Wigan's first Policewoman, WPC Amy Holt

[@KARLSEN-vj9xt]

Superb video, More great historical content.. really enjoyed it 👍🏻

[@MrHsHotPot]

Cheers Karlsen, and glad that you enjoyed the video and found it interesting. 👍 Hope you are keeping well, enjoy the rest of your evening and all the best.

[@bigbob1786]

Great video Mr H beautiful old church

[@MrHsHotPot]

Hi Bob, glad that you enjoyed the video. Yes I fully agree with you regarding Christ Church at Douglas in Parbold being a beautiful old church built I believe from locally quarried sandstone in the 1870's and has managed to escape the addition of ugly anti vandalism measures due to it's remote location halfway up a very steep hill.

[@carlleedham6256]

Thanks Mr H, really enjoy your videos, and broadening my mind. Nearly died from covid pneumonia 2 weeks ago and little videos like this keep me going, you can't believe as I was lying there in hospital, bloody itv turned up interviewing me, supposed to look your best on TV, not your worst, keep them coming Mr H

[@MrHsHotPot]

Hi Carl, glad to hear that you are enjoying the videos and sorry to hear about your hospitalisation due to Covid which I hope you are now on your way to recovering from. It's also touching to know that my videos have helped to cheer you up and kept you going through a difficult time. Hopefully moving forward as lockdown restrictions slowly lift I'll be able to get further afield as I've had lots of ideas and done quite a bit of research for them during the lockdown for future Hot Pot video away from my hometown once we can travel again. Anyway thanks for taking the time to comment, sorry once again to hear about your hospitalisation and I hope that you are starting to feel better. 👍

[@briansaiditsoitmustbetrue4206]

Thank you so much for this video .. It was superb and very high quality .. As they always are..

[@MrHsHotPot]

Hi Brian, glad you enjoyed the video and many thanks for the kind words regarding the standard of my videos. 👍 Hopefully I'll be able to get a bit more further afield again in the next couple of months as I've had lots of ideas during these lockdowns for places to visit and things to document ocutside of my hometown. Thanks for commenting, enjoy the rest of your evening and all the best.

[@garycanning7015]

Interesting video , love the Juliet bravo touch . Can’t wait for the next one.

[@MrHsHotPot]

Hi Gary, sadly other than the fact that Amy Holt was Wigan's first female Police officer, the beats she used to work and the odd anecdotes local people have posted online about little else is known about her career which is a shame as she must have had some really interesting stories to tell from her first day being assigned to a station to her eventual retirement. The Juilet Bravo touch at the end just seemed fitting somehow as she was a real life Jean Darblay, albiet without the rank of Inspector but she would have faced exactly the same prejudices and discrimination that the fictional character did. Regarding future videos I still have a few places and things to visit locally and document which should get me nicely to the end of this lockdown but I must admit that I'm looking forward to breaking out of my 5 mile radius and visiting other places with the camera once again. Thanks as always for commenting, enjoy the rest of your evening and all the best. 👍

[@butterflyblaise]

Thank you for your interesting video. Amy was my aunty. Lovely to see there’s still some local interest after all the years

[@joshlunt7827]

Hello Mr. H I hope you and your family are ok 🙂 Take care and stay safe!

[@MrHsHotPot]

Hi Josh, yes myself and the family are all ok thanks for asking. 👍 Like everyone else we are just waiting for this lockdown to end so we can get further afield once again as we are starting to miss Blackpool. 😄 Likewise mate I hope that you are keeping well and are managing to stay safe also. All the best.

[@joshlunt7827]

@@MrHsHotPot No problem and I miss Blackpool too especially Yorkshire Fisheries! Yea me and my family are doing ok thank you and staying safe 🙂 Feeding the nation as a Customer Assistant at my local supermarket! 😁

[@MrHsHotPot]

We've never tried 'Yorkshire Fisheries' Josh, as we usually go to 'C Fresh' on Foxhall Road on our way home from a day trip in Blackpool but I'll have to remember it should we be up the Talbot Road end and feeling a bit peckish. 👍

[@bobroby450]

I remember seeing Amy around Wigan many times when i worked on Wigan corporation buses

[@inmydefencemusic4574]

Enjoyed that Mr H. Brings back memories of my Grandad talking about working with her.. and my Father calling her Auntie Amy!

[@madmeddler99]

Nice one Mr H short but sweet 😎

[@MrHsHotPot]

Hi Ste Med, and glad that you enjoyed the video. 👍 My original idea was to document my bimble up to the church as well as Amy Holt's grave which would have been at the end making the video the usual 10 - 15 minutes long but sadly the wind out in the open was too bad so I had to revert to 'Plan B'. Still it hasn't turned out too bad even if I do say so myself. 😉 Thanks for commenting and all the best.

[@FB-tq5ln]

Lovely to see your local history. Thanks

[@southsidepaddy]

Love your videos Mr H especially the Fred Dibnah stuff, I was a fan of the fireside thoughts you did with another chap, what happened to those. All the best.

[@MrHsHotPot]

Cheers South Side Paddy, glad to hear that you enjoy my video's. 😃 Hopefully once travel restrictions are eased at the end of the month I'll be able to make some new Fred Dibnah related videos of locations which I've been researching during the lockdowns and I've been looking forward to visiting. Regarding the other channel I haven't been involved with it or spoken to the other guy for almost four years now so I've no idea what happened to it after I left. Anyway thanks for commenting my friend, enjoy the rest of your evening and likewise all the best. 👍

[@southsidepaddy]

Great stuff, it’s amazing I found your channel by accident I often wondered how you were getting on. Keep up the good work my man.

[@MarkStoneLimited]

Amazing

[@garethparr9482]

Fantastic Roy didn’t no anything about big Amy till today and very interesting. As you say one can only imagine the jibes and stick she must surely have received back in the day when the force would be classed as a mans job. Nice touch with the Juliet bravo theme over the end. 👍

[@MrHsHotPot]

Hi Gareth, glad that you enjoyed the video and found it interesting. 👍 Unfortunately I don't know much more about Amy Holt's story other than she was Wigan's first female Police officer and that she used to work the beats around the town centre and Springfield areas of Wigan. She was certainly a brave woman as were her five colleagues to be the first to step into what had been up until then exclusively a mans world. Also it's nice for someone to notice and mention the little Juliet Bravo nod to Amy at the end of the video. Thanks as always for taking the time to comment, enjoy the rest of your evening and all the best.

[@jackcro8825]

Extremely interesting Roy, hope you and your family are keeping well.

[@MrHsHotPot]

Thanks Jack, and glad that you found the video interesting. 👍 Sadly I don't know much more about Amy Holt other than she was Wigan's first female Police officer and from what I've read online worked the beats around the town centre and Springfield areas of Wigan. Family is keeping well as I hope yours are, and just waiting to ride this latest lockdown out. Thanks for commenting and all the best.

[@jackcro8825]

@@MrHsHotPot I use to walk past that church every night going home from my job in Parbold in the early 70’s it use to be little frightening in the dark and them days not much traffic I walk all the way to Dangerous Corner to catch the bus home to Shevington.

[@MrHsHotPot]

You must have had leg muscles like Arnold Schwarzenegger walking up Parbold Hill every night Jack! But yes I can imagine it was a little 'atmospheric' walking alone past the church and it's graveyard each night especially in the dark winter months. Gives me the shivers just thinking about it! Lol.

[@jackcro8825]

@@MrHsHotPot hello again Roy, just one thing came to my mind. When I work in Parbold at the Service Station I would set off walk home and I be carrying a empty petrol can and 95% of the time people would stop in their cars to give me a lift ask where I am going give me a lift think my car had broken down.

[@jackcro8825]

@@MrHsHotPot just to let you know my real name is John Crompton.

[@rickyboy698]

WOW! What a great find. I remember 'Big Amy' from Wigan Town Centre back then. I am off topic I know - but who in the same period (late 60's) can remember a lady nicknamed "Maggie Muscle"? She was somewhat of a legend who liked the (ahem) 'odd drink or three' - and would never back down from any fight - whether that be blokes in pubs or any member of the constabulary. "Maggie" frequented the area of Lower Ince.

[@MrHsHotPot]

Hi Rickyboy, glad that you enjoyed this tribute to Wigan's first Policewoman 'Big' Amy Holt. 👍 'Maggie Muscle' is before my time and despite being brought up in Lower Ince as a kid in the 70's and 80's I've never heard of her. However as much as I'm loathed to promote the 'wiganworld' website on my channel if you head over there they have several threads discussing Margaret Smith or 'Maggie Muscle' as you know her which you may find interesting. Thanks for commenting, enjoy the rest of your evening and all the best.

[@rickyboy698]

@@MrHsHotPot Thank you

[@singaporemick]

Roy, Hector and Richard were both big lads and enjoyed a pub fight on a Saturday night, but on New Years eve in Appley Bridge legion Hector met his match and died in a fight. I met Amy once when I was a member of the AFS, there had been a big mill fire in Miry lane, and a few days after the AFS lads were sent to help with the dampening down. It was raining hard and we was soaked, and Amy was sheltering under a door canopy, and she said to me come and stand under here love out of the rain , so I did.

[@MrHsHotPot]

Hi Mick, yes I remember you mentioning what happened to Hector Holt on another video that I made a while ago, however I deliberately chose not to mention it in this one as it has nothing to do with Amy's career with the Police Force and I'm also respectful of the fact that it is something that the Holt family would rather be kept private as the loss of a husband and father so young is always a tragedy whatever the circumstances of the loss. Regarding meeting Amy yourself during your time with the AFS, can you confirm if it was before or after 1969? If it was after 1969 then it would confirm my theory that Amy did indeed serve in the Lancashire Constabulary and that she may have been wearing Lancashire Constabulary Police badges on her cap and lapels in the famous photograph of her on Park Road, rather than the Wigan Borough Police badges everyone assumes she is wearing as both were identical at the time in shape and size.

[@singaporemick]

@@MrHsHotPot It would be before 69 Roy because that was the year I started work on the north sea oil rigs, maybe 1967ish Look up when Taylors mill in Miry lane burned down and that that would be the year.

[@MrHsHotPot]

Taylors Mill went up in flames late one Friday night/early Saturday morning in January 1967 apparently Mick, so you was bang on the money with the year. Lots of photos online and judging from some of them the fire was a big un. BTW do you know the former Fireman who lives on Shevington Lane across the road from the house that puts up the Christmas lights each year? I built one of his extensions back in 97/98 and he had lots of memorabilia from the old Wigan Fire Brigade such as signs and badges that had been removed from one of the appliances when it was rebranded and absorbed into the Greater Manchester Fire Service in 1974.

[@singaporemick]

@@MrHsHotPot Yes Roy that will be Jim C, When they disbanded the AFS they allowed use to keep our axe and helmet, I just left them in my parents shed, until I came back from working overseas, and then I got them back. And about 3 years ago my missis started selling stuff on Ebay so she put them on and they sold, the helmet went to a lad who had a old Wigan fire engine and other memorabilia, he said he was going to give the engine to a museum in St Helens. The axe went to a ex fireman who had them cleaned up and chrome plated, so they could be used as gifts for retiring firemen.

[@shirleymarriott6959]

Hector Holt never met his match he was hit sitting down with his back to someone who hit him and he fell backwards hitting his head on a stone floor in the legion .he never threw one punch on that night in 1968 new years eve . Regards Shirley Holt

[@loafersheffield]

I wonder if Amy inspired that other now former GMP Det Sgt. Maggie Oliver? Teks no crap but still reyt nice and honourable.

[@MrHsHotPot]

Hi Loafer, isn't she the one who resigned from the GMP in disgust over the treatment of one of the victims of the Rochdale grooming scandal and ended up in the Celebrity Big Brother house?

[@MrHsHotPot]

I thought I recognised her name Loafer, yes she certainly has my respect as well for sticking to her principles and resigning rather than just keeping quiet about what happened in Rochdale and going along with the official narrative which was no doubt politically motivated due to the people involved.

[@casper1240]

Never forget the copper directing Traffic on Kins street i think iot was .arms everywhere !

[@therespectedlex9794]

Is she your cousin (in law) Mr H? I wonder if she's a distant relative of my Holt family. Strange how all those Holts in one grave, but not the husband Graham.

[@johndejure9849]

er have yer an apron also ???.

[@MrHsHotPot]

Hi John, not quite sure what you are asking here mate to be honest. 😕

[@frederickbowdler8169]

in the late sixties sexism was sadly still part of the "culture"