Welcome to the North West Branch Home Page
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A QUICK CHAT ABOUT OUR MEETINGS
North West Branch meet once a month, running from 4 – 8 pm at Barton Village Hall, Garstang Road, Broughton, Preston, Lancashire PR3 5HE.
This Hall is situated three miles north of Junction 32 on the M6 Motorway - or Junction 1 of the M55 Motorway, depending on which way you are travelling. It is an excellent venue, a modern building in a very attractive setting with lots of parking on site. In fact it was frequently used for antique related events, and an Antiques and Collectors Fair was held there fortnightly on Sundays, starting at 9.30am.
Our calendar for 2023 is : Friday the 21st of April, Friday the 19th of May, Friday the 16th of June, then there is no meeting in July, Friday the 18th of August, Friday the 15th of September, Friday the 20th of October, Friday the 17th of November and Friday the 15th of December.
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A LOOK INTO OUR ARCHIVES
This is a really thriving branch, and extremely well established. So you might be surprised to learn that our current North West Branch is not our original.
The first Lancashire Branch made its debut in the November/December 1970 edition of "Cartophilic Notes and News" (Vol.3 No.36) where it tells us that Lancashire Branch have been renamed North West Branch, under Secretary Norman Pendlebury.
In 1972 they advertised they would be holding their January and February meetings at the College of Adult Education in Manchester. Both events were very successful, the January having seventeen members attending and the February having eighteen. And the Branch also participated in the Bolton Hobbies Exhibition of that year, which was allied to the Blackpool one but closer to Cyril Marsden`s home.
In 1973 North West seem to have left the College of Adult Education, as according to a yearly schedule list in the Cartophilic Notes and News, it seems that the ordinary meetings were taking place in members homes throughout the area, apart from one at The Premium Bonds Social Club, Lytham St Annes, and another at Somerset Road School, Bolton. Unless these were special events like rallies?
By 1975 they were meeting at St. John`s College in Crown Square Manchester, on Saturdays 8 November and 13 December, from 3 pm, plus a meeting on 23 November at the home of Mr. Crook in Chorlton-cum-Hardy. The secretary at this time was still Norman Pendlebury.
In January 1981, according to the Cartophilic Notes and News, they were meeting on the first Sunday of the month through February and March, at Bolton YMCA; by arrangement none of these dates clashed with Timperley or Merseyside, and it was agreed that future meetings would have a theme so that cards of a particular type could be exhibited, sold, and swopped.
Now there are conflicting reports of what happened next. One says that during 1981 this version of the North West Branch became absorbed into the Timperley Club - and then Timperley became incorporated within the Cheshire Branch. However the other says that North West Branch remained for longer, into the 1990s, and that is supported by the Card Times magazine of October 1997, which has a short piece that reads :
Merseyside branch closes.
MERSEYSIDE branch of the Cartophilic Society has been wound up. Secretary Harry Shaw has written to the Society explaining that decreasing numbers and the increasing age of the remaining regulars have made it inevitable. "A few of us will continue to meet on an occasional basis at Prescot Bowls Club for a drink and a chat" he adds. So Merseyside goes the same way as the North West branch, which became a home-based group some time ago. The lure of the still massive Timperley club near Altrincham has probably also had some effect on the decision. And it may also have repercussions for the Society`s plans to bring the National Convention to Cheshire in April 1999. Stewards for the event are due to be recruited from Merseyside and the North West.
This one only came to life when Dennis Williams, a member of our Winchester Branch who had newly relocated to the area, decided to breathe of new life into his dreams of a proper North West Branch. And one started to take shape. It rose again in October 2010, and many local dealers and members attended the inaugural meeting.
Sadly the brilliant start would peter out due to difficulties with venues and meeting times, and membership slowly declined. Dennis Williams died a few years later. But we are sure he heartily approved when our current Branch Secretary took the reins in 2012