On arriving safely home in Didsbury from Blackley in 1908

I am looking at a picture postcard of Wilmslow Road which was sent in 1908 to Miss Marion Scott of Banbury Road in Blackley.

Now there is nothing over unusual about that.

Such cards were just part of the way we communicated with each other at the beginning of the last century.

They were cheap to buy, cheap to send and could be guaranteed to arrive within a few hours of being sent.

All of which meant that you could send a card first thing in the morning arranging to meet a friend later that day and be confident that both of you would be where you said at the appointed hour.

In many cases cards were sent alerting family that a holiday was over and that you would be home for tea.

And that is the fascination of this particular card which announces the safe return of J Richards from Blackley.

Now of course I could be in danger of misunderstanding J. Richards but there is a sense that the journey across the city from north to south was accompanied with some relief.  “Just a line” the message begins “to let you know I got safely back from Blackley feeling none the worse for the journey.”  

One wonders what terrors might have been expected from the trip, but having completed it he/she was content to mark the card with a x to show the chapel of the college.

But there is more and that is the hint that all is not well with Marion’s sister who appears to be “unmanageable.”

I went looking for Marion in 1908 but so far have found nothing, which is a pity because I would love to know the link between Marion who lived at Wesley House on Banbury Road in Blackley and J Richards who was attending the Wesleyan College.

Not that I suspect I ever will, which just leaves me to reflect on the picture of Wilmslow Road which  superficially has not changed much in 107 years.

The scene is instantly recognisable and while the church is no longer the chapel of the Wesleyan College it is still there and much else looks the same.

And that I think is all I shall say.

Picture; Wilmlsow Road circa 1908 from the collection of Paul O’Sullivan