Listening to Leonard Cohen opposite the Yorkshire Grey on a cold December night in 1966

I like the music of Leonard Cohen.

Me in 1966

They are songs I dip into now and then.

And today I want to reflect on the very first time I heard him sing.

It was on an LP featuring the song Suzanne which belonged to the sister of my friend John Coward.*

John was one of those new friends I made when I started at Crown Woods in 1966.

We were just 16 and beginning to see the world in a new way, revelling in every type of music and  poetry and fascinated by the work of Picasso, and the Pre Raphaelites.

I can’t remember the exact night I heard Suzanne, but it must have been sometime in December of 1966.

We were at his house opposite the Yorkshire Grey and with a slight air of conspiracy he said I should listen to the song Suzanne which came from the LP,  The Songs of Leonard Cohen.

The record belonged to his sister and carried a dedication from a friend "who wished he could have written the lyrics."

It was he said her favourite song and I could see why.

It still has the power to move me, but when you are sixteen and everything is more intense than it will ever be again Suzanne took me over.

We must have played it a few times and on the promise of looking after it and returning it the next day I walked out into the night with the song.

I have to confess it was more than a few days before John got the LP back but it was before his sister Susan came down from university so all was well.

We remained friends sharing music and LPs and then in the fullness of time John took up a place at Queens University in Belfast and I moved up to Manchester.

Even now when I hear that particular song I am still transported back to that moment, when we were young and everything was an adventure.

That said 58 years on I still think it is all an adventure and that is a good enough way to close.
Location; Eltham

Picture; me in 1966, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Suzanne, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o6zMPLcXZ8

Claude Road and a clue to the vanished Beech House

The date on this postcard of Claude Road is 1915 but the scene must be earlier.

On the surface it seems an unremarkable image.

It would look to be a morning perhaps in the holidays and the peace is disturbed only by the children playing close to Beech Road and the appearance of the delivery man who has attracted the woman on the right who I guess has come out of her house to catch him.

It is not unlike the same scene today with of course the absence of parked cars and passing traffic. But what does make it remarkable and dates the photograph to sometime in the first decade of the 20th century is the wall and gateway at the bottom of Claude Road where it joins Beech Road.

They are part of Beech House which had stood in its own extensive grounds since at least the 1830s.

Three generations of the Holt family had lived there but the last had died in 1906, and by 1908 the house was empty and the estate was awaiting sale. By sheer chance a postcard showing the lodge has survived. 

The message records a pleasant afternoon spent in the grounds and the speculation that it was soon to disappear. “Edith and I had tea on the lawn of the big house which you see the lodge in the picture. It will soon be sold and then will probably be divided into small plots.”

By the following year part of the garden which ran the length of Barlow Moor Road as far as High Lane had been bought by Manchester Corporation who felled the trees demolished the wall and built the tram terminus on the land. 

The remaining land was developed with the cinema and a row of shops and the garage of Mr Shaw.

But we can be even more precise about the date of our photograph. Claude Road and its neighbouring Reynard had been built by 1907 and the estate wall demolished in 1909.

So that little detail of wall anchors our photograph and provides a view of Beech Road that has gone forever.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester

Picture, from the Lloyd collection circa 1907-09

Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester nu 21 .......... Parsonage Lane

Now Parsonage Lane really is one of those little side streets which grows wider as you follow it down from Deansgate to Parsonasge.

It was there by 1793 and was already fronted by a selection of properties.

Fast forward half a century and these included a textile factory, the Admiral Hatchlock which also went under the name of Parsonage House, five other properties and the entrance to a closed court.

A search for Admiral Hatchlock drew a blank although I do know that our textile factory had by 1851 become Charlton & Sons Calendar Works which by 1900 had expanded across the road.

Today the original site of the textile factory is a big red office and retail block which is home to the Liquor Store.

And that is the close you will get a to buying a drink on Parsonage Lane because our pub which was still there in 1900 has long gone.

Location; Manchester

Picture; Parsonage Lane, 2016 from Deansgate from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Lost images of Whalley Range part 3 the Whalley Hotel

I only ever once visited the Whalley Hotel which I think was sometime around the summer of 1975.

There was never any particular reason for this other than it was always somewhere I passed on the bus from town home to Chorlton, and once on the bus it always seemed a faff to get off.

That said the place has dominated the corner since the 1890s.

From the outside it doesn’t seem to have changed much.

The hedges have gone as has the large building which is now the rear car park.

And the houses along Withington Road have also been demolished.

Like some of the other Whalley Range pictures I have been featuring I am hoping that these of the Whalley will stir a few memories which might appear as a post.

Of course it has now closed, and has been converted into residential use.

Picture; The Whalley Hotel, Whalley Range, Upper Chorlton Road, 1960, A.H.Downes, m40816, m40813, m40814, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council

Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester nu 45 ......... Southern Street ....... all gone

Looking down Southern Street, 2003

This is Southern Street as it looked at the beginning of this century.

Back then some of the old late 18th century buildings were still standing and while one had become a garage
and another a printing works they were all still recognisable as houses with stories.

I remember talking to some of the men who worked in Andrew’s Garage in the centre of Southern Street along with the owners of the printing business at one end of the street and the motor bike shop at the other.

Nu 12 & 14 Southern Street, 2003

Collectively their memories spanned back into the 1950s and they formed an important part of a study I did at the time on how the area was changing.
And now that Southern Street has been transformed here is part of that piece.

“Southern Street in 1851 shows the same pattern of housing occupation as other working class parts of the city.

In many of the houses there is evidence of overcrowding and cellar occupation.

So at 3 Southern Street, 15 people are recorded there in 1851, with 5 living in the cellar, 2 in one room, 4 in another and 4 in the garret.  

Number 5 has 11 people.  Across the street number 12 &14 are now a garage.

In 1851, 7 people are listed as living in number 14.

Nu 3 & 5 Southern Street, 2003

It is easy to appreciate the degree of squeeze when you measure the size of these properties.

Put more simply when you look down Southern Street, remember that the 1851 census recorded 81 people living in this small street, which was a drop from the 200 living there a decade before.

Numbers 3 & 5 Southern Street is worth looking at in detail, as they may not be there for much longer.

The block has been bought recently and while there is some doubt about the future plans I can’t see them staying in their present state.

They were surveyed in 1993.  The houses consisted of three floors and a cellar.  

The second floor dimensions of number 3 are 22 feet 6 inches back from the front and 16 feet 4 inches from side to side. 

Number 5 varies slightly at 22 feet 2 inches by 17 feet.

Evidence for the cellar windows can still be seen but much else has undergone changes.

Looking up towards Liverpool Road, 2003

Ground and first floor windows are not original and the door to number 5 has been enlarged.

All the evidence suggests that they were built sometime around 1794.

Houses on Southern Street, Barton Street and Worsley Street are shown on a map of that year, when Liverpool Road was still called Priestner Street and terminated at Collier Street.

Street Directories record people living in them from 1795.  This fits in with what we know of the surrounding streets.

Tthe title deeds of the White Lion Inn and the Oxnoble Inn show that that six plots of land were sold in 1782 and  in 1804 the Oxnoble plot was sold again on condition that it was built upon within two years.”*

Location; Manchester

Pictures, Southern Street and Liverpool Road from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Castlefield, Andrew Simpson, 2003

Greenwich Park, the moment a full 53 years ago .......... nu 1 the walk

It will be a full 55 years ago but the memory of that walk through Greenwich Park on a Saturday in September 1971 has never left me.

I was in my second year at Manchester Poly and the pull of Well Hall and the family were still strong and so I found myself back home with three friends.

Lois was from Weston and Mike and John from Leeds and we travelled down from Manchester in John’s van on the Friday night.

Even now I have to say I haven’t forgotten the kindness of David Hatch who agreed to put Lois, Mike and John up on his floor.

It was a brief stay and most of it is a blur except for the walk from the gates on the Blackheath side through the park to Wolf’s statue, the observatory and that view down to the river.

At any time of the year that short stroll is pretty good but in late autumn it is magic.  The leaves are on the turn and the bright sunlight can still surprise you with its degree of warmth and the way it brings out the colours all around you.

The rest of the day and the weekend is lost to me but that hour and a bit were and remain special, more so because I was showing off my home.

All of which just leaves me to reflect on the postcard which was marketed in the USA and carried the imprint of the American YMCA of which there must be a story, but not for now.

Location; Greenwich

Picture; Greenwich Park, 1905 from the series Greenwich, marketed in 1911-12 by Tuck & Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdb.org/

Celebrating Chorlton ..... down at our library today

All this month there is a selection of paintings of Chorlton people with the intriguing title of Chorlton Champions.

I have never liked that idea of history which was all about Kings, Queens, generals and the odd scientist.

If you are of a certain age you will remember history lessons where the good, the great, and the not so good marched across the pages of text books making everyone's lives a lot better or profoundly worse depending on whether you were on the winning side or one of the losers.

So much better to know about people like me who could still have a powerful impact but didn't feed the cult of the individual.  

That isn't to ignore monarchs, statesmen or soldiers but as my old mate Bertolt Brecht once wrote when "Caesar beat the Gauls. Was there not even a cook in his army? and when Phillip of Spain wept as his fleet was sunk and destroyed. Were there no other tears?"*

And that brings me back to the paintings.

My old artist pal, Peter Topping tells me that for the next month the library is hosting  "Chorlton Champions which is part of the  Chorlton Library Pop-up exhibition. These portraits have been created to honour our local heroes in Chorlton. 

Through dedication, leadership and tireless effort, they have made a lasting and positive contribution to the social, cultural and civic life of Chorlton. 

Their commitment exemplifies the spirit of community and inspires others. The exhibition will be added to when more people are recognised for their achievements. Works of art by Chorlton Artists. @everyone"

All of which is another reason to visit your Library and catch the CHORLTON CHAMPIONS during June.

P.S. nominations for candidates to be inducted into the Hall of Chorlton Champions are welcome via Peter Topping or Chorlton Civic Society.

* A Worker Reads History, Bertolt Brecht, 1935, written, 1939 published