might as well hang around and see how it finished up. On arrival, I’d asked someone the score and was told it was nil-nil. However, that wasn’t the case and when Padiham scored a few minutes from half-time, they were actually doubling their lead.
After all the walking I could have done with something to eat. I’d hoped for either a pie or a burger. Sadly, there were none to be had and the choice of snacks was limited to crisps or Haribo.
It was an impressive ground for the fifteenth tier. In addition to the food counter in the trophy hut, there was a covered stand with café style seating. There was another small covered stand towards the entrance and bench seating behind the goal.
I’d expected some of the fifty or so spectators to clear off at half-time for the main game but most of them appeared to be friends or family of the players and so stuck around.
Barnoldswick pulled a goal back early in the second half from an effort that might have been offside. The visiting defenders were furious with the ref, themselves and the world in general. Padiham then restored their two goal advantage when a striker took it around the Barnoldswick keeper, only for the hosts to cut the deficient again with ten minutes remaining.
We had some late drama with the Barnoldswick keeper being dismissed for handling the ball outside of his box. It’s always good to see an outfield player don a sweaty goalie shirt and take up a position between the posts. There were no more goals though and it finished as a three-two away win.
