Life & Times of Wigan’s Mr Pic

Life-Changing

If anyone doubts the value of the inspirational quote

‘With one kind gesture you can change a life’

then Dave Green’s story might give you cause to re-consider.

When Dave’s dad was with the RAF in Aden in the late 50s, he bought an AGFA camera that he later passed onto a 10 year old Dave in the early 70’s, together with instructions on how to use it. That kind gesture set Dave on a path to developing a talent that has not only brought lifetime enjoyment but has also enhanced his career.

Brought up in the area around Ashton Heath, Dave’s early years included spells at St Thomas’ Primary and Ashton Grammar School, and one of his first jobs was working for Manchester City Council as a Land Surveyor. When Wigan Council were working on Atherleigh Way in the early 1980’s, the call went out for a computerliterate surveyor to help with the project. Dave secured a secondment onto the project, and later moved to Wigan Council in the Engineers Department. Dave said, “It was the time when PC’s appeared overnight on peoples’ desks and later I was the designated lead officer for IT liaising with Central IT. So I was helping to install PC’s and setting colleagues up on the network etc”. He also spent time developing his graphic design skills and worked on an in-house magazine for the Engineering department, before moving to the Planning Department as a Graphic Designer, a job title he took with him to the newly-formed Communications Department in 2008 and quickly becoming the go-to guy for council photography. On the home front, Dave has lived in Winstanley with his wife Lorraine for the past thirty years, and the couple have two daughters and a son. In early April 2020, Dave’s world stopped when he caught Covid-19 and he ended up in Wigan Infirmary. It was a grim time for the photographer and his family as he was moved from ward to ward. After seeing fellow patients die, he volunteered to try the C-PAP treatment which was undergoing trials, where patients are subject to continuous positive airway pressure via very tight and bulky mask. Suffering from a shoulder and hip injury from his martial arts days, Dave found the C-PAP mask unbearable at night as patients are required to sleep on their fronts. After speaking to the doctor, Dave recollects that he received a stark warning “You can sleep on your front and we’ll fix up your shoulder and hip for you later on, or you can sleep on your back and probably die – it’s up to you.” After ten days, he went home but faced months of outpatient treatment at Wrightington Hospital undergoing physical therapy and counselling, even

now, he estimates he’s only 90% the man he used to be. “It’s changed my life in quite a number of ways”, states Dave. “It brought home what is really important in life. Your health and your family.” Dave recently retired after spending 32 years with Wigan Council. The ubiquitous presence of Dave and his camera was felt at pretty much every main Council event of the past couple of decades, and if there was an award for most recognisable face from the council, he’d surely be up there with the nominations.

“The Council have been so supportive of me, I can’t speak highly enough of how I was treated by everyone there, and they gave me a fantastic send-off too”, said Dave.

So, what now for Dave?

“I have some freelance work lined up over the next few months, some for the council, but I’m going to enjoy my retirement and spend more time with my grandson, Oliver, who is just 8 months old”. In these pages, we’re privileged to carry just a small selection of the thousands of Dave’s images that have brought pleasure to Wiganers over the years – thank you Dave and enjoy that retirement!