On Barlow Moor Road at the Macfadyn Memorial Church sometime in 1929 with a postcard from mother

Recently I was at the Macfadyn Memorial Church on Barlow Moor Road, sometime between 1903 and 1913.

And today I am back again at almost the same place this time in the 1920s.  

Now I can be fairly certain of that because the postcard was sent in the September of 1929 and while the picture might be older I doubt that it will stretch beyond the beginning of that decade.

It is fairly recognisable but of course today the church has gone, replaced by a block of flats and trams haven’t run up Barlow Moor Road since the late 1940s.

Judging by the coats and the leaves on the trees we may be in late spring when a turn in the weather can still produce a cold spell.

By contrast the postcard was sent on a day when “we are still having summer here, today is lovely.”

What intrigues me about the postcard is that it was not sent through the post.

There is no address to which it should be delivered and no stamp so I guess it must have either been taken by hand to Morris and Marie or perhaps was inside a letter or parcel.

Now this is a bit of a shame as the couple were on holiday somewhere and Marie’s mother was concerned that they liked the apartments but was reassured that the holiday weather was equally good.

And that little comment reminds me that this was still the age of the postcard, and that people regularly sent them, not only as a greeting but for the more mundane business of arranging a meeting.

So on another card in the collection Lena had apologised for not being able to meet Miss Taylor that evening but would arrange to do so for Tuesday.

The card had been sent from Oldham on Monday afternoon with every expectation it would arrive that evening in advance of the time they were to meet.

In the same way Marie had sent her own holiday postcard to her mother at 43 St Anne’s Road and might well receive a reply the same day.

Picture; from the Lloyd collection.