Friday, 19th July, 1939
‘OVER THE FENCE’ CELEBRATES OSWALDTWISTLE’S FASTEST FORM OF COMMUNICATION
Ada and Mo’s lively new song proves that in Lancashire, good news travels fast — and gossip travels considerably faster
Before wireless sets found their way into every home, there was another remarkably efficient method of keeping abreast of local affairs.
The garden fence.
The latest song from Accrington author and songwriter Gabriel Undici’s Mind The Trams Songbook introduces two ladies particularly accomplished in the art.
Over The Fence belongs to Ada and Mo — neighbours, friends and enthusiastic observers of Oswaldtwistle life who require little more than a washing line, a cup of tea and five minutes together to establish precisely what is happening in the town.
Or, at the very least…
what they believe is happening.
NEWS WHILE YOU WAIT
Who has been seen with whom?
Who left Lockwood’s Bakery carrying considerably more than they went in for?
Who is going to the dance?
Who isn’t?
And why did Mrs So-and-So close her curtains at three o’clock yesterday afternoon?
For Ada and Mo, these are not trivial matters.
They are local affairs.
Over The Fence celebrates the wonderful oral network that once connected Lancashire streets, where news could travel from one end of Oswaldtwistle to the other without troubling a telephone exchange.
Accuracy was desirable.
Speed was essential.
ADA HEARD IT FROM MO
At the heart of the song is the friendship between two women who know each other — and their neighbours — extremely well.
Their exchanges are quick, affectionate and occasionally outrageous, but there is little cruelty behind them.
Ada and Mo gossip because they are interested in people.
They notice when somebody is courting.
They notice when somebody is struggling.
And they certainly notice when somebody insists there is absolutely nothing worth noticing.
Behind the net curtains and comic speculation lies something much older and more valuable:
community looking after community.
THE ORIGINAL SOCIAL NETWORK
There were no messages to forward.
No photographs to share.
No buttons to press.
Just two neighbours leaning across a fence.
Yet somehow everybody still knew everything.
Within the twenty-song Mind The Trams Songbook, Over The Fence provides another affectionate glimpse of everyday life in 1939 Oswaldtwistle, capturing the humour, language and personalities that made Lancashire streets feel like communities rather than simply rows of houses.
Soon, serious news will begin arriving from much further away.
For the moment, however, Ada has heard something…
and Mo really ought to know.
FROM THE STREET TO THE STAGE
Written by Gabriel Undici, Over The Fence forms part of the twenty original songs inspired by the novel Mind The Trams, set among the people of Oswaldtwistle and Accrington on the eve of the Second World War.
The Songbook is also forming the foundations of a developing Lancashire musical, bringing its bakery workers, postmen, neighbours, dreamers and unforgettable local characters from page to song.
DISCOVER THE SONGBOOK
Over The Fence is available now as part of the Mind The Trams Songbook, streaming on Spotify and major music platforms.
Discover the novel, Songbook, artwork and growing Accrington Herald archive at:
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