Primrose Ghsots - Ilkeston

Primrose Ghosts

Cleaning Spirit in Cotmanhay..

A GRACEFUL lady ghost wearing a mid nineteenth century ankle length gown is haunting a small back street factory at Cotmanhay.

Workers at Denleen Separates Limited on the top floor of the 100-year-old Beardsley factory at Primrose Street often hear their lady ghost open a door on the ground floor and climb the wooden

Staircase to the offices. But only two people have ever seen the ghost; one a .woman worker, who has since left toe firm, saw the lady in grey six months ago, and machinist Linda Skeath saw the ghost on Tuesday.

Linda arrived for work at her usual time and as she turned the lights on in the main machine room, something caught her eye. She spun round to see a woman dressed, in. a long grey dress, racing across the room towards the staircase.

Linda recalled: "I couldn't see her face it was just a blur but her dress was very clear."

She chased after 'the woman, who she thought was a customer.

But when Linda turned the corner the staircase was empty and the door at the bottom was shut.

"I was so shocked, I thought I was going to faint. I just couldn't believe what I’d seen. It's the first ghost I've ever seen, and I hope it's the last."

Managing director Dennis Whitworth arrived a short while later and gave Linda a glass of brandy.

Although Mr. Whitworth sympathizes with Linda Skeath and agrees that "it must have been

Quite a shock," we suspect he is secretly quite proud of having a ghost ill his factory.

"I wish I'd seen it. I often sit quietly in. my office and hope it will drift by, but it never does."

Mr. Whitworth says he often hears the bottom door open and the sound of footsteps up the stairs. Sometimes he goes to see who it is, but there is never anyone there.

After Tuesday’s incident, he decided to make some inquiries; about the ghost.

"One thing I couldn't under stand was why the figure should appear in a particular corner of the room and then move towards the stairs," he said

Perhaps a clue to the mystery is that when the factory was built in 1866 there was a tiny office in that particular corner of the room, but there have not been any tragic deaths on the site or known murders, or incidents that could be linked with ghosts.

Mr. Whitworth may not have seen a ghost but he has seen a flying saucer.

"It was one October night some years ago. I saw this disc of light travelling across the sky. I dashed

inside to tell my wife and it had gone when I got back."

Mr. Whitworth says he was in the B.A.P. for a number of years and was able to distinguish different aircraft.

"And that was no aircraft. It was travelling at thousands of miles an hour. I saw it and there were reports in the papers the s next day. But who believes- you?