Speaker: Andy Green is a writer, broadcaster and local history enthusiast, who is actively involved in promoting Warrington's arts, culture and heritage scene. A self-proclaimed lover of 'all things Warrington', Andy served as Chairman of Warrington History Society from 2018 to 2024, making him the longest serving Chair in the Society's history. Since 2017, he has been co-presenting Radio Warrington's Culture Show every Thursday evening (repeated on Sunday mornings) interviewing musicians, poets, actors, historians, dancers, painters, curators, local dignitaries, archivists and more. "Everyone has a story to tell", says Andy, "and helping people to tell their stories, or sharing their work for others to enjoy, is a great privilege."
Brief Synopsis: An entertaining multi-media talk looking at some of the poetry, prose, rhyme and song inspired by the town of Warrington or written by its townsfolk over the years. The talk features material from the 16th century to the present day and provides an interesting perspective on the town's history, as seen through the eyes, pens and music of some of Warrington's most talented creatives. The talk features Lancashire's oldest known ballad, words from a woman who in 1779 was described as one of Great Britain's nine living muses, and extracts from what was, when published, Britain's longest poem, all of which have firm Warrington connections. It's not all highfalutin however: beer, rugby league, spousal disagreements, industrial accidents and peep shows all are mentioned.
Full talk synopsis:
Speaker: Andy Green
Subject: Warrington in Poetry, Prose, Rhyme and Song
By way of introduction, Andy quoted his love poem Where the Old Fish Market Once Stood, a tribute to Warrington landmarks and personalities – Golden Square, the Barley Mow, Eileen Bilton, Boteler, Beamont, Priestley, Charlie Lee. He then played a recital of Lancashire’s oldest ballad, Warrikin Fair (1548) and his own updated version, explaining outdated local vocab such as kippo (big stick), udgit (fool) and Denty Snig poe (eel pie).
In the mid 1700s, Anna Laetitia Barbauld, daughter of the Academy minister John Aiken, was a popular writer, critic and children’s educationalist. She spent 16 years in Warrington before marrying and moving south. Her book Lessons for Children was ground-breaking. Andy read her poem The Invitation. Her political poem Eighteen Hundred and Eleven in which she criticised the country’s action in the Napoleonic war was considered unpatriotic and she fell from favour.
Contemporaries of Barbauld included John Fitchett (1796-1838), remembered for his book on the murder of Sir John Butler at Bewsey Old Hall in 1522, for his epic poem on King Alfred (the longest poem in English literature) and for his Address to a Warrington Theatre commemorating the opening of the Theatre Royal in 1818.
Arthur Bennet (1862-1931) former mayor of Warrington, wrote seven volumes of poems and songs, often in praise of the town’s hospitality, e.g. Heaven in Warrington. Warrington Ale by the Minor Birds, a folk group founded in the 1960s by Norman and Jack Froggatt, also celebrated the local beer.
In 2008, Stan Smith, one of the ‘Smiths of School Brow’ published Family Fortunes. In prose and verse this tells the history of five generations of his family and its involvement in Warrington’s industry. Andy quoted poems such as Marriage Lines (about fustian cutting), Hidden from History (cotton weaving at Cockhedge Mills), Unintended Consequences (the cycle store at the old Tudor cottage on Church Street) and Wire (about Stan’s uncle Arthur who worked as a wiredrawer).
In 1882 a Widnes newspaper printed a poem in which Warrington’s rugby team was likened to wolves (hence the current name?)
More recent events have been immortalised in song, such as the 1993 Warrington bombing which inspired Zombie by the Cranberries. During Covid, Andy wrote a video piece Warrington Reunited as part of a project for Culture Warrington to promote local arts; in The Hills of Golden Square Norman Froggatt amusingly describes the shopping precinct.
In breaking news, a song about Buttermarket Street by the 1970s Warrington country band The Poachers has been picked up by Nashville folk group Lost Hollow and is riding high in the country charts. They are topping the bill at the Masonic Hall in November.