Tuesday 29 May 2018

A story behind the picture, ............ ploughing on Beech Road in 1890


It’s a familiar enough picture and takes you back to that moment when Chorlton had almost lost its rural character.

It was taken around 1890 on Beech Road and may have been one of the last times the land was ploughed before becoming the Recreation ground.

But like so many photographs there is much more.

The picture belonged to William Higginbotham who may be the man behind the plough. His family had lived on the green since the 1840s and most of the land they farmed was on either side of the Brook stretching up towards the Mersey. But they also worked a small strip of land between the Row* and High Lane.

In the 1840s this was almost entirely Egerton land and was rented out in strips to a number of farmers. Along with James Higginbotham, there was William Bailey, George Whitelegg and Thomas White.

This pattern of land tenure was not so different from the old medieval strip farming where each peasant had a share of the land in different places.

This was repeated across the township and so while the bigger farmers had most of their land concentrated near the farmhouse, the land of smaller farmers and market gardeners were distributed across the area.

The Higginbotham’s farmed a mix of meadow and pasture land close to the Mersey and arable along the Row.

This arable farming along the Row continued well into the 19th century so as late as 1893, there was open farm land and orchards running from Cross Road down to what was to become Wilton Road and stretching back to High Lane.

Pictures; ploughing on Beech Road, circa 1890 from the Lloyd collection, and detail from the 1841 OS map for Lancashire by kind permission of Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/

*The Row or Chorlton Row is now Beech Road

One hundred years of one house in Chorlton part 104 ......... a wonky world

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.*

Food as it comes out of the ground, Italy, 2015
I wonder what Joe and Mary Ann would have made of wonky foods.

I first came across them in Morrisons, which because they buy the whole crop from their suppliers, have started marketing the less than perfect fruit and veg as “Wonky Morrisons”.

And with a bit more digging I discovered a whole range of companies selling wonky food and pretty much all trading under names which include the word wonky.

Now for anyone born before the 1970s the idea that there is anything novel in misshapen fruit and veg will seem odd.

Must green grocers sold the food as it came from the wholesalers who in turn got it direct from the farmers.

I suspect a bit of quality control went on at each stage, but essentially what everyone in the chain was interested in, was the taste and the freshness of the stuff.

But the drive to perfection and uniformity by the big supermarkets pretty much did for the bent carrot and the twisty stick of rhubarb, and that extended to ensuring that everything came clean and clear of dirt which might just betray its origins in the ground.

Not that all supermarkets were seduced by such practices.  The chain in Italy used by Rosa and Simone still buy in food which has not passed a perfection gauge and often still carries soil from the ground it came out of.

Bright and fresh, 2015
While over here some shops now make a feature of their unwashed carrots and potatoes, selling them just that bit cheaper.

At which point I do have to confess that washing carrots and potatoes is time consuming and messy, but something that mum, and Nana did without a second’s thought and I suspect so did Mary Ann.

Of course the counter agreement might well be that with wonky might come a lot of waste, as you cut away the odd bits which are too small to be used.

Equally fresh, 1956
But my experience of the range from that supermarket is that enough quality control has already gone on to make that concern irrelevant.

So we buy wonky whenever we can and as daft as it sounds as I am peeling the potatoes and cutting the carrots in the kitchen where Mary Ann also prepared the food, I rather think there could be a sense of continuity.

That said I rather think that she was of that generation who having cleaned, peeled, and cut for decades, embraced the readymade range of frozen foods which were stealing the market from the 1950s onwards.

They came in small packets, given that most people didn’t own a fridge, let alone a freezer, and were sold as fresher than the produce in the greengrocer and quicker to cook.

They became how we ate vegetables in our house and pretty much determined that we only had peas, green beans and sometimes carrots.

Mother even flirted with those “all in one” TV dinners which she was drawn to, because of the novelty value, but even she had to admit the quality was not so good.

"ready prepared, ready to cook, 1956
Perhaps Joe and Mary Ann also experimented with roast beef, gravy, potatoes and green veg in tin foil, or perhaps they did stick with wonky stuff, still bearing the dirt, but sadly I will never know.






Pictures; from an Italian supermarket, 2015, from the collection of Andrew Simpson and adverts for Birds Eye Foods, from Woman’s Own, January 12 1956

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

That Zeppelin raid on Ramsgate ..... not once but twice and the porcelain cat and Teddy

Now I am absolutely convinced that someone in the Imperial Bazaar saw the upside of the two Zeppelin raids on their premises at Albion Hill in May 1915 and June 1917.

Nor were they alone as the series of picture postcards issued sometime after the May 1915 raid testifies.

I have seen four postcards which show the shop, some of the damage, a group of bystanders and four policemen holding up the remains of the bomb cases.

I suppose given the absence of the wireless, and television and the infancy of the film industry, picture postcards were the most immediate way of telling the story, with the added advantage that they could be sent all over the country and beyond.

By contrast these crested pieces of porcelain cost more and would never have the same visual impact as the cards.

They were produced in their thousands from identical moulds with just the application of a transfer coat of arms and a name to mark them out as Ramsgate, rather than London, Blackpool or Great Yarmouth.

But never one to miss out, the producers or the retailers at Imperial Bazaar had the idea of adding on the base of each piece, the legend, “Souvenir from the Imperial Bazaar Albion Hill Ramsgate Twice wrecked by Zeppelins May 17 1915 and June 17 1917”.

All of which made these bits of unremarkable china something very special.

I would like to have shown the picture postcards, but they may remain copyright, because although the original copyright will have long ago expired, there may be issues with the four examples I have seen which are the property of an individual.

Location; Ramsgate















Pictures; crested porcelain circa 1917, from the collection of David Harrop

Of things to come ......... on Manchester Road between the tiny Tesco and Unicorn

Now, neither, Andy Robertson, or me were around when that box like block of former offices went up on Manchester Road between the tiny Tesco and Unicorn.

I say that but we might have been, but until relatively recently I was not that observant about what was being built in Chorlton.

Andy is well known for recording the story of a building, from the moment an old empty and derelict property is demolished through the cleaning of the site, the moment the builders break the ground and the slow rise of the new structure.

In this case after a period of laying empty, our office block is being transformed into apartments and a restaurant.

All of which you can research for yourself using the city council planning portal and so I will leave you to it, observing that there are for sold signs up for some of the uncompleted flats and certain that Andy will be back with more images of the development.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; Manchester Road, 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson

Sunday 27 May 2018

The story that isn’t .......... down on Wright Street by Chester Road

Now, many of us are familiar with the work of Andy Robertson, who has been recording the changing landscape of the Twin Cities and beyond for a decade and a bit.

2018
He begins with a derelict or empty property, and then returns at stages, as the building is renovated or more likely demolished.

By degree, he then carries on chronicling the progress from the moment the builders break ground and onto the finished building.

But today he offers up an intriguing set of pictures which he says are of “Wright Street which runs parallel to Chester Road.

2016
This is unusual as it depicts the demolition of a building before it was even properly constructed!”

There will be someone on the know who will wade in with chapter and verse, so I shall await their contribution.

In the meantime here is the sequence of pictures taken from May 25th of this year back to May 2014.



2014
Location; off Chester Road

Pictures; Wright Street, 2014-2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson

Saturday 26 May 2018

A picture a day ... The Police station Beech Road circa 1920

A picture a day

During this week of May I have decided to feature a picture a day, drawn from the collections that span a century and more of Chorlton.

Location; Beech Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy




Picture; from the Lloyd Collection, circa 1920

When history got postponed ....... the walk in Chorlton number 3

As the growing number of fans of the The Quirks walks through our past, will testify, an afternoon with me and Peter Topping, can be fun, interesting and rewarding.

So far we have done two history walks since April, based around the popular book, The Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy which we published in December 2017.

Over sixty people have turned out for those first two walks, and the third was planned for Sunday May 27, but alas a summer cold has done for my voice, and while I could mime and Peter could sing, I doubt that would be enough.

So we will not now be walking from the Lloyds to the Creameries this Sunday, but given that colds vanish with the application of medications and time, the walk will still be on for later in the summer.

Just watch this space.

The tram that takes you to the Quays ...... number 2 .... getting closer

Now there is nothing better than the tram that takes you to the Quays, with that added bonus that you can change at Harbour City and go all the way to Eccles.


So here is the second of Andy’s new series which is another one I really like.

Location, on the way to Salford







Picture; getting closer, 2017, from the collection of Andy Robertson

Friday 25 May 2018

Hough End Hall reveals a few more bits of its history

Hough End Hall dates back to the late 1590s, and has been a posh home for the landed gentry, a farm house for 250 years, more recently was a restaurant and briefly a set of offices.

Hough End Hall in 1849
Despite that long history there is very little left.  The grand staircase now resides in Tatton Hall, while the old wooden ceiling beams had been encased in pretend oak beams and then hidden under a false ceiling.

Added to which some of the exterior suffered from what was described as unsympathetic restoration in the 1960s and the upper storey has been closed off for at least half a century.

So, it is not a happy tale and one which in the 1920s could even have been a story of demolition to make way for what is now Mauldeth Road West.

Upstairs, 1964
Today there are a dwindling number of people who can talk about the building when it was still part of a farm, a few more who will have memories of playing in the place when it was empty and more who dined and danced the night away when it was a successful restaurant.

But by the time people ate their steak dinners, and listened to live music both the ground floor and the first floor had been gutted and were just two open spaces.

I do have a series of pictures in the collection which features in stories of the Hall. *

They include the garden and the last family who lived there, along with detailed plans commissioned by the Egerton family in the 1930s, but nothing of the interior features.

And as these things go I suspected I would never come across any evidence other than anecdotal of what the inside was like.

All of that has changed with a remarkable set of photographs which have been added to the City Library’s collection of images.**

The roof space, 1964
"The Town Hall Photographer’s Collection is a large photographic collection held in Manchester City Council’s Central Library archives, ranging in date from 1956 to 2007.

The collection consists of tens of thousands of images, covering the varied areas of work of Manchester Corporation and latterly, Manchester City Council.

The photographs were taken by staff photographers, who were tasked to document the work of Corporation/Council departments and, in doing so, captured many aspects of Manchester life and history, including significant changes to the Manchester landscape.

The collection includes many different formats from glass negatives, to slides, prints, CDs and even a couple of cine films.

What is especially exciting is that the majority of these images have never before been available in a digital format and therefore have only ever been seen by a handful of people.

Looking out through the roof space, 1964
A team of dedicated Staff and Volunteers are currently working on the systematic digitisation of the negatives held within the collection."**

And that brings me to the Hough End Hall pictures, which appear to have been taken on March 25 1964, possibly as the building was passing out of the hands of the Bailey family to a developer and they may have been taken as part of the process of determining the Hall’s future in relation a planning applications.

Some show the upstairs rooms minus the fireplaces, others the roof space and others again a staircase up to the lost second floor.

Wattle and daub wall, 1964
This now hidden floor was once home to some of the staff who worked the land when Hough End Hall was at the centre of a 250 acre farm.

My own favourite is a picture which shows one of the original wattle and daub interior walls which I guess must date back to the late 16th century when the Hall was built.

All of which just reinforces that old observation that the past is never fixed and there is always something new waiting around the corner to offer up a fresh bit of the story.

Location; Hough End Hall, as was Withington

Pictures; Hough End Hall in 1849, from The Family Memoirs, Sir Oswald Mosley, 1849, interior of the Hall, March 1964, an upstairs room, 19640758, in the roof space 1964 0743 and the wattle and daub wall, 1964 0759, https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=55918222%40N02&text=hough%20end%20hall&view_all=1


*Hough End Hallhttps://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Hough%20End%20Hall

**Manchester Archives+ Photos, Hough End Hall, https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=55918222%40N02&text=hough%20end%20hall&view_all=1




A picture a day .... Beech Road circa 1910

A picture a day

During this week of May I have decided to feature a picture a day, drawn from the collections that span a century and more of Chorlton






















Picture; from the collection of the Rita Bishop Collection

Thursday 24 May 2018

One hundred years of one house in Chorlton part 103 ......... the Negroni

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.*

A Negroni
Now I wonder what Joe and Mary Ann would have made of a Negroni which is that iconic Italian cocktail, made of one part gin, one part vermouth rosso, and one part Campari, garnished with orange peel.

It is of course just what you need on a hot summer’s day, when you walk through the front door in the early evening making a bee line for the garden, and a chair in the sun.

That said I only discovered it recently, and we were not in Florence where the drink originated but on Burton Road on a very wet and grey afternoon.

But the drink lifted me and yesterday, as the sun cracked the paving stones I decided to make the cocktail.

Of course I will never know whether either Joe or Mary Ann liked cocktails or for that matter whether they drank at all and if they did what their favourite drink might have been.

Sadly there are few people now who remember them and I would be surprised if they knew what Mr and Mrs Scott drank.

Beech Road circa late 1940s
It would be easy and lazy to fall back on stereotypical historical assumptions and jump to the conclusion that Joe went for beer and that Mary Ann liked the odd glass of sherry, given that they were both born in the 1880s, grew to maturity as the new century turned over and were just up the road from four pubs.

What I found fascinating is that the cocktail was already nearly 30 years old when they were born.

According to one source the first reference to a cocktail was in 1860 and two years later there are cocktail recipes included in a guide for bartenders.**

Beech Road
And in 1917, just  two years after they moved into our house, there was allegedly, the first cocktail party held by a Mrs Julius S Walsh Jr of St Louis, Missouri.

Now Chorlton in 1917 is a long way from St Louis, Missouri in 1917, but the Scott’s were adept at embracing change.  Their house was built without gas lighting using electricity instead, they had a telephone by 1925 and and a television just thirty years later.

So I have no reason to think that on a warm evening after a day building Chorlton’s houses Joe and Mary Ann would not have settled down to a Brandy Alexander, Savoy Corpse Reviver or the intriguingly named the Tom and Jerry.

All of which I will leave you to look up, but as I have already done so I know I will be happiest with that Negroni.

Location; Chorlton

Picture; a Negroni, March 24 2009, Geoff Peters from Vancouver, BC, Canada, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license and Beech Road circa late 1940s from the Lloyd Collection.

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

**Cocktails, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocktail

A picture a day, the Beech and Oven Door Bakery 1978


A picture a day

During this week of May I have decided to feature a picture a day, drawn from the collections that span a century and more of Chorlton




Picture; from the collection of Tony Walker

The church ..... on a May morning .... from Ryan

Now I always look forward to the pictures Ryan posts of Eltham.

They are usually taken on his way to work when the day is just beginning and everything looks fresh with the promise of all that is to come.

This is one of my favourites, posted today on a social network site, and just makes me think of home.

Location; Eltham



















Picture; our parish church, 2018, from the collection of Ryan Ginn

A day in the Quays ......... celebrating Salford

There may be some who mutter this isn’t really Salford, not the one I remember, and that will be true.

But all places change and reinvent themselves and Mr Muggins in 1760 may well have reflected that the grand Victorian buildings that rose on the streets of Salford weren’t to his taste.

So here are some of Andy Robertson’s pictures of Salford taken on a bright sunny day in 2017.

Location; Salford

Pictures, Salford, 2017 from the collection of Andy Robertson



Wednesday 23 May 2018

A picture a day Beech Road .... sometime in the 1880s

A picture a day

During this week of May I have decided to feature a picture a day, drawn from the collections that span a century and more of Chorlton

Picture; from the collection of Tony Walker

A day in the Quays ......... celebrating Salford

There may be some who mutter this isn’t really Salford, not the one I remember, and that will be true.

But all places change and reinvent themselves and Mr Muggins in 1760 may well have reflected that the grand Victorian buildings that rose on the streets of Salford weren’t to his taste.

So here are some of Andy Robertson’s pictures of Salford taken on a bright sunny day in 2017.

Location; Salford

Pictures, Salford, 2017 from the collection of Andy Robertson



Charles Rennie Mackintosh is in town ....... from today until June 5

Now last month I wrote about Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the Scottish architect, designer and artist and Peter Topping’s homage to the man which consisted of a set of attractive picture postcards.

Well, starting today Peter is exhibiting a collection of material directly influenced by Mr Mackintosh to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Scottish artist’s birth.

The exhibition will be at Tutku Cafe, 428 Barlow Moor Road, M21 8AD, is hosted by Chorlton Voice - AKA Chorlton Civic Society and Paintings from Pictures, and will run from May 23rd to June 5th.
This is the next project in a series of homages to great artists by Peter Topping.

Peter was influenced by Charles Rennie Mackintosh on a recent visit to Glasgow where he visited several exhibitions that had been put together in memory of his 150th anniversary.

Although Mackintosh was a great architect, Peter’s exhibition concentrates on his stained glass and furniture designs.

Peter has picked out iconic features and created his own designs in the style of Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Come along to Tutku cafe and see the exhibition.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh. 7th June 1868 – 10th December 1928

* The day a bit of Glasgow came to Chorlton ........ Charles Rennie Mackintosh, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/the-day-bit-of-glasgow-came-to-chorlton.html

** Charles Rennie Mackintosh 150th anniversary,  2018 Peter Topping,

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Facebook: Paintings from Pictures https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures


Tuesday 22 May 2018

Look away ......... all who mourn the passing of the Withington Scala

I have fond memories of the Withington Scala, although what I saw there over the years is now a blur.

But it was handy for the White Lion and that “dive bar” which was actually just part of the converted cellars but to a 19 year old student had an appeal.

As I remember it was covered with posters for Watney’ Red Barrel, which some smart thing in an advertising agency thought would work if the beer was endorsed by a collection of former Soviet leaders, from Lenin to Khrushchev.

I don’t recall Stalin in the parade but I might be wrong.

But back to the Scala, which opened sometime before 1914 as the Scala Electric Palace on Cooper Street could hold 500 cinema goers and was owned by the Scala Electric Palace (Withington) Company.*

And like many picture palaces it fell on hard times in the late 20th century, finally closing and being demolished, although there were brave rescue attempts.

Even so it lasted longer than many of our old early 20th century cinemas.

Andy Robertson, that keen recorder of all we have lost, what we are about to lose and what we have gained, was in Withington said yesterday for a haircut, commenting that “my haircuts are as rare as my visits to Withington which is mainly because I get my haircut in Withington.  


I digress. I think this may be my first picture of the building on ex cinema land, and, something is happening on the corner of Parsonage Road”.

Now not wanting to correct Andy, but he had taken a series earlier last year when the new build was under construction, but here is the almost finished property.

And not content with the successor to the Scala he also snapped that other new build almost opposite, on the corner of Parsonage Road.

This too he had photographed in 2017, when Derek the Demolisher was doing his worst.

At the time I did some research on its history, and ended up remembering that sometime in 1980s I had eaten there when it was a Lebanese restaurant.

Well I say Lebanese, but like the films at the Scala, I can’t remember.
But the nice thing is, that someone will, and I have every confidence will tell me.

They may also check the planning portal to see what the new building will be.

I, being lazy will leave it to them.

Location; Withington

Pictures; new build in Withington, 2018 from the collection of Andy Robertson, and Wilmlsow Road the White Lion, Scala Cinema,  1960, from the set Withington Lillywhite, Tuck & Sons, courtesy of TuckDB,  http://tuckdb.org/history

*The Kinematograph Year Book, Program Diary and Directory for 1914

No Fear Here ....... reflections from Manchester on the London outrage .... a year on*

This was written  just under a year ago and was in response to the murders at London Bridge in June 2017 and the bombing here in Manchester a month before.

I thought of re writing it but decided to let it stand.

As my adopted city prepares for that concert today my thoughts are with London where I was born spent my youth and where many of my family live.

I won’t attempt to write about the terrible incident, which will be done during the day and into the week by people far more eloquent than me.

So I will just leave it at that, and instead post two of the pictures which have come to symbolise how we in Manchester have reacted.

We are #Manchester ....# We Stand Together, and No Fear Here was painted on the wall in The Northern Quarter, and still people come to St Ann’s Square to lay flowers and pause for a moment’s quiet reflection.

Location; Manchester



Pictures; No Fear Here, May 2017 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and in St Ann’s Square, May 2017, courtesy of Jt Thomas

*Originally posted in June 2017

A day in the Quays ......... celebrating Salford

There may be some who mutter this isn’t really Salford, not the one I remember, and that will be true.

But all places change and reinvent themselves and Mr Muggins in 1760 may well have reflected that the grand Victorian buildings that rose on the streets of Salford weren’t to his taste.

So here are some of Andy Robertson’s pictures of Salford taken on a bright sunny day in 2017.

Location; Salford

Pictures, Salford, 2017 from the collection of Andy Robertson



The stories we all have to tell ...........

Now writing can be a solitary affair, after all at the end of the day it is you, your imagination and a keyboard.

And in much the same way most of the research I do is in front of that screen, trawling online records or in an archive centre where they may be lots of other people, but like me they are engaged in their own searches, convinced that no one else could be interested in what they are doing.

So it is always fascinating to read about attempts to bring writers together, where they can share their experiences and learn from each other.

The solitary in me has kept me away from writer’s groups, but my friend Lois who is a successful novelist plunges deep into the process, and not only runs such groups but also participates in literary festivals in the south west.

She like me has a blog and I make a point of going to it most days.

Yesterday she was back writing about her history writing group which she says is, “isn’t a genealogy group, [but] is for people who want to write about their family, to write their family’s history. There’s usually about ten of us which is a bit of a squash in our front room, but today for various reasons – people on holiday, people poorly, people cat-sitting, there were just four of us”*.

What followed was a revealing set of stories, which are best read by following the link.

No more to say ..... just read the post and then the follow yo from today.

Picture; from the collection of Lois Elsden

*FAMILY HISTORYSTORIANS, https://loiselden.com/2018/05/21/family-historystorians/

Monday 21 May 2018

Memories of West Side Story, Flubber, and much more ...... back at the Odeon in Manchester

Now a whole generation has grown up since the Odeon in Manchester went dark.

That said there will still be plenty of people who remember it in its glory days just before and after the Second World when a night out at the flicks began with queuing round the cinema for the big film, led in by a uniformed attendant and shown to your seats by a uniformed usherette.

I remember seeing West Side Story, Woodstock and a whole tranche of children’s movies at the Odeon.  

And of these, because West Side Story was a special date I splashed out on the Circle.

Back then there was still an air of grandeur about the place and you felt you were taking part in a proper night out.

But the Odeon closed in 2004 and after a long time it finally started being demolished in 2017.

Andy Robertson charted its demolition and was back last week recording the next instalment which looks to be the first stages of the build.

Watch this space.

Location; Manchester

Picture, the site of the Odeon, 2018 from the collection of Andy Robertson

The Cranes of Salford ...... number 7 ....... Media City

From the series, the Cranes of Salford ...... number 6 ....... Media City


Nothing more to say.


Location; Salford






Pictures; Media City, 2017, from the collection of Andrew Robertson

Sunday 20 May 2018

Of gas masks and foot tunnels ........ a story from Roger Callow

I recall finding a boxed gas mask in our shed at Greenvale Road in the mid fifties when I was about 6 years old and taking it indoors to ask my mum about it but when my father saw me with it he went ballistic and snatched it away from me and put it in the dustbin. 

Nothing more was said about it and I can only think that it had brought back some bad memories for him which leads on to the next story which I learnt from him when he was in his nineties.

Father worked at the Royal Arsenal throughout the war as one of the engineers who bored out the large naval guns and volunteered to became an Auxiliary Fireman (AFS) and fire watcher at the Arsenal.

Some of the tales he had to tell were quite horrific i.e. digging out workmates from bomb shelters that had suffered direct hits during the many bombing raids aimed at the works. I can only assume that the sight of the gas mask 2 brought back those bad times and accounted for his behaviour.

As he lived at East Ham for much of the war, his route to the Arsenal often took him through the foot tunnel when the ferry wasn't operating which was mostly after dark and his biggest gripe was how his way home through the tunnel was often impeded by the many people who took shelter there during bombing raids.

I can understand his frustration at this when you consider he would have to spend long hours on the roof of his workshop watching as the bombing raid moved slowly up the river targeting the many buildings and facilities that made up the Royal Arsenal which stretched for many miles downriver and his job would involve spotting what type of bombs were dropping i.e. incendiary or high explosive or a mix of both.

This often meant he would remain on the roof dealing with incendiary bombs that fell on on it but not knowing if a high explosive device may come down among them.

I can understand his frustration with the families in the tunnel when he would be looking forward to getting home after spending a night wondering if it may be his last night which it was for many AFS colleagues. His night did in fact come up when he was blown from his roof by a high explosive bomb and the ensuing injuries saw him off work for a little over 6 months and the fact that he was only paid for two weeks of that period, didn't help matters.

He often said that he and his fellow fire watchers most probably endured more high explosives being aimed at them than the soldiers on the front line.

©Roger Callow, 2018

Pictures; Heinkel He 111 over Poland, September 1939 from the German Federal Archive featured in  Heinkel He 111 Wickipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinkel_He_111 , Woolwich Foot Tunnel circa 1916, courtesy of Kristina Bedford from  Woolwich Through Time, Kristina Bedford, 2014, Amberley Publishing

“Perhaps forgettable but not forgotten” ....... another unremarkable building joins so many

2016
Dickinson Street is that narrow one that takes you from Portland Street into St Peter’s Square.

The bit up by the square has been closed for a while but is now open and not to miss an opportunity Andy Robertson took a stroll down to see what was changing.

Now I always look forward to a new collection of pictures from Andy because like the famous box of chocolates, “you never know what you are going to get”.

2018
Although that does have to be qualified slightly by saying that while the subject matter might vary, the quality and historic interest is always spot on.

So here we are at the junction of Dickinson and George Street with a building Andy describes as “forgettable but not forgotten”, and it is so unremarkable that in the years I have walked past it I don’t think I have ever given it much of a glance.

But Andy being Andy recorded it back in 2016 when the sign above the door, hinted that its days were numbered.

And two years on that number has been called and all that is left is a space.

I could go and look up the planning applications to see what has been approved for the site but I won’t, leaving you instead with the before and now set of images.

Location; Dickinson Street, Manchester

Pictures; Dickinson Street, 2016 & 2018 from the collection of Andy Robertson

The Cranes of Salford ...... number 6 ....... Media City

From the series the cranes of Salford

Nothing more to say.


Location; Salford







Pictures; Media City, 2017, from the collection of Andrew Robertson

Saturday 19 May 2018

The Hall, the tram and a story of a discovery

Now I like the way Heather discovered Clayton Hall.

"The Old Lady" ..... Clayton Hall, 2018
By her own admission she knew nothing of the place, but one day saw it from the window of the tram and resolved to find out more.

That involved getting off the tram at the metro stop and wandering the short distance across the New Road, through the small park, and over the moat to the Hall.

And she told me she wasn’t disappointed at breaking her journey.

As many will know this gem, dates from the 15th century with alterations made over the next two centuries and was enlarged in the 18th century.

It was restored in 1900 and is now lovingly looked after by the Friends of Clayton Hall, who call the building “the Old Lady”.*  They manage the excellent museum which is housed in the building, host regular Open Days and offer a service to schools to come and learn about our past.

And they also mount exhibitions of which the most recent was on Bradford Colliery, which stood nearby and only closed in the 1960s.

These exhibitions are more than static displays and the Friends welcome visitors to recount their own memories as well as contributing photographs and other memorabilia.

The recent “Clayton Hall Remembers Bradford Pit" generated a rich seam of stories and documents from people who either worked there, or lived nearby, and when the material is collated it will be stored at the Hall with copies going to the Local History Library in Central Ref.

Peter was impressed with the Hall and the work the Friends do so decided to paint “the Old Lady” and I rather think it is a fine painting.

All of which just leaves me to say that Heather joined the Friends, and can be seen on Open Days along with Kay and the other Friends, welcoming visitors and sharing the history of the Hall and of Clayton.

Painting; Clayton Hall, © 2018 Peter Topping,
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk
Facebook: Paintings from Pictures https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures

*Clayton Hall, http://www.claytonhall.org/

Friday 18 May 2018

One hundred years of one house in Chorlton part 102 ......... the repair man, the washing machine and planned obsolescence

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.*

Modern washing machine, late 1950s
Now I wonder how often Joe and Mary Ann replaced their washing machine.  Of course I doubt I will ever know, but I bet they would have had no time for the idea of “planned or built in obsolescence”.

I first came across the term in the early 1970s and was fascinated by the idea that much of what we bought from televisions to motorcars and hair dryers were not meant to last.

Either the parts would wear out relatively quickly or the design of the product would be altered making the existing one look old fashioned and dated.

It is an old idea, and helped General Motors in the late 1920s sell more cars than the Ford Company.

They called it dynamic obsolescence but it still amounted to the same thing, and was based on the simple application of new designs to their cars each year.

In much the same way Sidney Stratton, in the film, The Man in the White Suit, thought he had hit on a winner when he invented a fibre which repelled dirt and never wore out.  Alas nether the unions or the textile manufacturers embraced the idea, realizing that its production would eventually lead to no demand for new fibres and the demise of the textile industry.**

Mr Bennett repairs the washing machine, 2018
All of which brings back to our house and the washing machine.  We bought it eight years ago and it has performed well, but yesterday it broke, and having discussed expensive repair options with the manufacturer

I fell back on Peter Bennett who over the years had mended and serviced our other washing machines.***

He arrived a few hours after I contacted him and for a fraction of the price quoted by the manufacturer, had the machine repaired and working again.

And that I suppose is how Joe and Mary Ann approached their appliances, many of which were sturdy and made to last.

But others like the television were not always reliable.  The TV repair man was a regular visitor to our house in the 1950s and I suspect also was well known to Joe and Mary Ann.

And the presence of the repair shop on the High Street was commonplace during the period I grew up but I suspect there are fewer of them today.

A Park H Wireless, 1951
And thinking about it, apart from the washing machine I can probably count no more than a dozen visits from assorted applicance people in the 40 or so years we have lived in Scott’s old house.

Nor I suspect are we alone in this.  When Dad died in the mid 1990s, items which we had bought in the early 1960s were still happily working away, doing what they had been designed to do.

Sadly I never got to see the interior of Joe and Mary Ann’s house after they both died, but I bet there will have been appliances which dated back into the 1950s and perhaps even further any one of which would be fascinated to hold and use.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; appliances of science, from the collection of Graham Gill and Mr Bennett’s receipt for a job well done.

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

**The Man in the White Suit, 1951

***Peter Bennett, http://www.peterbennettmanchester.co.uk/