Today Wigan hums with afternoon ennui, people shuttling back and forth between the town centre and the outskirts, in no hurry; strip clubs and fish and chip shops streaking past the bus window. The Hall collection is currently being transcribed and uploaded onto the Wigan archive website by students and volunteers. The collection when gathered together is impressive. Each volume is mummified in muslin cloth to preserve them and the individual volumes are tied together with ribbon.
Highlights include a schoolboy's diary from 1813, which describes an infestation of fleas, as well as his unrelenting nosebleeds, the thick parchment pages occasionally reveal blood stains... Another diary from 1789, a naval log book, records a sea voyage to Jamaica, is inscribed on the opening page with only a few words that capture the sense of the author’s exultation in adventure:
Littleton Powis'... April the third 1789... Written at Sea... Remember... Farewell...
Light airs & calms with small flying showers _____
... a good many dolphins about the ship. Our boat-swain struck one... of which we made a hearty dinner next day. They are very good fish...
The archivist in charge of the collection, Alex Miller, has now fully transcribed the diaries of a fighter pilot from the First World War, whose narrative comes as "near to Lord Flashheart in Blackadder Goes Forth as is possible without becoming parody":
Thursday Feb 25th... Slept like a top! Bright Cloudless day. NW wind. Rather misty. I dug Shepherd out of bed at 7 am and he took me down to the aerdrome in his Rolls Royce. The engine still went round, so I pushed off. She was in a better mood today so I flew at 3000 in the sunshine & felt happy... I intended to circle over Ewhurst by way of a farewell to Gen BP, but over Robertsbridge my engine again got very tired. I had a second breakfast with the General & Lady BP who seemed quite pleased to be visited by air! The Gen had cut his knee, but hobbled out on two sticks to see the machine.
