Trees at Derker

Acrylic and charcoal on hardboard 12" x 12"

Acrylic and charcoal on hardboard 12" x 12"

Acrylic and charcoal on hardboard 12" x 12"

I used to drive my son to work and always passed through a little hamlet of a place, a kind of satellite village of Oldham, called Derker.  Historically apparently it was called Dirt car.  Like so many of the small towns and villages in these parts it used to be a cotton mill town and that provided employment for the majority of its inhabitants during the 19th and early 20th century. The mills have all been demolished and regeneration is slow.  Anyone seeking employment there now will have to look further afield to Oldham or Manchester.  However - however! - Derker has the most amazing trees bordering the main road. Copses of trees even,  so if that was part of the regeneration initiative well done. It was wonderful that bit of the drive and once or twice coming back I even pulled up the car to have a wander and a gander at such miracles.