About

Littleborough Lakeside Website - owner Steven Dale

About Littleborough Lakeside Website

Having recently moved into Smithy Bridge, I discovered there was no one-stop site for information on the area. As a result, I decided to create this website about Littleborough Lakeside. I have a lifelong association with the area. Born in Royton, I grew up in Rochdale and trained as a nurse at Birch Hill Hospital. 

Throughout my youth and early adulthood, I was a frequent visitor to Hollingworth Lake until I moved out of the area in 1985.  With friends, I would rock climb at Blackstone Edge, go walking in the area and go bird watching at Hollingworth Lake.

I am a keen photographer and also run a website optimisation and IT consultancy. Check out my business site at newbeltane.tech for more information.

My plans for this site are for it to be a comprehensive resource for locals and visitors on all things related to the Littleborough Lakeside locality. As well as articles about the area, it’s history and attractions, there will be news about local events and a business directory. 

Background

My career over the past almost 50 years has been varied and encompassed various jobs including warehouse worker, departmental head, nurse, freelance photographer and writer, project manager, charity manager, social enterprise entrepreneur, IT consultancy and web design.

I first learned web design back in the early 1990s, when the likes of the Gopher system and the BBEdit freeware HTML and text editor we some of the only tools available. This was before even eBay came on the scene.

Later, I used tools like FrontPage and Adobe PageMill. These were heady days, but it was still only 1995 and just 4 years since A particle physicist and software developer Paul Kunz launched the first web server in the USA!

Although I never had any formal training in IT, many of my jobs required me to take on responsibility for e-mail and web systems. This was mainly because I was one of the few (if not only) persons with an interest in the inner workings of computers, modems and the like!

Also, when you work for a charity, cost savings are sought wherever they can be found and this often meant that so-called geeks like me were called upon to troubleshoot computer systems and the vagaries of dial-up modems.

I dread to think how much money I spent on computer magazines and software over the years. At one point I was subscribed to a couple of PC magazines (Computer Shopper and PC Pro), an Amiga magazine and a Mac one too! I even bought the occasional Linux related one. Of course, once I got married, I had to rein in my subscriptions a bit!

My computers

One of my earliest computers was the Amiga 500. For it’s time it was quite advanced and was introduced in 1987. I got mine no longer after it became available in the UK. I used it for e-mail (CompuServe) and for Desktop Publishing (DTP). Furthermore, I also played the odd game on it and learnt a bit of coding.

However, compared to today’s computers, it was very basic. Screen resolution was just 704×576 in overscan. Its processor was a Motorola 68000 running at 7.09 MHz. It came with just 1024 KB of RAM and a built-in 3 1/2-inch floppy disk drive. Peripherals such as a hard disk drive could be added via the expansion slot.

Later on I upgraded to a Power Macintosh 6200 which was more capable. I later acquired other Mac, including the MacBook Pro and the iMac. I still have various models and my current MacBook Pro is going strong even though it is 9 years old!

Not only that, but I also have more than one PC (running Win 10) and a server running Linux, so quite the menagerie of computers!

My wife thinks I am somewhat addicted to them. She may well be right!

Amiga 500 computer
Amiga 500 computer

This site (Littleborough Lakeside) came about as a result of me discovering there is no site that provides information on the local area that is updated on a regular basis. My plan is to build this site into a ‘one-stop’ site where not only will visitors be able to find interesting information on the local area (such as its history, places to visit, activities to enjoy, places to eat and stay) but also on local events and local businesses and other relevant information.

So, please check out the site. If you have any suggestions on topics to cover or upcoming events, please feel free to email using the contact form. In the meantime, do check out some of the latest blog posts such as Littleborough And Blackstone Edge Circular Route or Shibden Hall: Historic Hall.

Please note: As it’s early days, the design of this site is a work in progress, so the design will change over the next few weeks as I add more content and incorporate new sections, such as an Events section.