Thursday 30 November 2017

When St Andrew’s Day and a little bit of south east London come together with stories of Canada, Germany and maybe even India

Uncle George, circa 1918
Now St Andrew’s Day pretty much went unremarked in our house and that I find odd given that my grandparents crossed the border in to England just a century and a bit ago and three of my uncles were born  in Scotland.

Added to which I share the saint’s name and both Uncle George and Uncle Fergus served in the Black Watch and I grew up with stories of Robert the Bruce, the Young Pretender and our own tartan.

But south east London was a long way from the east Highlands where we originated from and Alloa which was the stepping off point for England for my grandparents is a place far away.

And  father had made the journey south by the 1930s so if he did ever talk about his youth it was of Gateshead and not of a time across the border.

So for me Scotland was pretty much just a place, and one that I didn’t even visit until 2006 but during the past year as I have been rediscovering my childhood in Lausanne Road thoughts of Scotland have also begun to bubble to the surface.

The tent of family stories, circa 1955

They are a mix of daring tales of the Highland clans mixed with the victories of Scots armies over the English and a string of laments from the Flowers of the Forest and farewells to the boy who would have been King to the haunting sound of the pipes.

My earliest memories are of sitting with Uncle George in our tent in the garden of Lausanne Road on hot summer’s days when the sun beat down heating the canvas and releasing that distinctive smell which mixed with his pipe smoke and was only interrupted by the buzz of insects.

A long time later he told me the more personal stories which pitched our family across the Highlands and involved tales of  itinerant traders, ships engineers who plied the oceans and barrel makers, shop keepers and many more.

All of which has made me reflect on our lost identities and how it is often very hard to draw them up from half told tales, family myths and a big dollop of romantic tosh.

But the last few years of trawling our own family history across south east London, the Midlands and into Scotland, and on to Germany and Canada have confirmed that the myths and half remembered stories will have more than an element of fact.

Family tombstone, Markinch, Fife, 1976
So the cocoa factory of Kender Street was real, our links to Canada are more extensive than I could have thought and the history of Well Hall and Eltham is very much mine.

And what has made it possible to confirm so much that was folklore and vague memory is the growing body of historical information now on online which has allowed me to call up army records from the Canada, opened up endless census returns, and read contemporary accounts which sit on dusty shelves in libraries as far away  as California and Australia.

Above all it has also allowed me to correspond with people engaged in similar research across the world and although there can be a time delay those links will pretty much be done in a few hours.

Now that may seem a long way from St Andrew’s Day, the garden of Lausanne Road or even our house in Well Hall but I think not.

St John River, New Brunswick home to great uncle Roger, 1914
The common thread is that search for identity and the desire to give a context to family members who we know little about.

For me hoovering up a family tree which finally gets lost two centuries ago is not enough.

I want to know how their lives were lived out and how their achievements and contributions were part of something bigger.

Grandmother's home Cologne, circa 1930
So I shall be crossing that border, and continuing the search for my great uncle migrated to Canada in 1914 and in the fullness of time explore a link with India.

Mother always maintained that my grandmother’s maiden name of Bux was not common in Germany where she had been born in 1895 but was from the sub continent.

It was for me a link to far and yet there in the historical records the name Bux is prominent amongst seamen who worked the ships that sailed from India to Europe in the 19th century.

All of which leaves me yet again with that simple observation that history is messy and full of surprises.

Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson

So no more Nokia

Well it has been a long relationship but it’s over.

My flirtation with Nokia which has lasted for almost two decades has ended.

And I have to say that if there were one available from my phone supplier I would happily continue the tryst.

But alas not.

The acquisition of the first clockwork Nokia was more accident than a purposeful choice.

Back then I had little idea about make, specification or design.

You made a phone call agreed the price, the plan and didn’t even get a choice over the colour.

That said when that first Nokia arrived I was hooked.

I liked the design, the ease with which you could use it and above all if you dropped it, it just bounced.

Added to which it had a battery which lasted all day and into the next two, and it played Snake.

What more could you ask of it?

Nor did its successors disappoint me and when I finally made the switch to smart I continued to be very pleased.

But the last one creaks and doth protest, so I have moved on.

I did have a brief flirtation with another older Nokia which belonged to Simone and came from Italy but its battery was tired despite constant recharging and by then I could see the logic of a machine which did emails, social media and allowed you to find out the weather in Scunthorpe as well as Naples.

So that is it ........... a little bit of personal history, no more no less.  And bound between the four is pretty much the history of the pocket portable, communication device which would have made Dan Dare and Captain Kirk proud to have used one.

Pictures; Nokia phones circa 1998-2015 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Wednesday 29 November 2017

And the connection between three bottles of mulled wine from Morrisons and those facebook messages is .......?

Well in another outrageous bid for self promotion the answer is of course the new book The Quriks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

Thank you Morrisons
It came out on November 16th, Chorlton Bookshop sold out in six days and both Peter and I have been stopped in the street by people who have told us how much they have enjoyed reading it.

And with the launch of the book set for December 4th, Peter made his way up to Morrisons to look for the ingredients to make mulled wine, which we will be offering on the night, along with mince pies which I might add are suitable for vegetarians.

Mindful that some may be driving home there will be a choice of alcoholic and non alcoholic mulled wine.

And here is that first connection, because Darren the manager at Morrisons,  gave us three free bottles.

He too had heard how good the book was, which chimed in nicely with the many facebook messages I received today.

The launch will be on December 4th, at Chorlton Library between 7-9pm and we have an event planned in the new year at Foster’s Cycle shop on Barlow Moor Road.












Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy




















*The Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, was published on November 16 and is available  from Chorlton Book Shop or from http://www.pubbooks.co.uk/ or 07521557888

Monday 27 November 2017

The Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy ..... first the book and now the film

Well that isn’t actually happening  just yet, but if you come to the book launch on December 4th in the meeting room at  Chorlton Library from 7 pm till 9pm you can ask the authors just how they plan on making the  film.



Application forms for the leading acting roles will be available from the back table.

Crowd scenes will be filled from the customers of assorted public houses, the Glad to be in Chorlton Choir and anyone with a spare half hour on Thursday November 1 1900.

Did you see what I did there with the date?

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

*The Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, was published on November 16 and is available  from Chorlton Book Shop or from http://www.pubbooks.co.uk/ or 07521557888

Saturday 25 November 2017

What future Chorlton? ........ no. 2 Ryebank Road

Now the discussion about building new houses on a much loved open space is not an easy one.

Ryebank Fields, 2015
Easy if you want to live close to where you were born and close to family, less so if you have come to treasure the place which could soon become a building site.

The land in question is Ryebank Fields that bit of open land at the bottom of Longford Road which for a big chunk of the 20th century bordered our old brick works, and before that was an area of pasture and meadowland.

During the 1930s it consisted of some clay pits and the lost “Cardiff Road”.

The site passed into the hands of the MMU and for decades was left vacant, but as nature abhors a vacuum the site has slowly been developing into a fascinating site for biodiversity covering 4.6 hectares.

The Isles, 1880s
And now given that debate I have returned to an earlier story* which featured an article by Stuart Marsden,

The history and natural history of MMU’s Ryebank Fields** which mixes the history of the site with a recent survey of the plant and animal life.

Written by Stuart it includes contributions from me and Lynsey Crellin an environmental consultant from The Environment Partnership (TEP), and together we “talk about the site, its history, and its current biodiversity value”.

Now this is one to read., which might help when contributing to the public consultation process.***

Location; Chorlton

Picture; The Isles, in the 1880, courtesy of Miss Booth, from the Lloyd Collection, and Ryebank Fields, 2015 Stuart Marsden

*Down at Rybeank Fields off Longford Road, with a belt of mature woodland some patches of native bluebells and a bit of our history, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/down-at-rybeank-fields-off-longford.html

**The history and natural history of MMU’s Ryebank Fields, Stuart Marsden's Conservation Research Group, http://stuartmarsden.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/the-history-and-natural-history-of-mmus.html

***The public consultation will run till December 15 2017 and comments and observations can be left at www.manchester.gov.uk/consultations

Friday 24 November 2017

When Manchester Microwave traded on Barlow Moor Road

Now there will be those who mutter how can this be history, it was there so recently?

But it has gone and joins that vast collection of Chorlton shops and businesses which have ceased trading, moved on or just changed what they did.

I can’t remember when Manchester Microwave opened on Barlow Moor Road but I am pretty sure it wasn’t there when I first washed up in Chorlton in 1976.*

And that is the point.

Some businesses like Burt’s the clothes shop stretch back to the beginning of the last century, others like the Plumbing and DIY store on the corner of Malton and Barlow Moor are gone within a trice.

So recording them is important partly because it reflects where we live but also because it points to the big changes that have and are happening.

I doubt that if anyone had told me a decade ago that almost all the retail out lets opposite the bus terminus would become bars and restaurants I would have believed them.

But they have and so posting Mike Lever’s picture of Manchester Microwave is just a reminder of what we have lost.

And almost as soon as I posted the story Lesley commented that in the 1970's it had been a busy hairdressers, and with that I can just about remember the place.

Thereby making the point and of course emphasising the importance of contributions to the blog.

Picture, Manchester Microwave, circa 2006, courtesy of Mike Lever

*And can now be found at Unit 1/Albany Trading Est/Albany Road, Manchester M21 0AZ

What future Chorlton? ..... reflecting on what has been and is to come ..... no. 1 the Precinct

Now the Precinct has served Chorlton well and if it is now in need of a little tender care and attention that is only to be expected.

The Precinct, 2015
It was designed in the late 1960s and finished by 1973 and really is a piece of retail development of its time.

During its construction we lost sixteen properties which had been built in the late 19th century and a section of the historic Manchester Road which vanished under the car park.

To its detractors the Precinct is a closed place, which is locked up at night and faces inwards offering little from Barlow Moor Road, other than that expanse of tired grass while the central area is not an inviting place to sit and relax.

Manchester Road, 1894
Added to which there is Graeme House which is a brutal lump of a building too big and totally out of keeping with its surroundings.

All of that said I do like the Precinct, and even on a wet day in November it has lots going for it, from the mix of shops to the produce which occupies the space in front of Adams the grocers.

The plans for its redevelopment have tumbled off the table over the years but never materialised.

And now there are a fresh set of ideas which proposes a new residential led mixed use scheme.*

The document makes much of the buzz word “urban grain” talks of being pedestrian and cycle friendly and of promoting sustainable travel.

Manchester Road, Nicholas Road & Barlow Moor Road, 1958
And itoffers up more residential accommodation in an area which is very popular and I might add an area where property values are now so high that none of my children who were born here could afford.

Of course some will argue so what?

The market drives all, and anyway no one should assume that an accident of birth guarantees them a place in a “chick, quirky and desirable suburb”.

Well I disagree, but that debate I will leave for now.

What does concern me is the scale of the large block which fronts Barlow Moor Road.

If the artist’s impression is to be taken as the plan then the building running from Sunwick House which is now the bank down to Manchester Road rises above the surrounding skyline and sits awkwardly with the existing Victorian and Edwardian properties.

Leaving aside Graeme House the present Precinct does not overwhelm you.  It may appear boring and unimaginative but it is on scale that many will find comfortable.

Of course 40 years ago its critics will have pointed out just how uniform it was, differing little from similar developments across the country, lacking in character and totally out of place.

All of which may be true, but it is a criticism which could be made of the latest plan.

Well we shall see.

The public consultation will run till December 15 2017 and comments and observations can be left at www.manchester.gov.uk/consultations

Location; Chorlton;

Pictures; the Precinct,2015, from the collection of Andy Robertson, the area in 1894, from the OS for South Lancashire 1894, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/ and corner of , Manchester Road, Nicolas Road, Barlow Moor Road A H Downes, 1958, m18046, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*Chorlton Precinct Development Framework Summary 2017

So what did you do in Book Week?

Now I came late to writing and even now I don’t pretend it will ever pay the bills.

But like many I enjoy the challenge of staring at a blank screen and letting the words tumble out.

I don’t have a plan and pretty much just go with the flow, and I suspect were I to start the same piece on Wednesday instead of Tuesday it will go off in a different direction and be a totally different piece of work.

That said because what I write is factual there is a framework determined by the historical research and if it is a commission by the demands of the people who will pay me.

But even so, as we all know history is about interpretation and the emphasis my change over the course of the project and new evidence can alter the direction and the conclusion of the story.

A by product of the writing has been the blog which started as an outrageous act of self promotion as the first book was nearing completion and expanded to cover anything that took my fancy.

So, while the core is still focused on history it has become a vehicle to show off my photographs, and highlight events, galleries and museums.

And along the way it has also become a place where others can post their historical research along with their pictures.

All of which is why I so like the site The Moving Dragons Write, which began when a group of writers decided to work together. It arose from a writing school, became a blog and facebook site and has now published an anthology.

Like the blog it now gives people a chance to have their voice and to prove that simple observation that everyone has a story or a book waiting in the wings.

In the past that talent has not always been discovered or given an opportunity but social media, and self publishing now provide a platform, be it pictures, painting or writing.

Long may it continue.

Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson







*The Moving Dragons Write, https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1549881809/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_dp_jsl.zbWCR4TAS

Thursday 23 November 2017

One hundred years of one house in Chorlton part 90 ......... the wind up wireless

The continuing story of the house Joe and Mary Ann Scott lived in for over 50 years and the families that have lived here since.*

I doubt the idea of a wind up wireless would have appealed to Joe and Mary Ann.

They may have been born in the 19th century but they grew to maturity, married and settled into the fine new home on Beech Road in the 20th century.

And the 20th century was the century of all things electric and so I rather think they would not have given house room to something that you needed to wind up.

Not so me who fell on the windup wireless as a pretty neat thing.

It was invented by Trevor Baylis back in 1991 after he had watched a programme about Africa and the absence of mains electricity across swathes of the continent.

It took him just half an hour to invent the machine and it went into production a few years later.

And around 1998 having come across the story of the wind up wireless I went out and bought one from Argos.

It was a novelty and a talking point as well as an opportunity to be silly but it was just what you need while taking a bath.

Trevor Baylis, 2017
Ours survived many steamy baths, as well as being dropped from a great height.

It was in those pre smart mobile phones a pretty neat idea offering instant communication.

I went looking online and now there are lots of models.

And just after I posted the story my friend Suzanne sent over these very nice pictures with the story of how "by coincidence, earlier this year David and I were wandering around Eel Pie Island when an elderly gentleman started talking to us, he said building his house on the island was the best thing he’d ever done and he invited us inside. 
Mr Baylis with windup wireless and  his car, 2017

We went through a large workshop, then a swimming pool to the sitting room then out to the garden by the Thames. 

It turned out to be Trevor Baylis and he regaled us for 2 hours with many tales. 

He showed us the original wind up radio, wind up torches and he had invented a shoe that charged your phone as you walked".

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; advert for radios, 1949, from the collection of Graham Gill and the photograph of Mr Baylis, 2017, courtesy of Suzanne Moorehead.

*The story of a house,
https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20story%20of%20a%20house

The familiar view with a difference ....... views from the tram no. 2

Now the view of the cross in St Peter’s Square is a familiar enough one, although for a while during the building of the Second City Crossing the bits sat in a yard waiting to be reassembled.

Today the scene has been added to by the onward climb of the Own Street Towers.

Andy Robertson was there on Tuesday and caught the scene.

By one of those odd coincidences I was there on the same spot just a few hours earlier taking a photograph of the same view.

Great minds.

Location; Manchester

Pictures; “from a tram stop”, 2017 from the collection of Andy Robertson

Wednesday 22 November 2017

The view from the tram ........ that development

Now if you want to get some spectacular views of the changing city skyline, the platform of a tram stop or for that matter a railway station is a good choice.

Usually they are located above street level and so give a different perspective on the new build and new developments which are pretty much everywhere,

So here are two from the Deansgate Castlefield stop with that brooding scene of the twin blocks which are fast rising to touch the sky.

They are of course from the camera of Andy Robertson who continues to chronicle the changes to the Twin Cities.

Location; Deansgate Castlefield

Pictures; “from Deansgate tram stop”, 2017 from the collection of Andy Robertson

If its day 8 it’s got to be the story of the villainous criminal Charlie Peace

Now what I like about Chorlton Book Festival is that there is something for everyone and as you would expect I am most interested in the two events which have a historical turn, so that just leaves me to pull up the details of Charlie Pearce and Angel Meadow with as usual link to the Festival site.*

Both events are free but I bet they will be packed out so get there early.

The first is tomorrow between  10:00am - 11:30am at Saint Ninians Church, 515 Wilbraham Rd, Manchester M21 0UF,  when "Chorlton Good Neighbours host a special Book Festival Coffee Morning featuring guest speaker Nakib Narat, playwright and journalist 

His talk for the Chorlton Book Festival is about the infamous Victorian criminal Charles Peace - particularly his heinous crimes in Whalley Range/Chorlton on August 1st 1876. 

Through dramatic readings, re-construction and illustrations Nakib will show how evil figures like Peace become romanticised into fantasy Robin Hood type characters by poetry, literature and in the case of Peace even comic books.  

According to Scotland Yard:  'In all the history of crime there has been no character like Charles Peace before or since' ".

And on Friday 24th November 2017 2:00pm - 4:00pm at Chorlton Library, Manchester Rd, Manchester M21 9PN

"A special Chorlton Book Festival themed Grand Day Out featuring journalist and author Dean Kirby, the author of Angel Meadow: Victorian Britain's Most Savage Slum.  

Step into the Victorian underworld of Angel Meadow, the vilest and most dangerous slum of the Industrial Revolution. 

In the shadow of the world's first cotton mill, 30,000 souls trapped by poverty are fighting for survival as the British Empire is built upon their backs. Dean reveals why this nineteenth-century Manchester slum was considered so diabolical it was re-christened 'hell upon earth' by Friedrich Engels and how a chance discovery in the rubble of an archaeological dig led him to write about Angel Meadow".




Location; Chorlton
;
Chorlton Book Festivalhttps://www.chorltonbookfestival.co.uk/

Badge of the week number 4 ........ the Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Now the home made badge has a long and distinguished history and is one of those instant bits of advertising which makes the point cheaply and effectively.

A round bit of cardboard, some sticky tape and a safety pin and you have a badge.

Easier than that and just as effective is coloured ribbon, so loved of election rallies in the early 19th century, and the Suffragettes, and before ribbon there were bits of plant, flowers and bush, stretching back into the past, all of which were designed to mark out your political preference.

My first was “Lets Go with Labour” which I wore in 1966 but must have been a remnant from the ‘64 election.

It was a shinny plastic badge, with a plastic pin which fixed into the back, and I wore it throughout the campaign knocking on doors in Well Hall.  I was just 16 and such are the things you cut your political teeth on.

And now after a life time of carrying the badge of the week, announcing my opposition to health cuts, nasty dictators, and factory closures, I am all “badged out”.

But that won't stop Peter expecting me to wear the badge advertising our new book the Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

It hit the book shelves last week, and offers up the alternative history of Chorlton and bits of Stretford, Didsbury and Whalley Range.

And while I may be “badged out” he has also ordered up the T shirt, leaving me to wonder when the sandwich board arrives with the rota for my turn to walk up and down Barlow Moor Road announcing the new publication.

But there is one better because not content on producing a badge for the book he has produced three.
The first is for any one who wants to be associated with a] the book, b] thinks Chorlton is quirky, or c] aspires to being quirky.

That just leaves two badges.

One for any one who lives or works or is connected with a building in the book.

And finally one for those who are actually, themselves in the book.

But to find out who they are you will have to buy a copy.

The Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, by Andrew Simpson and Peter Topping can be ordered from http://www.pubbooks.co.uk/ or Chorlton Bookshop

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Picture; The Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy Badge  Artwork © 2017 Peter Topping


Tuesday 21 November 2017

Grandma’s story at a discount ........ down at the GRO with £6

Now anyone who has gone searching for a birth, marriage or death certificate for England and Wales will know that it doesn’t come cheap.

Cecilia Anderson, 1818-1869, gravestone 1975
Well, if you are only after the one it comes in at £9.25 which is not too bad especially as a large glass of wine can knock you back almost all of that money.

But of course most of us seldom are content with the one certificate, which makes the news that the GRO is running a three month scheme reducing the cost of such certificates to £6 each.

For three months, starting from October 12, 2017 birth certificates for 1837-1916 and death records from 1837-1957 will be available by email for £6 from the GRO web site.*

The GRO said that it would use the scheme to assess the demand of the service, and builds on an earlier pilot which ran from November 2016 to April 2017.

At which point I am mystified as to why after that first pilot scheme finished the practice didn’t become permanent but the GRO maintain that a longer period of analysis is needed.

Cecilia Anderson, extract of death certificate
Still the good news is that not only will it cost less but will arrive down the line in 5 days instead of a week, which if you live in Canada is a major consideration.

The National Records of Scotland and the GRO for Northern Ireland both allow researchers to view records immediately online.

There will be those who already know this but some who won’t.

So there you are job done.

Pictures; gravestone and extract of death certificate of Cecilia Anderson, 1869 from the Simpson family collection

*General Register Office, www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/default.asp

Monday 20 November 2017

What did you do for Chorlton Book Festival?

Well 40 hardy souls turned out yesterday and walked Chorlton’s past.

To be accurate the 40 of us walked from the village green to the old parish church, back via the Horse and Jockey and on to the Edge Theatre for a meal of soup and mulled wine.

Along the way I hope the 39 found out something about the history of where we live.

And they were a mixed band. Dale and Elizabeth  came over from north Manchester, there was a family from Whalley Range and two  were new to Chorlton.

Dale who used to work at Chorlton never misses one of the walks and along with a few others, drawn back by the fascination with Chorlton's history.

So thank you to Beverly from the library service who as ever worked tirelessly to make the day a success and to Peter and Linda who arrived with the new book and to the faithful who turn out each years for the
event.

And also a thank you to staff at the Edge who put on a fine spread.

See what I did there ?  I used a historical phrase.

That said the Festival is not over and there are lots more events.

So I suggest you get on down there, celebrating both Chorlton and our own book festival.

And that really is it.


Location; Chorlton Book Festival

Pictures, the walk, 2017, courtesy of Beverly Williams





Chorlton Book Festivalhttps://www.chorltonbookfestival.co.uk/

Sunday 19 November 2017

Amongst the giants ...... in November in front of Piccadilly Gardens

Now I don’t often pass through Piccadilly Gardens but this week I did.




Location; Piccadilly Gardens

Picture: Piccadilly Gardens, 2017 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

In Zitano on Beech Road ......... where once the congregation sang the hymns of Mr Wesley and now a fine restaurant

Now the blog doesn’t as a rule do food reviews but when the restaurant is just down the road from your house, occupies an important historic building and gave us a fine meal, Zitano just had to get a story.

1908
I don’t remember the building as a Wesleyan chapel but there will be plenty who do.

It was built in the early 19th century in two stages and the water to mix the mortar came from the pond which was almost opposite and ran from Acres Road up to Chequers Road and was known as Blomely's Pond.

I knew the place as the furniture warehouse belonging to W.E.Coupe’s and later much later as a Curry House.

We went in just after the warehouse had become a restaurant and while the food was good, the space it occupied was barn like and pretty soulless.

But not so Zitano.  The big room has been broken up with a staircase in the middle which leads to a muezzin floor and  makes for a more intimate set of areas.

The food was excellent, cooked by a pizza chef who trained in Naples and with the wood burning stove in the corner you could watch the pizza being cooked.
2017

They do other dishes and a take away service so that is pretty much it.

The staff were superb, and they let me take pictures..... alas after the excellent wine the photographs lack a bit of clarity.  Still Zitano may send me a couple of pictures.



Location, Zitano, 133 Beech Road M21 9EQ, www.zitano.co.uk

Pictures; inside Zitano, 2017 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, the Wesleyan Chapel from Wesleyan Church Souvenir Bazaar Handbook for 1908, courtesy of Philip Lloyd

Saturday 18 November 2017

The film that never was ..... Chorlton in 2016

Now as everyone knows, south Manchester and especially Chorlton have become  favourite locations for films and TV shows.

Mr Bulmar's shop, Beech Road. circa 1984
At which point everyone will line up with their own choice.

For me they include Looking For Eric, Blue Murder, the one where the crew blew out the shop window of the old barbers on Beech Road and of course Bulmer.

And then there will be all the ones where you saw the film crews out and about on Beech Road, and the “Ville” and Whalley Range and Southern Cemetery but never got to know what they were shooting.

I missed the filming of Looking For Eric, but my friend Jean the Post reckoned quite a few people I knew were in the crowd scenes and got paid.  Alas when Eric and his daughter were in the Rec on the bench facing Beech Road, the camera never panned sufficiently to the left get our house.  Such are the near chances of almost earning 15 minutes of fame.

Bella's Birthday, 1949
It was sadly repeated again last year, when a company making documentaries came into Chorlton looking for a story.

They had successfully produced a number of films about local communities and the stories that arose from them.

We were in the frame along with Toxeth and after a preliminary visit from two researchers a few months later there was a repeat visit which this time includedthe procucers.

Alas nothing came of it

So instead I will console myself with Bella’s Birthday which was made in 1949 when Mancunian Films came down from their studio on Dickenson Road.

Outside the Horse & Jockey, 68 tears ago
The film was a short film made up of out-takes from School for Randle and they came down and staged a short clip of Frank Randle accompanied by Dan Young, Alec Pleon and Maudie Edwards who played Bella walking into the pub.*

And the exterior showed the Horse and Jockey  when it had not expanded into the room to the left of the entrance.

Sadly the interior shots were of somewhere entirely different.

Such is show business.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; from the collections of Tony Walker, Chris Lee and the North West Film Archive

* Mancunian Films, http://www.itsahotun.com/Mancunian_Shorts.html

Amongst the giants ...... in November in front of Piccadilly Gardens

Now I don’t often pass through Piccadilly Gardens but yesterday I did.




Location; Piccadilly Gardens

Picture: Peel, 2017 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Crossing the river at Woolwich


There are only a few things that I miss about London of which my family is the biggest, but then there is also the river.

We never lived that far away from it and for me it marks many of my childhood memories.  Like the time Jimmy O’Donnell, John Cox and I went exploring along the beach below Greenwich Pier.

We could have chosen the stretch in front of the Naval College which was clean and from memory even had a little sand.

Instead we took the steps down to the river beside the brick dome which contains the stairs to the start of the foot tunnel and turned upriver and past a couple of beached Thames barges and promptly sank in the oily mud up to our ankles and had to be rescued by a bargee.

Now I suppose we should have been thankful, but we still had to face a two mile walk back to New Cross and the inevitable inquest into how shoes and socks were covered in Thames mud.  To this day I have to admit that under the stern questioning of my mother and to my continued shame I blamed the other two for my misfortune.

All of which is a roundabout way of reflecting on how the river back then in 1960 was still a working river.

My bit of the Thames from Woolwich up through Greenwich and Deptford was a busy noisy and dirty place full of cranes, barges and ships.

Not that of course it is anything like that today.

So last year  on our way back north from a holiday in Kent we missed the M25 and headed into London past the old family house in Eltham and made a river crossing at Woolwich on the ferry.

The first ferries were side-loading paddle steamers named Gordon, Duncan and Hutton,named after General Gordon of Khartoum, Colonel Francis Duncan MP and Professor Charles Hutton.

They were replaced, in the 1920s with The Squire, named after William Squires, a former mayor of Woolwich, and in 1930 with the Will Crooks the Labour MP for Woolwich from 1903-1921 and the John Benn who was a member of London County Council, Liberal MP for Wapping, and grandfather of Tony Benn.

The present  three vessels carry the names of John Burns, Ernest Bevin and James Newman who were also local politicians.

I had forgotten just how much I used to enjoy  the 7 or so minute crossing and just how much of the river you could see.

Locaton; Woolwich, London

Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson 

Tomorrow .........walking the past ........ from Chorlton Green starting at 2pm

The Chorlton Book Festival returns for its 13th year with more events and authors than ever before!  

And once again I will be doing my bit.

We will meet on the village green by the lamps post opposite the Horse and Jockey will walk from up to Lord Egerton’s fine new road, encountering along the way, a mystery, two murders, a dodgy deal which cheated the Methodists out of their Sunday school and a heap of Chorlton characters, from Caleb Jordrill responsible for the ancient custom of Riding the Stang to James Renshaw, the teacher whose students buried his cup, saucer and dinner plate in order to be sent home early from lessons.

Nor will we miss out some other rural practices like “lifting” pace egging and collecting a reward from the constable for collecting the heads of sparrows.

And as ever we will finish at 4 pm in the Edge on Manchester Road for the now traditional, soup and mulled wine.

Tickets are £5.00 including soup and a roll at the Dressing Room café, The Edge, Manchester Road after the walk. To book tickets please ring 0161 227 3700 or call into Chorlton Library.

All of which just leaves me to say that “whatever your age and interest, the [Book Festival] events make Chorlton the place to be for nine days this November.

All events are free and at Chorlton Library unless stated. For those events where booking is advised, this can be done at Chorlton Library or by calling 0161 227 3700.*

Location Chorlton and a dollop of the past

Pictures from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Chorlton Book Festival, https://www.chorltonbookfestival.co.uk/calender


Friday 17 November 2017

The window

Now I  often pass through Stevenson Square but have always missed the window.



Location; Stevenson Square,

Picture; the window, 2017 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

In Southern Cemetery with Andy Robertson

On a bright sunny day in November, Andy Robertson wandered into Southern Cemetery.

Location; Southern Cemetery

Picture; Southern Cemetery, 2017, from the collection of Andy Robertson