HOMEBREW HERITAGE

We have some marvellous material for you today...Eric Simpsons daughter Joyce has very kindly allowed us to upload this video of the last days Brewing at the Hartley's site, and the dismantling of the equipment. You'll see Eric himself doing the introductions, and then we go into the building...many of you will see some familiar faces and places, and it'll bring a lump to a few throats..  I'll say no more than that, in the hope that the film will stir a few memories and promote some good discussions. Get in touch with us with your thoughts.  Here are a few stills to be going on with, and the link to the film is in green below. If you have any problems with it, let me know. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oEOR2ZYJ9IluDFRB60LtFGHBOoMfQK92/view?usp=sharing For other memories of the Brewery, have a listen to our Oral History pages, the latest addition is fascinating talk from Harry Wilson, former Maintainance Electrician at Hartley's.   https://soundcloud.com/homebrew-...

I like this job.  Had a really nice chat over a beer yesterday with Nigel Saul round the back of the Globe in Ulverston. The results are on the Soundcloud page along with John Raisbeck's interview...you can see how this archive is going to look, so hopefully we'll hear from a few of you...if only to set the record straight.  Nigel also brought along a Hartleys tie, presumably awarded for completing the Pub Crawl card that we saw earlier, although Nigel's Mum did work in the Office so it may have been a free sample...thanks Nigel for a really interesting and funny contribution. https://soundcloud.com/homebrew-heritage/sets/nigel-saul

 These 2 sheets laminated photos and  Evening Mail Cuttings were left for  us at The Hope And Anchor by an unknown source... The Mail clipping tells its own story. Are you amongst this group? If so, get in touch , we'd like to hear about you memories of working at the Brewery. And can anyone tell us what is happening in the three other photographs? Or put names to the faces in the bottom right? Many thanks to our anonymous source for these...and if you have anything similar, we'd like to see it.

These bottle labels belong to John Raisbeck, They are in  marvellous condition, having been preserved like stamps in a glassine envelope.  They look as fresh as the day they were printed, and John has kindly offered them to the project for our collection.  John worked at the Brewery for a short period in the 80's, and has agreed to sit down with us and record his experiences. The current situation has slowed this side of the project down a little, and while our Oral History recorders are waiting with microphones ready to begin work we need to keep people safe.   I'm going to look for some advice and then hopefully sit down with John in a safe space and record what he has to tell us.   All the best to you all.

This prototype Loyalty card comes from Paul Leviston...Members of the 55 club were rewarded  as they progressed through the card ..  25 got you a pint glass, 40  a tie and the first 5 to fill the card got a Brewery tour, an engraved yard of ale and a certificate.  Paul tells us he drove his pals around on a motorbike in order to fill their cards. Now that's a pal.

Good afternoon, here's a last image of the Brewery seen through the eyes of the young Paul Winder, visiting his mum in the office...and with it a couple of images of souveniers.  The Beer mats come from Rachel Smith whose Nanna worked in the Bottling shop, we hope to hear more from Rachels Nanna.. the pumphead and ashtray come from Peter Butler in Calgary while the bar towell is with  Peter Thompson in Massachusetts.   And now over to Paul Winder.. "..My Dad was very friendly with Eric Simpson who was, I understand, the head honcho in those days. One of dad's favourite days was when Eric took him to the cricket at Old Trafford and introduced him to Freddie Truman.  I used to go with mum when she cleaned the offices in the evening. It was all under the pretext of doing my homework though not much got done. I would sit in Eric Simpson's office and marvel at the section of "Bluebird" which had been retrieved from the bottom of Coniston...

Hello again, and I hope this finds you all well. Here's another snippet of Hartley's history from Paul Winder.  These  great little stories about Paul and his Dad  conjure up another time entirely,  and for me they're an example of what can make reading and hearing personal histories so rewarding. Remember, if you have a connection with the Brewery,  we want to hear from you. The photo at the top of the page is  from Nigel Saul and shows one of one his workmates cleaning the copperwork.  Nigel isn't sure of the feller's name.  Can anyone tell us who this is? The Barrel-end photo comes from Jo Clayton Brown at The Hope And Anchor.  Thanks Jo. By the way, this is now the longest Ive ever had to wait to get served at the Hope... And now, over to Paul.... "..Dad used to start work at 4.30 in the morning on brewing days and would be responsible for starting off the brewing process. It was one such morning that he slipped ...