MEMBERS of the Radcliffe Probus Club were captivated with the stories told by our guest speaker, Peter Watson.

Peter's subject was folklore and for starters he gave us an insight into the Pendle witches, referring to Lancashire as the witch county, stating that witchcraft was discovered as far back as 1584.

He explained the number of spells you could inflict on someone you took a dislike to if you had a lock of witch's hair. But how would you acquire a lock of witch's hair?

Peter showed us a mock up of a witch's bottle, said to be used in the 1700s. The bottle neck was stuffed with red material, with pins sticking into the material and Peter said very similar bottles had been found recently by farmers in West Bradford, Lancashire.

Peter discussed at great length fear and superstition and whether it was possible to separate these two items.

He stated that his grandfather would stay in bed all day if Friday fell on the 13th of any month. Was he frightened of something going wrong or was he just superstitious? His grandfather lived until he was 86 years old.

If you were to break a mirror you could expect seven years' bad luck; should you see a bat flying round your house three times this was a sign of a death in the family; the footballer who wears the same piece of clothing each time he goes out on to the football field; the person who chooses the same numbers on his lottery ticket, is he frightened of not sending the same numbers every week!

Fear and superstition seemed to go hand in glove and in our grandparents' day these superstitions seemed so very real.

The president thanked Peter for a very interesting and informative talk.

Our next meeting will be the annual meeting on Wednesday, May 12, 2pm.

T.N.