Stories from a Chorlton bedroom

Now, you can tell a lot by someone’s wall paper.

And if that wall paper has remained intact for nearly sixty years, it can be a show case for what we once thought was the height of fashion.

So when I was growing up, designs derived from popular comics were a must.

My choice was Dan Dare Pilot of the Future, from the Eagle, and with an eye to both promoting the comic and making some money, the owners sanctioned the use of other favourite characters, allowing some kids to chose Dan alongside, The Riders of the Range and Luck of the Legion.

Here in Chorlton, a young Ken Foster went for wall paper of railway locomotives, ranging from the workhorses of the branch lines, to the romantic full on express engines.

And there, tucked away at the top of each roll was the blue diesel, which in just a decade would pretty much kill off the Age of Steam.

At which point I shall refrain from trying to name each locomotive, secure in the knowledge that there will be a veritable queue of people who can reel off the names of the four, offering up details of their specification, dates of coming into service and where they first encountered each.

But childhood choices must in time yield to other interests, and Ken was no exception, and so by the mid 1960s trains had given over to Freddie and the Dreamers which were just added to the wall paper.

I suspect there would have been other idols but they may well have fallen off.

What didn’t, was the painting of the archer, much faded but still there just as Ken painted him.

At which point this may seem one of those trivial stories, but not so, because the wall paper, the furniture and all those electronic bits that we bought, seldom got recorded in situ.

So there are plenty of examples of old tellies, monster stereos, and funny looking washing machines, which crop up in adverts, catalogues and in showrooms but not usually as they would be in the home.

After all if you live with the stuff, why would you bother to photograph it?    

And that is our loss, because most of us make compromises, so we might yearn for the stylish Habitat sofa but we often end up with a mix of hand-downs from parents, and bargains from second hand shops, which make for a miss match of cluttered styles.

My parents saw the striking modern furniture of the 1950s but bought instead into Utility pieces, which actually lasted a lifetime, augmenting these with porcelain flying ducks and reproductions of the Chinese Girl which mum always called the Green Lady.

Of course Ken’s bedroom is a rarity because most people redecorate, but not Ken whose room complete with locomotive wall paper is still as it was, when he lived above his dad’s cycle shop, which he still runs today, and can now claim to be the oldest continuous family business trading in Chorlton, leaving me to wonder if one day he will open the bedroom to the public.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; Ken Foster’s bedroom wallpaper, circa early 1960s, from the collection of Peter Topping

Ken Foster, https://www.kenfosterscyclelogic.co.uk/