The archive is extensive and we aim to make as many of these images available online as soon as possible.
We have Upcoming Events to raise awareness of the collection and our project at the Weavers' Triangle Visitor Centre from Saturday 29th May 2021.
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**GOOD NEWS** CORONAVIRUS UPDATE, MAY 2021: Our archive rooms are now open to a restricted number of volunteers who have been vaccinated. We are taking a cautious and gradual approach, especially in the light of the recent increase in case numbers and will review the situation continually, in the light of Government guidance.
50 Years Ago
Mr. Atkinson adjusts a stop on the organ, ready for the move to the Record Exchange.
Local preservationist 37-year-old Mr. Clarence Atkinson believes Burnley should see his hand-made copy of a 100-year-old fairground organ. So it's being moved from the front room of his home at Burnley Road, Harle Syke to take pride of place on show at the Record Exchange Standish Street. It seems that nostalgia for the fairground relics is catching. A local branch of the Fairground Organs Preservation Society may soon be formed, said Mr. Atkinson, who works at a wholesale tobacconists.
The one Mr. Atkinson built is a "Gavioli" originally made in France and was a common sight at the turn of the century. Mr. Atkinson said: "Each stall holder in a fair was in competition and the organs were a way of attracting customers." What spelled out the end of the Gavioli and others was the coming of "canned music" and the popularity of gramophone records.
