From Chorlton To The City: Illustration techniques .... Liz Ackerley

Since January of this year I’ve been working on a little exhibition of my work called: From Chorlton To The City.

The exhibition will be held at The World Peace Cafe,

The Kadampa Meditation Centre, Chorlton.  The preview is on Friday 4 th May 5-8 pm.  In this second part of a two-part discussion about the work (you can read the first part here), I’ll explain how I’ve created the pieces that are in the exhibition.

There are 3 different types of images in the exhibition: Colour first sketches; Ink first maps and collages. Each approach has been used for particular reasons and requires specific techniques.

Creation of my sketches

There are 13 colour first sketches in the exhibition.  All of them have been done on location using a colour first technique.  As an urban sketcher and reportage illustrator, it’s important for me to record things actually on location, not from photographs.  

This is because I am trying to capture the energy of the place, that sense of place and occasion.

The use of watercolour before the linework also enables me to produce a more vibrant drawing.  It prevents on overly precious approach to the line work.

That said, a quality of line is critical.  In putting down the colour, I am trying to capture the key shapes or patterns but I am not necessarily getting them in exactly the right position.  

The idea of the colour first is to capture the scene, in a spontaneous way.  It usually looks quite abstract, even child-like and that is the point!

The pen work is always done with a fountain pen and waterproof ink.  Consideration is given to ensure that depth in the drawing is created.  This is achieved by variation of line weight and detail.  

My sketches are finished with handwritten titles.  I use a modified form of italic writing.

As a child I was taught italic writing with a dip pen at school.  I have then adapted that in various ways to create the font.

Creation of the compilation maps

There are 2 compilation maps in the exhibition, one represents the bus route from Cholton to Manchester and the other represents the tram from Chorlton to Manchester.

For these compilations I have used acrylic inks rather than watercolour to achieve the vibrancy I was after.

The colours represent either the bus or tram colours.

The linework is used to capture views/architecture of the journey to or through the city.   

Creation of my collages

There are 5 collages in the exhibition.

As a landscape designer and landscape architect, I am fascinated by materiality and texture.  I am therefore keen to convey this in my visual work and create a sense of touch and texture through collage.  I use different papers, paint and inks to achieve the feel and texture I want in my collages.

In addition, given my interest in lettering and words, the use of newsprint and other written materials enables me to incorporate a narrative into my work.  I use materials that are relevant to the collage in question, including tickets, leaflets, brochures, books etc.

I am trying to achieve a sense of place in my collages, similarly to my sketches, although I am also aiming to create more abstract textural elements within the overall image.

My process starts with sketches on location followed by compositional sketches to test out the best composition.

I then use the papers to create relatively abstract shapes and patterns.  I work with a limited colour palette and lay down acrylic inks and acrylic paint.  I limit the colour palette so as to produce a more impactful visual that allows the textures to sing.

I then use ink and palette knives and dip pens to create the familiar line work.  Often I go back and forth, adding more paper and colour as I go.
It is a non-linear and organic approach that balances with my somewhat overly analytical brain!!

I am currently using a mix of techniques, some of which are very connected to by sketching work (e.g. the line work), whilst others, using textural papers, inks and paints, are development areas.  

I’m really looking foreword to the exhibition and hope you will be able to make it to the preview on 4th May or sometime between May and July to view the exhibition.  All art works is original and is available for sale.

https://twitter.com/lizsscribbles

https://www.facebook.com/LizsScribbles/

https://www.instagram.com/lizackerley1/?hl=en

Having fun with Chorlton’s past ........ walking the walk

One of the nice things about doing the Quirks History Walks is that you meet up with old friends and regulars who return time after time for a dollop of our past.

Yesterday was the second of the Quirks walks, linked to the book The Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy but they are part of a bigger series which has been running from 2011 and pretty much has covered all of Chorlton.

Every year there is one run in association with Manchester Public Libraries, others have been commissioned by community groups and slotted in amongst all of these were annual ones for Chorlton Arts Festival.

And now for the rest of the year running through to autumn there will be more based around the Quirks book, with the next planned for late May when we will saunter from the Lloyds down to the Creameries, but more of that later.

For now I shall thank all of those who walked with us from the Narnia lamp post on the green to Ken Foster’s cycle shop on Barlow Moor Road and offer a special thank you to the staff at the shop who welcomed us with refreshments and the story of the Manchester B Bike which I will write about tomorrow.

Location; Chorlton


Picture; the Quirks Walk 2, 2018, from the collection of Peter Topping

That house on Edge Lane and the story of nine lives

Now I say nine lives but for all I know there maybe more.

Today I tracked various planning applications for the property back to 1974 and there may have been more.

They all required the demolition of the old house and the building of between three and ten properties, some of which were to be flats and the latest a complex of town three story houses.

What they all have in common is that 28 Edge Lane is still there.

The earliest one was turned down because access to the site and car parking were unsatisfactory, while the proposed new build was out of character with the adjacent property and would therefore be detrimental to the visual amenities of the area.

Added to which there were other concerns.

A later proposal was permitted but nothing happened and now there is another in.

I hadn’t planned another story on 28 Edge Lane, but Andy sent over his pictures with an intriguing uncompleted extension at the rear which I guess would come down if the latest application were granted.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; 28 Edge Lane, 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Manchester City Council Planning Portal, http://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/200074/planning/5865/planning_permission/1

Technical School Salford, 1905

Now the date for this postcard is June 26th 1905 which will be the date it first went on sale.

It comes from the collection of Raphael Tuck and Sons Ltd who I wrote about yesterday. 

The card was marketed as Technical School Salford from the Manchester set.

Picture; The Technical School, Salford, courtesy of TuckDB http://tuckdb.org/history

Exploring the many responses to British Home Children ........ the letter on the mantlepiece

Now I have been wondering just what the impact of the migration of young people had on the general public during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Patterson farm ....... 2009

For those engaged in fund raising for children’s charities and those who regularly read the newspaper accounts of the general meetings of those charities they will have been aware of the policy.

As would those who worked for the Poor Law Unions or were elected to the Board of Guardians.

Likewise amongst the poor there will have been some who had been involved in the migration of a family member or knew of someone who had.

For them it was another strategy or avenue to contemplate when faced with the death of a partner, a sustained period of unemployment or the ongoing grind of relentless poverty.

At which point it is important to stress that this was an awful decision, which was far worse than that of “going into the workhouse” or passing a child over for adoption or to other family members.

But today I have come across another example of how migration might have been perceived.  It came from an anonymous contribution to a blog story on BHC and said

The Griffith's place, 2008

“I don’t have a story other than to say that growing up in an area close to Manchester and Salford our mother would threaten us with sending us away on a ship called the Callio if we misbehaved.

There was a letter on the mantelpiece that she threatened to post, to keep us in line.

I wonder if this had anything to do with the kids that were sent away”. 

Now I don’t have a date, or an exact location and I haven’t yet tracked down a steam ship by that name.

Of course the name may well have been corrupted.

Against this, there is that obvious qualification that we are dealing with just one comment which may refer to something else entirely, and so I won't leap in to offering the comment up as indicative of how BHC migration was regarded by some people.

But that said many of us will have memories of being warned by parents who dangled other dire consequences in front of us and behind many such observation there maybe some historical truth.

We shall see.

Picture; places lived in by our BHC, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Today ...... at the Narnia lamp post on the green ...... and then on to 400 years of our Chorlton history

The sun is shinning, so  saunter with us for ......

Location Chorlton 

Saunter through our past ...... tomorrow

One to do tomorrow

Location Chorlton 

Looking for the lost and unknown at 28 Edge Lane

There comes a point when you know that all the smart online stuff, along with years of experience of jumping from one historic document to another, picking up clues, cross referencing and deploying some imaginative guess work are all used up.

2018

And then the alternative is that slow methodical trawl through a century of paper records, building up a picture and allowing the story to unfold.

This is where I am, with 28 Edge Lane, which I first came across a few years ago and have now been reunited with because it is at risk of being demolished.

That simple possibility has spurred me on to start digging into its past, beginning with a story I posted last year on a series of love stories connected to the house and then looking for the date that it was built.

1894

I now think it was constructed in 1865 and was part of that “urban creep” which stretched back towards the new railway station at Stretford which had been opened in 1849 and the decision by the Egerton’s to cut a new road from Edge Lane through Chorlton and on to Fallowfield.

This “urban creep” predated the big housing boom of the 1880s and more modest in the number of properties that were built.

Added to which these were big houses, set in extensive grounds, often detached and were the homes of wealthy families who described themselves as “merchants” or “living on their own account” and were employers.

So far I can count three families who inhabited our house from 1865, through to 1900.  Some were the owners and others rented the property.  At the turn of the 20th century number 28 appears to have been vacant but then around 1903 Mr and Mrs Davison were employed as “caretaker” a role they were still performing in 1911.

1958

But in the case of the Davison’s that perhaps doesn’t do them justice.

He was a retired solicitor’s secretary, leaving some to ponder on whether they were there as some sort of retirement package from an employer who either owned the house or had a connection with it.

And there for the moment the trail goes cold and the answer to who occupied the property from them on will be a matter of sifting street directories and electoral registers down at Central Ref.

That said there is one last bit of information which comes from the 1939 Register, which was complied just before war broke out.  The information which was gathered was used for wartime identity cards, and for the future NHS.

2018

It is an invaluable record, not least because the 1931 census was destroyed and no census was undertaken in 1941.

The register reveals that by 1939 our house had begun its long period as a place of multi occupation.  There were six people living in the house although it is unclear how many flats there were.

Two were young policemen, one was a manager in a cotton firm dealing with exports, and Mr Howard was a carpenter leaving Mrs Howard and a Kathleen Hilton who were down as “Unpaid Domestic Duties”.

And that for now is that, leaving me only to plan my days in the Ref.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; Barway House in North east side, 1958, A E Landers, m17773, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass extract from the OS map of 1894 courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/ the house in 2018, from the collection of Jonathan Keenan, and picture of the planning notice by Lauren McFadden Fox, 2018

Back with the Crown on Blackfriars Street

Now yesterday I featured one of John Casey’s photographs of Blackfriars Street in the 1980s.

It drew a lot of attention as I knew it would with people remembering nights in the Crown and the two shops next door which sold wallpaper and LPs and P J added the story of Robinsons’s Records.

And later in the day my old friend Andy Robertson sent over these two fine pictures of the Crown from 2014.

What I particularly like is the detail of the pub’s name, which all too often we take for granted.

I will go looking for any reference to the future plans for the old pub which until recently was Cillians, “Nails Hair and Beauty.”

Location; Blackfriars Street




Pictures; Blackfriars Street, 2014 from the collection of Andy Robertson

A pond, a lost clay pipe and the mystery that is Mr Daniel Sharpe ....... Walking the Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy* ....... our second saunter through the past

Now you may well ponder on the missing pond and clay pipe which were once on Beech Road, as was this house which was home to Mr Daniel Sharpe who lived here from 1841 and maybe earlier.

He was a wine merchant and may have moved into the property with his new wife after their marriage in 1833.

Sadly she died in 1846 leaving him a widow until his own death in 1861.

Although that is not strictly so, because in 1852, he married his servant Ann Bailey, who was much younger than him.

The marriage seemed not to be successful ,for nine years later she is no longer with him, and in his will made shortly before he died, having left her nothing he adds a codicil and awards her a small sum of money.

It is a story I will return, to on our walk, and so if you want to know about Mr Sharpe, the pond and the clay pipe which incidentally was found in our front garden, then you had best join us on Sunday, April 29th at 1.00pm on Chorlton Green beside the Narnia lamp post.

So that just leaves me to say that the maximum for the walk is 50 and knowing how popular it will be it is best to book ahead, by contacting peter@pubbooks.co.uk or text 07521557888 leaving your name and the names of the people you will be bringing.

Andrew Simpson & Peter Topping in association with Chorlton Voice.

Location; Chorlton Row

Pictures; Daniel Sharpe’s house, 21012, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*The Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, is available from Chorlton Bookshop or from www.pubbooks.co.uk/ or 07521557888

The building waiting for the stories ........ the Northern Hospital .... Cheetham Hill Road

On Park Place, 2018

Now here is a building with lots of stories, which in the fullness of time will be revealed.

Andy Robertson was up on Cheetham Hill Road recently and spotted this building.

“I caught a glimpse of it, on Park Place and immediately thought ‘hospital’ and so it was! 

It was the Northern Hospital originally opened as a Children's hospital in 1867. It later began admitting women.

Cheetham Hill Road, 2018

Due to demand an extension was built in 1892 giving it a facing on Cheetham Hill Road and I think it must be the red brick building on beside the old Central Synagogue. ......it seems to fit”.

I have to confess that when I was there a few weeks earlier I totally missed the building on Park Place and ignored the one on Cheetham Hill Road.

In 1911 it was “Open daily, except Sunday, from 8.30 am, to out patients”, with its office at “38 Barton Arcade, Deansgate”*

The Hospital, 1911

I shall now sit back and wait for the stories.

Location; Cheetham Hill Road





Pictures; the Northern Hospital, 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Slater's Trade Directory for Manchester & Salford, 1911 page 2136

On Blackfriars Street sometime before now

Now there will be a lot of people with fond memories of the Crown on Blackfriars Street.

Blackfriars Street circa 1980

It was a pub I have always been meaning to go in and finally when I had the time and was in the right place I discovered it had closed.

And before anyone points out that it has been closed a long time, I shall just say “I knew that.”

More recently it was Cillians’s specialising in “Nails, Hair and Beauty.”

All of which makes this picture by John Casey a bit of history.

I think John took the photograph sometime in the 1980s and it comes from a collection he has kindly given me permission to use.

Comparing the scene with today I have to say it is an example of how things can only get better.

Blackfriars Street, 2016

The rather ugly modern exterior of the property two doors up has had a makeover which I guess happened when it became The Gentry Grooming Co.

Likewise the two shops in between which sold LPs and wall paper looks a little more elegant as an Interior business but I bet the record shop was fun to visit.

And that is what makes John’s picture so important because we don’t do very recent history well.

A street scene from just twenty or thirty years ago hardly causes a stir and yet some of the most dramatic changes to our urban landscapes have happened very recently.

So I thank John for sharing his collection I will dip into them again and again.

Location; Blackfriars Road, circa 1980s

Picture; Blackfriars Street, circa 1980s from the collection of John Casey

That house on Edge Lane a planning application and the love letters of Mr George Davison

Now, I am not surprised that there is a planning application in to demolish 28 Edge Lane and replace it with 10 three storey properties.*

2018

After all time and modern living has not been kind to houses like this one, which was built in age of cheap domestic labour and for some at least unrivalled wealth.

The surprise is perhaps that it hasn’t all ready gone.  It was part of the “urban creep” that made its way up Edge Lane from the railway station during the late 1860s into the 70s and predated the really big housing boom of the 1880s.

They were the homes of wealthy professionals, and had impressive sounding names.  Ours was originally Barway Villa but became Barway House.

I am still researching its early history but I know that by 1911 it was home to Mr and Mrs Davison who lived alone in this twelve roomed palace.  Earlier in the century their son George had also lived there and it was here he who wrote a remarkable set of love letters to his future wife.

1904

But those letters, and Nellie, the love of his life is a story for tomorrow.

Today I shall concentrate on the house.

And there is a little mystery attached to it because nowhere does it appear on the street directories for 1911, 1909 or 1903, when the Davisons were there because our love letters are dated from 1903 onwards.

Added to which, Mr and Mrs Davison show up on the 1911 census.

It is of course possible that they were caretakers and the owners chose not to be listed.

He was retired and a decade earlier they had been in north Manchester.

All of which just requires some digging in the rate books and there is an urgency given that application.

If the application is succesful, the ten houses will sit in an L shaped plot of land with four properties fronting Edge Lane, three more on Barway Road and the remaining three sitting behind the Barway three.

The plans are all there to see on the city council’s planning portal.  There are eighteen documents covering design and access statement, elevations, typical house floor plan a tree survey and location plan and even a crime impact statement.

2018

Now in defence of the application, ten houses mean ten families, which is more than could be accommodated in Barway House which in 1911 had twelve rooms, and is according to the developers made up of nine flats.

But I wonder at what price the ten will sell for and if any will be designated for social use?

As for the houses themselves I will let others judge as to their appearance.

Some might question why our house has to go.

Of course the success of the plan requires it to be demolished, but there are some very imaginative adaptions of old properties around Chorlton including the award winning development at 198 and 200 Upper Chorlton Road.

Pictures; 28 Edge Lane, 2018 from the collection of Jonathan Keenan, letter from George Davison, 1903, from the George Davison Collection, courtesy of David Harrop and picture of the planning notice by Lauren McFadden Fox, 2018

*Planning Application, 119208/FO/2018 | Erection of 10 four-bedroom, three-storey houses with associated parking, landscaping and boundary treatment following demolition of existing house | 28 Edge Lane Chorlton Manchester M21 9JY, Manchester City Council Planning Portal, http://pa.manchester.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=P4SU9FBCK4L00&documentOrdering.orderBy=documentType&documentOrdering.orderDirection=ascending

Exploring the River Irk .........and travelling to Scotland via Victoria Railway Station

Now, there is something quite awesome about the spot where the Irk goes over the weir by Cheetham Hill Road.

It is I suppose the contrast between the slow mowing water as it reaches that stone wall and then the cascading bubbling swirl of water that disappears off under the bridge.

I first encountered it way back in the 1990s, when you could access the view from a stair way down from the main road.

Back then it was not the most edifying of places, and you had to pick your way past accumulated rubbish including discarded sleeping bags, empty bottles and much worse.

But you got a fine view of the river and across to that oddly named street Scotland.

Back then the area behind Scotland was open ground but like so much of what was once the run down bits of the city has become tall blocks of apartments and hotels.

But amongst all these examples of modern city living there is still the bits that take you back to our industrial past and the squalid housing that was crammed in the dismal and dark streets.

And over the next few weeks I will be revisiting that grim side of Manchester and renew an interest in a tiny stretch of streets that made up John Street, and Back Irk Street while also posting more of Andy Robertson’s pictures of the area.

He was down there yesterday and playfully introduced the collection with the title, "had a couple of hours spare, so decided to go to Scotland via Victoria" and not content with that added “this is Scotland where the Irk makes its final disappearance before meeting the Irwell.  Didn't spot any kilts though”.

Location; Manchester

Pictures; the Irk, 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson

The Creameries ....... back with a bit of Chorlton's continuity

Now by the time most of you will be reading this story, the bakery at the Creameries on Wilbraham Road will be open for all those who like good bread.

And if by chance you are reading it on Wednesday, then you may just want to call in for breakfast because the Cafe will have opened.

I have been fascinated by this building for decades, and over the years have written about it,* culminating in a chapter in our new book The Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy.**

I like the way that what was once a creamery has gone almost full circle and in the process a little of its history is now revealed, because after posting a story last week Paul and Chris got in touch with their own stories.

From Paul came, “my wife Leslie Valentine Dunleavy was born in Chorlton shortly after her dad, D.A Dunleavy acquired the Creamery in 1951.

Leslie sometimes worked in the shop, and her mum used to play Tennis at the Chorlton Club with Annie Walkers " Rovers Return " mother.

1928

My own connection with Chorlton is that my maternal grandmother’s first husband was named Charles Chorlton, his father a Chorlton and his mother a Hardy, they sold up in Chorlton and moved to Hanley to open a Theatrical Boarding house for the artistes of Music Hall”.

Now that opens ups a fascinating story for the future.

But returning to the Creameries, Chris had done some detective work and discovered that “I tracked their telephone directory entries from 1928 and the last entry is for 1961. Unfortunately the database for 1962 is corrupt but there was no entry for 1963”.

And that fits nicely with an advert they placed in the parish magazine for 1928 and a listing for them at the same time place in 1969.

2012

All of which leads nicely to Paul’s last thought, that when the family are next passing, “it will be great for three generations to walk into the newly incarnated Creameries in memory of the Dunleavy era and to reflect that Leslie’s dad had been born next door in 1914”.

I am sure there will be more to uncover, but for now I like the sense of continuity in the story.

Like Paul I will zippy down to the Creameries to sample the food and get a bit more of that continuity.

Enough said.

Location: Chorlton

Pictures; of the Creamery, 2018, courtesy of Peter Topping and in 2012 from the collection of Andrew Simpson and the advert from St Clement's Parish Magazine, 1928

*The Creameries, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20Creameries

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

Saturday Morning Pictures at Well Hall Odeon in 1965

You never quite forget that mix of noise and anticipation which was Saturday Morning Pictures.

It started when the manager asked if everyone was happy, continued into the competitions and lasted through most of the morning.

It is easy to over romanticise what was just another way the cinema chain could create more revenue while introducing a young audience to the magic of the big screen.

And once you were hooked you were hooked for life.  The cycle might begin with Saturday Morning Pictures but quickly moved on to the “date” on the back row and in the fullness of time to visits with your children to Disney and of course to Saturday mornings all over again this time dropping off and collectiing a new generation of Saturday children.

But you can also be over cynical even given that what you saw was pretty dire.

I can’t say I ever enjoyed those stories of daring do by young children or the equally improbable tales of faithful dogs and intelligent dolphins saving the day.

I do remember a series which mixed the theme of Ancient Rome, alien invaders and a particularly nasty dictator.

On reflection it was probably shot on a back lot using B actors and involved lots of oddly dressed men riding on horseback across dusty plains.

You knew it was cheap because the plot didn’t follow a logical path and events often passed from bright daylight to late afternoon and back again in the course of one horse race.

All that said they were fun.  There were the cartoons and films, along with live events ranging from talent competitions and fancy dress to the appearance of a well known celebrity and it was always someone’s birthday which was met with a loud shout.

I am not sure whether it would still work today but from the 1940s into the 60s they were a way of life for many children with that added advantage that it freed up time for the adults. In the 1950’s the average weekly attendance at  children’s cinema matinees was over 1,016,000 with 1735 cinemas holding cinema matinees for children.*

The ABC chain began a special club in the 1940s for their ABC Minors complete with badge and song and birthday cards.  It cost just 6d.

I can’t now remember which cinema I went to, but I still have vivid memories of collecting my sisters from the Well Hall Odeon and getting there a little early just to catch the last ten minutes of whatever was going off.

They were never ABC Minors, after all when you lived just minutes away from the Odeon there was no point tramping all the way up to the High Street to the ABC on the corner of Plassey Place.

So that was my Saturday mornings in Eltham till mum judged that Stella and Elizabeth were old enough to take my two younger sisters without me.

I don’t suppose my mornings at the flicks had lasted that long and nor did theirs. They were probably one of the last generations to enjoy that mix of noise and anticipation in the dark accompanied by that warm smell of cinema disinfectant, and popcorn.

There may still be Saturday Morning Pictures but it costs a lot more than 6d and I can't think they will be the same, but then perhaps I am just old and biased.

* Wheare Committee http://terramedia.co.uk

Pictures, Well Hall Odeon, courtesy of Eltham, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eltham/210661675617589?fref=ts and  ABC Minors Badge, ABC Minors children’s cinema postcard Happy Birthday, 1948, BD084660
University of Essex, http://collections.ex.ac.uk/repository/handle/10472/3222?show=full
http://cinematreasures.org/video/abc-minors-matinee

So what was Chorlton like in 1848?

And the answer to the question will be revealed this Sunday ..... saunter through our past with me and Peter Topping.

Location Chorlton 

British Home Children ..... Bringing the story Home Day 10

Now if you really want to make people aware in Britain of the history of British Home Children, social media is a good place to start.

So following on from the work of our Canadian colleagues, we launched,  British Home Children .... the story from Britain, and it has been a success in its first ten days.*

At first most of those who wished to join were from Canada, but steadily we are now attracting people from across the UK, and not only are they posting their stories but are exchanging news.

Today Jenny wrote, “I belong to Balsall Heath Local History Society in Birmingham and we have just secured a Heritage Lottery Fund grant to research the Middlemore Homes and the children and their stories. We are at present in the process of appointing a Project Manager. 

Whoever we appoint will, I am sure, be very interested in your Facebook page and will want to make contact with people who have stories to tell.” 

Adding, “We are interviewing on May 4th and have had some very good applications. If you look up the Balsall Heath Local History Society Facebook page, you should be able to find something about this project. I think I posted the job advert and also our Gazette for March carried an article about the project”.

While Deborah added, “I've just written to Peter Calver of Lost Cousins asking him to mention the Group in one of his newsletters” and Elaine shared a radio programme going out tomorrow in the Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch area, featuring two historian discussing BHC.

Poster; British Home Children ...... the story from Britain was designed to be downloaded and distributed to friends, groups and heritage Centres/libraries and societies.

* British Home Children ..... the story from Britain, www.facebook.com/groups/bhchildren

One hundred years of one house in Chorlton part 101 ......... all the news

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.*

Man thinks of buying an evening paper, 1978

Now, I have no idea what newspaper Joe and Mary Ann read, or if they took both a daily and evening paper, and of course they may have not bothered with either.

But that I find a little hard to accept given that for most people during the last century the newspaper through the letter box and the milk on the step was part of the routine of everyday life.

I think I can be fairly sure that Mr and Mrs Scott would have embraced the wireless as they did the telephone and the television.

Joe had a landline by the mid 1920s and their TV aerial was on the roof in a photograph three decades on.

And so they may well have got their news from the BBC as they sat in their front room which could have included Neville Chamberlain announcing that we were at war with Germany, watching  the Coronation and the horrors of wars from Vietnam, to Biafra and plenty of places in between.

la Repubblica, 2018

It is easy today to become casual at the wonders of that media revolution.  When Joe and Mary Ann moved in to the house in 1915, knowledge of home and international events was limited and relatively slow to arrive, but by Mary Ann’s death in 1973 the account of an earthquake in India or a nasty military coup in Latin America would be the stuff of “breaking news”.

Of course that term is itself very recent, but when Telstar broadcast live pictures from Paris and New York into homes here in Britain in 1962 it had arrived in all but name.

And now I have the pick of the world’s media at the click of a button allowing me to follow the online editions of the Guardian, the Telegraph and Jewish Chronicle along with Corriere della Sera from Milan and la Repubblica from Rome. Or if I so choose, edits from papers and news agencies pretty much everywhere.

Man not interested in the band, 1979

As a result we have joined that band who have forsaken newsprint for a flickering image on a screen.

If I am honest I do at times feel guilty, and given that we may soon be using a milkman again, perhaps the return of the heavy thud on the mat first thing in the morning is not so far away.

But a little bit of me grows weary at the 24 hour news coverage, which often means that the early evening and late night TV broadcasts have little more to offer from what I heard at midday and in some instances are the same reporter, with the same commentary with just the addition of a face at six and ten pm.

Fears for ice cream sales in a Manchester summer, 1980

None of which I suspect Joe and Mary Ann had to worry about.














Picture; newspaper seller, Man and a band, and woman with an ice cream Manchester 1978-80  from the collection of Andrew Simpson and the front page of la Repubblica

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

The promise of things to come ........... that familiar place

Between us Andy and I have recorded the changes to this corner.

The next instalment.




Location; Salford



Picture; Salford 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson

At Clayton Hall ..... yesterday, sun history and a special exhibition

Now I finally got to visit Clayton Hall yesterday, just 40 and more years after we lived off Grey Mare Lane, which is just round the corner.

Since then I would pass it on the bus and more recently on the tram as I sped through Clayton and on to Ashton-Under-Lyne.

But yesterday was a fine day for a visit and neither of us were disappointed.

We had wanted to see the exhibition on Bradford Colliery which has been available to the public on the Hall’s open days during April, leaving people just one more opportunity as the last for this exhibition will be on May 5.

Along with photographs, maps and plans, there were plenty of vivid accounts of working at the mine, and the team were busy collecting additional memories and stories from some of the visitors.

And along with that exhibition there were the permanent ones in the rooms of the Hall recreating life as it might have been for a well off family in the 19th century.

The Friends of Clayton Hall are all volunteers and their enthusiasm shone through during their explanation of the Hall’s history.

Like all such groups, they are keen to encourage people with an interest in Clayton or the Hall to join them.

All of which just leaves me to admit that my pictures are not the most showy, but as the team have promised me pictures of the front of the hall along with the Bradford exhibition I thought I would concentrate on the back.

That way, when you go you will have the stunning views, which come with a delightful garden and the stone bridge over the moat which will in the fullness of time be filled again with water.

The Friends have a packed summer ahead, with lots of school visits, and new exhibitions including one on the Great War.

Location; Clayton

Pictures; the rear of the Hall, 2018, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Today .......Clayton Hall Remembers Bradford Pit

Now if you missed the first of Clayton Hall remembers Bradford Pit, you can catch it again today or on May 5, when the doors of this splendid old building are open again for two more open days.

Kay Symcox told me that the first event back on April 7th had been a great success.

Amongst the visitors were a number of ex Bradford miners, who "by chance, had all worked at BP around the same time and knew the same people

All of the memories that I have collected from facebook or personally from visitors will be added to the Manchester Archives held at Central Library when our exhibition has finished and  we will be keeping everything that I have collected, so that visitors to the Hall can browse through after the exhibition has finished

Did I tell you that I discovered that my paternal grandfather worked at the pit during WW1?

He died before I was born and none of my family knew!

And for any one who wants to add their stories they can by contacting info@claytonhall.org of Facebook

And for those like me me who live on a tram line there is a metro stop outside the Hall.  Perfect.

Location; Clayton Hall

Pictures; scrapbook picture, courtesy of Lynn Blinkhorn