{"id":578,"date":"2020-04-24T11:55:53","date_gmt":"2020-04-24T11:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gonbys.com\/?p=578"},"modified":"2020-04-24T11:55:53","modified_gmt":"2020-04-24T11:55:53","slug":"barrow-1924","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gonbys.com\/?p=578","title":{"rendered":"Barrow, 1924"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u2018On your marks\u2026,\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I looked over at Jack Dudley, bobbing on his toes with the adrenaline, and then around at the rest of the competitors. The size of some of these steelworkers\u2026; the nets looked like tea-strainers in their hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Get set…\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jack was bursting, pounds of linear force held back by sheer will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Hunt!\u2019 shouted Larasyov finally, and off we all skipped into the bright spring day, amid the cherry blossom and birdsong of Barrow-in-Furness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25a1 \u25a1 \u25a1 \u25a1 \u25a1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019d got word of the butterfly hunt the previous Saturday, when a novel set of white whiskers raised eyebrows at the Fox an hour before kick-off. Barrow were visiting that day, and the mysterious foreign gentleman seemed unusually keen for as many Wulfrunians as possible to visit Holker Street the following week, indulging us with drinks, Woodbines and flattery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Of course, it\u2019s only lattle grund, not a-like your own,\u2019 he said, with a self-deprecating smile, \u2018but I\u2019ve no doubt you\u2019ll be entertained and\u2026, accomodated\u2026.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018We always are,\u201d said Chippy Fowler, picking a flake of tobacco from his teeth, \u2018for, in case you haven\u2019t heard\u2026.\u2019 A three-octave rising piano arpeggio wafted into earshot from the lounge, and in his characteristic, heavily-vibratoed alto, Chippy began singing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

At this point, Maude Baker, the merry widow that no snug could ever hope to contain, entered stage left, parting the sea of football enthusiasts with partnerless pirouettes until Nobby Clarke took her raised hand and swept her across the sawdust floor. Even beneath her heavy rouge, a blush of port and youth shone through her cheeks. Larasyov tapped his feet and nodded to the second verse:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Once this musical interlude had finished, and, at the landlord\u2019s stern instruction, Nobby Clarke had whisked Maude back off to the snug, Larasyov headed to the bar to shout up another round. \u2018What d\u2019yer make of him?\u2019 asked Jack, once he was out of earshot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018He\u2019s sellin\u2019 something,\u2019 I said, raising a match to my Senior Service, \u2018but as long as he\u2019s buying, I suppose it\u2019s all right.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larasyov returned, and handed out our drinks with a rather more businesslike air. He checked his pocket watch again. \u2018We\u2019re having a butterfly hunt before the game next Saturday, I don\u2019t know if you\u2019d be interested\u2026?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018A butterfly hunt?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Precisely. It\u2019s a very popular pastime up in Lancashire, and we\u2026.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Oh, we\u2019ll be there!\u2019 blurted Jack, \u2018What time does it start?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018You are a lepidopterist, my friend?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A stony, perhaps even resentful silence fell upon the table. Larasyov gave an open gesture with both hands. \u2018Noon. Get there punctually if you want a good net.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I\u2019ve got me own,\u2019 said Jack proudly. Larasyov checked his watch again, stood, donned his top hat, excused himself with a bow and a courteous smile and left, probably hoping to make the Chequer Ball and the Feathers before kick-off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Within a few seconds \u2018Gaps\u2019 Mayhew of Brierley Hill approached our table. \u2018You know that chap, Gonby?\u2019 he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Some bloke from Barrow,\u2019 I shrugged, \u2018Friendly enough.\u2019 I showed him my half-drunk pint of Butler\u2019s by way of illustration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018He was in the works yesterday,\u2019 said Gaps, \u2018Ordering some great bespoke fishbowl thing.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018So?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Reg Cairns givin\u2019 us a hard time about it. Quick turnaround \u2013 needs it for Monday. Muster cost \u2018im.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25a1 \u25a1 \u25a1 \u25a1 \u25a1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a good turnout at the starting line that Saturday; not only did the Barrovians appear to enjoy a good butterfly hunt, but Larasyov had managed to get the word out around the Black Country. Just before one, pushing through the throngs of men and nets, Pete Pettigrew of Tipton sidled up to me. \u201cY\u2019am all roit, Gonby?\u201d he said, tucking his net and jam jar under his armpit to light a Capstan Full Strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018All right, Pete. What\u2019s up?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u2018You know that chap?\u2019 he asked, raising his broken nose towards the gaunt figure of Larasyov, kitted out today in deerstalker, tweeds and a churchwarden pipe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Met him on Saturday at the Fox,\u2019 I said, \u2018Seems all right.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this, Pettigrew smiled a knowing smile. \u2018Bought yow a point, did he?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018He did, ar. What have you got against him?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Nothing. He\u2019s a bit fastidious about his machining, mind you. Bin givin\u2019 Archie Twist hell all week about my lathe work.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018A customer of yours, is he?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The filterless fag wagged up and down between Pete\u2019s lips as he answered, \u2018One-off.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Car see why he was using your place,\u2019 I said, \u2018when there are tooling shops all over Barrow.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018It was in aluminium, Gonby,\u2019 said Pete, \u2018It\u2019s all steel round here.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You could tell at a glance the really keen hunters: a variety of high-tech nets, some with hinged jaws, others two or three feet deep in order to catch the insects securely, were visible amongst standard-issue bamboo- and rattan-shafted numbers and even some home-made articles fashioned with onion bags. But, whether ardent professionals or giddy amateurs, whether effeminate librarians or hulking hull-riveters, as soon as Larasyov gave the order to hunt, all pranced in dainty, elegant movements in search of brimstones, speckled woods and commas. I\u2019d taken one of Larasyov\u2019s nets, but moved at a more leisurely speed, keeping Jack Dudley company as much as anything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time flew like the monarch flies to Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, though, I had to pick up my speed, as Jack got more and more into the hunt. I\u2019d forgotten just what an obsessive he could be. He skipped along with dizzying twists, swatting at the air with deft flicks of the wrist, not even stopping for cigarette breaks. Up and down terraced streets, through the town centre, along the docks and up the trees of public parks, he hunted single-mindedly and bagged incessantly. Time flew like a Monarch flies to Mexico, and before I knew it, he had led me clean out of the town, and we were standing atop a slag heap overlooking the Walney Channel. I helped him empty his catch into the jam jar with holes carefully poked in the top, adding the half-dozen small whites that I\u2019d procured, and we headed down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the bottom, three uniformed schoolchildren in their early teens were waiting for us. \u2018Dr. L says you should meet him at the Harbour Hotel, on the Strand,\u2019 said the tallest one, a freckly blond thing with rotten teeth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Who the hell is Dr. L?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Funny neem. Cant say it.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The one that called the \u2018unt,\u2019 said the littlest urchin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25a1 \u25a1 \u25a1 \u25a1 \u25a1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Gentlemen! Thank you for coming. I was beginning to think I\u2019d have to track you down at the football ground\u2026.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Jack\u2019s very keen,\u2019 I said, eyeing the bar thirstily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I knew it! I could see it in his eyes as soon as I mentioned butterflies in the\u2026 in that pub in…\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The Fox.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The Fox, yes. Charming place. I hope you don\u2019t find this particular hostelry unwelcoming\u2026?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018What are you having?\u2019 I asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Nothing for me thank you. Please meet me on the roof. Nancy will show you to the stairs once you\u2019ve been served. And bring that excellent collection of specimens you have there, ahm, Jack!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Will do,\u2019 said Jack, glowing from the hunt and presumably as thirsty as I was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Gaps\u2019 Mayhew was among a throng on the roof. \u2018Gonby,\u2019 he called urgently, as we headed out of the stairwell door, \u2018Over here!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018What\u2019s up Gaps?\u2019 I asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018He\u2019s got the bowl with him!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018What bowl?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The glassware he had us mek for \u2018im. He\u2019s putting all the butterflies in it.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I thought it was a contest!\u2019 said Jack, shocked…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I thought it was a contest!\u2019 said Jack, shocked, \u201cHow can he tell who caught what?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We nudged our way through the crowd towards the table where Larasyov stood. Butterflies filled the large bowl, whose principal aperture (there were other, small ones around the opposite side) appeared to be sealed with a complex aluminium fitting. It wouldn\u2019t be long before I understood why he\u2019d spurned the weight of Barrow steel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Your butterflies please, Jack,\u2019 called the Doctor, with a quite wild look in his eyes now. \u2018Now, Jack.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018But I thought it was a contest!\u2019 cried Jack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Now!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t like the way he raised his voice, but before I could interject he had snatched the jam jar from Jack Dudley\u2019s hand and was pouring the insects into the bowl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Stop it!\u2019 cried Jack, \u2018It\u2019s cruel! There\u2019s too many in there!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Nonsense!\u2019 shouted Larasyov, before raising the bowl to his head, twisting the complex aluminium fitting, placing his head inside, and then tightening what presumably was some kind of seal. \u2018Now, behold!\u2019 he cried, arms outstretched, as the butterflies fluttered madly before his face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing happened. Was it meant to? Was this a performance of some kind? Did the insects carry some inherent danger he was braving?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018He does this every spring.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Barmpot thought he was gunner fly!\u2019 said Pete Pettigrew. When the consequent laughter had died down, we could hear that the Doctor was coughing, and possibly choking; it seemed some lepidoptera had entered his mouth. Pettigrew was first to the scene, but Larasyov\u2019s frantic, panicked movement made it impossible for him to open the valve. Jack and I grabbed him by the arms in order to help, but soon Larasyov was smacking his head against the floor to try to smash the device. In this he was eventually successful, though the dozen or so goes it took to break the glass gave Gaps Mayhew some consolation. Shaken and crestfallen, Larasyov sat against a chimney stack and refused any help as we filed downstairs in bewildered silence. On the way out, I ordered him a brandy and asked Nancy to take it up to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Quite an ordeal he put himself through,\u2019 I said, handing over two tanners, \u2018I\u2019d be surprised if he were ever the same again.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I wouldn\u2019t,\u2019 she said flatly, \u2018He does this every spring.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so we headed out into the sunshine towards Holker Street, for a tighter and more entertaining game than the previous week\u2019s three-nil drubbing. Bottom of the table 2 Top of the table 2 it finished, and a victory for Rochdale meant by five o\u2019clock we were clinging to 1st<\/sup> place only by goal average. I did wonder, briefly, whether Larasyov would still be clinging to his head, but we decided to steer clear of the Harbour Hotel and his eccentric inventions, heading instead for the Old House at Home, where Jack caught a mouse with his butterfly net, earning him a free pint from Les the landlord.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s nothing your average football fan enjoys more than a butterfly hunt, but something told me that sparrowtails and dingy skippers weren’t all that was being pursued that day…. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,14,26,28,30,66,78,95,104,105,122],"class_list":["post-578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-4","tag-barrow","tag-bottom-fox","tag-brierley-hill","tag-butterfly","tag-lepidoptera","tag-north-street","tag-spring","tag-third-division-north","tag-tipton","tag-wolves"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gonbys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gonbys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gonbys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gonbys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gonbys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gonbys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gonbys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gonbys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gonbys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gonbys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}