Now yesterday’s Manchester History Festival in the Town Hall was a resounding success.
There were more stalls than I remember last time offering everything from canals to trams as well as plenty of history societies and much more.
Added to that there were some top name speakers from Michael Wood to Angela Buckley and an interesting chap dressed in black who entertained the visitors.
And Peter and I had more than our fair share.
Pretty much all of the steady stream were from Chorlton, which was odd because no where did we advertise the place, but with books, paintings, some very magnificent picture postcards and lively banter from the two of us it is not surprising.
On a serious note we met some fascinating people with vivid stories to share with us.
These included Martin Logan who has been tracking the men of the Manchester Corporation Tramways who enlisted during the Great War.
3000 joined up and 310 lost their lives and are remembered on the Manchester Corporation Tramways memorial plaques.
Martin has so far uncovered information of 290 of those who died including name corrections and something of their lives before the war began.
It is a remarkable piece of research and has started the process of bringing these men out of the shadows with the added bonus that Martin has agreed to contribute the story of his research to the blog.
And then just as the day was coming to a close we met Stuart Bolton whose grandmother had worked at Hough End Hall when it was still a working farm. She vividly remember the Lomax family who had worked the farm from the 1840s through to 1940 and still had pictures of one of the daughters of Mr and Mrs Lomax.
This he has promised to send over and in return I will offer up my own collection of pictures from the Lomax family album.
So all in all a good day.
And of course the event yesterday was just the culmination of a week and a bit of events dedicated to all sorts of history.
There were the professional historians, rubbing shoulders with school groups, and heaps of people interested in bringing the past of their own community for all to see.
Location Manchester Town Hall
Pictures; in Manchester Town Hall with the Manchester History Festival from the collection of Andrew Simpson
Added to that there were some top name speakers from Michael Wood to Angela Buckley and an interesting chap dressed in black who entertained the visitors.
And Peter and I had more than our fair share.
Pretty much all of the steady stream were from Chorlton, which was odd because no where did we advertise the place, but with books, paintings, some very magnificent picture postcards and lively banter from the two of us it is not surprising.
On a serious note we met some fascinating people with vivid stories to share with us.
3000 joined up and 310 lost their lives and are remembered on the Manchester Corporation Tramways memorial plaques.
Martin has so far uncovered information of 290 of those who died including name corrections and something of their lives before the war began.
It is a remarkable piece of research and has started the process of bringing these men out of the shadows with the added bonus that Martin has agreed to contribute the story of his research to the blog.
And then just as the day was coming to a close we met Stuart Bolton whose grandmother had worked at Hough End Hall when it was still a working farm. She vividly remember the Lomax family who had worked the farm from the 1840s through to 1940 and still had pictures of one of the daughters of Mr and Mrs Lomax.
So all in all a good day.
And of course the event yesterday was just the culmination of a week and a bit of events dedicated to all sorts of history.
There were the professional historians, rubbing shoulders with school groups, and heaps of people interested in bringing the past of their own community for all to see.
Pictures; in Manchester Town Hall with the Manchester History Festival from the collection of Andrew Simpson
No comments:
Post a Comment