[youtube]v=pDNyShTcfuE[/youtube] A little bit of History

Oh yes! remember going on those boats and feeding the ducks . Happy days .

Beautiful film, I have very fond memories of Raby Mere in the 50s and 60s, hiring rowing boats in the afternoon and using the penny "electric shock machine" and the "what the butler saw" all very tame stuff by today's standards I'm afraid, delightful film to watch. Thank you for posting it.

Don`t forget the swing boats round the back .. happy days.

I remember Raby Mere too, from the 40's/50's. Half a dozen of us used to join hands and use the electric shock machine; good value. Don't remember the swing boats.

What a lovely film, portraying the beauty and tranquillity of what life used to be like. Hard to imagine now, but I'm sure it's still something we all yearn.
Thanks Snowy.

What an interesting film. I never realised Raby Mere is man-made, created to power a water mill.

I remember the row of wonderful old slot machines, which always looked battered and neglected. They're probably worth a fortune today as antiques.

The swing boats were in an enclosure at the side of the mere. The last time I remember using them was about 1977, when we took our little son on them. I don't know how long after that they continued to operate.

I think the same family that ran the amusements at Raby Mere operated a similar setup at Loggerheads in North wales.

Well spotted snowhite,most enjoyable,

I couldn`t find any old pictures of the swing boats round the side but did find one of the Old mill house,am sure the out building was still there in the early 70s



The History behind it .. clicky>> Mill House Raby Mere

In the 40s, we used to go on a "Sunday School" trip to Raby Mere, on a Charabanc (coach for the youngsters) it seemed to take hours, when I got a push bike in the 50s I realised it was only up the road so I went there frequently. Quite a popular place at the time.

There's a passage in the famous Victorian novel Her Benny - a tearjerker about two Liverpool waifs - where they are taken on a day trip across the Mersey.

Benny and his frail sister Nelly get off the ferry at Eastham and make their way towards Raby Mere. The description of the woods, fields and flowers is idyllic and poor little Nelly thinks she has gone to Heaven.

By chance, they meet up with a Sunday School party consisting of hundreds of children and are given a cup of milk and a bun. It's a perfect day out before returning to their daily grind of poverty and want in Liverpool.

Her Benny, by Silas Hocking, was written in 1879, so it shows you Raby Mere was a popular beauty spot even then.

Always had a hankering to wind up that rack-and-pinion sluice gate and drain the lot in a torrent down Brotherton Park. Never had the nerve, or the handle! Kids!!

I think I'll buy that book; your short description actually moved me to tears.

Yes, it’s certainly worth a read. It’s very much a morality tale of the triumph of Christian virtues - Hocking was a Methodist minister. But the descriptions of the appalling conditions in Victorian Liverpool are apparently based on his first-hand knowledge. And the plight of poor little Nelly the match-seller, standing barefoot in the cold at the Pier Head, is guaranteed to break your heart.