Now, here is a book which will become a classic because it contains 126 images of a Manchester and Salford which has vanished.
The book is, Without a Trace by Shirley Baker who set out to record the “working class communities during the 1960s slum clearances”.*
It is easy with hindsight and a huge dollop of misguided nostalgia, to criticize those clearance programs which while they wiped away thousands of unfit properties, also destroyed vibrant communities.
For many who had been part of those close-knit communities, the forced move away was a sad experience.
Some felt marooned on new estates, which in some cases were on the edges of the twin cities and had little history or communal spirit.
But that is to ignore the simple truth that many of those houses were in the shadow of factories, iron works and power stations and were long past their sell by date.
Some will argue that with a bit of tender care and attention, the terraces could have been saved, but many were just no longer fit for purpose.
That said, within a decade of being built some at least of the new properties were equally unfit to live in, and the vision of homes in the sky, connected by walkways and views across the two cities failed to create a sense of community.
And so, the pictures in this book, are important in chronicling what was being lost and stand beside the work of contemporary observers and in its way the comedy series the Likely Lads** as a source for what has gone.
Many of the images are familiar, while others I had never seen before and I spent a smashing few hours on Christmas Day reading through the book.
My only criticism is that locations are by and large just described as Manchester or Salford, which is a pity, but it is a minor one, and in no way detracts from a powerful piece of collective history.
Location; Manchester and Salford, the 1960s
* Without a Trace by Shirley Baker, Manchester and Salford in the 1960s, 2018
*The Likely Lads, was a British sitcom created and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and produced by Dick Clement in three series, between 16 December 1964 and 23 July 1966, and the follow up, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads, which ran between 9 January 1973 and 9 April 1974
It is easy with hindsight and a huge dollop of misguided nostalgia, to criticize those clearance programs which while they wiped away thousands of unfit properties, also destroyed vibrant communities.
For many who had been part of those close-knit communities, the forced move away was a sad experience.
Some felt marooned on new estates, which in some cases were on the edges of the twin cities and had little history or communal spirit.
But that is to ignore the simple truth that many of those houses were in the shadow of factories, iron works and power stations and were long past their sell by date.
Some will argue that with a bit of tender care and attention, the terraces could have been saved, but many were just no longer fit for purpose.
That said, within a decade of being built some at least of the new properties were equally unfit to live in, and the vision of homes in the sky, connected by walkways and views across the two cities failed to create a sense of community.
And so, the pictures in this book, are important in chronicling what was being lost and stand beside the work of contemporary observers and in its way the comedy series the Likely Lads** as a source for what has gone.
Many of the images are familiar, while others I had never seen before and I spent a smashing few hours on Christmas Day reading through the book.
My only criticism is that locations are by and large just described as Manchester or Salford, which is a pity, but it is a minor one, and in no way detracts from a powerful piece of collective history.
Location; Manchester and Salford, the 1960s
* Without a Trace by Shirley Baker, Manchester and Salford in the 1960s, 2018
*The Likely Lads, was a British sitcom created and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and produced by Dick Clement in three series, between 16 December 1964 and 23 July 1966, and the follow up, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads, which ran between 9 January 1973 and 9 April 1974
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