Now I shall start with the thank you to five of the volunteers at the Parrs Wood Environmental Centre, who gave up a morning to share their archives and tell us more about their work.
The Centre is situated beside Parrs Wood School and "occupies land which was previously the kitchen garden and orchards of a small 18th Century country estate.
The estate was bought by the City of Manchester in 1922. During the Second World War the gardens had been cultivated as part of the Dig for Victory campaign.
In 1947 the council opened the Rural Studies Centre with a remit to provide classes in gardening and natural history…… and from 1947 until 1990 schoolchildren from all parts of the City were bussed here (funded by the Education Committee), either weekly or fortnightly for half-day sessions, during which the children cultivated their school's own plot.
In July 1998, the Centre went into suspension because of the development of the site, [which] included a new school and the entertainment complex", and in 2004 the Centre returned and has been there ever since.”.*
Now there is a lot more to tell, but I would just point you to the link for the full story and say that the Centre features in our new book on Didsbury pubs which will be published later in the year.*
And for those who wonder how the Centre got into a pubs book, that and much more will be revealed in the chapter covering Parrs Wood.
Location; Parrs Wood
Picture; Jean, Jeff, Kate, Neil and Dorothy sharing the Centre’s archive, 2019, from the collection of Peter Topping
* Parrs Wood Environmental Centre,
https://www.parrswoodenvironmentalcentre.org.uk/history
 |
| A thank you to the team, Jean, Jeff, Kate, Neil and Dorothy, 2019 |
The estate was bought by the City of Manchester in 1922. During the Second World War the gardens had been cultivated as part of the Dig for Victory campaign.
In 1947 the council opened the Rural Studies Centre with a remit to provide classes in gardening and natural history…… and from 1947 until 1990 schoolchildren from all parts of the City were bussed here (funded by the Education Committee), either weekly or fortnightly for half-day sessions, during which the children cultivated their school's own plot.
In July 1998, the Centre went into suspension because of the development of the site, [which] included a new school and the entertainment complex", and in 2004 the Centre returned and has been there ever since.”.*
And for those who wonder how the Centre got into a pubs book, that and much more will be revealed in the chapter covering Parrs Wood.
Location; Parrs Wood
Picture; Jean, Jeff, Kate, Neil and Dorothy sharing the Centre’s archive, 2019, from the collection of Peter Topping
* Parrs Wood Environmental Centre,
https://www.parrswoodenvironmentalcentre.org.uk/history
No comments:
Post a Comment