I wish I met Cliff Hayes, unlike all of the historians I have posted he was around Chorlton during all the time I have lived here.
True I once met John Lloyd and there are many who remember John, including my old friends Marjorie, Holmes, Philip Lloyd, and Allan Brown while Joe Callaghan who I worked with and told a wonderful story about him.
But Cliff just keeps popping up. I have his book, Chorlton-Cum-Hardy, Sutton Publishing Ltd, 1999, one of my sons bought a DVD of his on the history of Manchester and Brian the Book often talked about him.
Rereading his book I am struck by his deep knowledge of the township and his modesty, particularly his concluding words where he acknowledges his debt to both John Lloyd and Thomas Ellwood.
His book has many pictures which are not in other published collections and this alone makes his Chorlton-Cum-Hardy so interesting. Its other great strength is that Cliff includes more recent photographs. So we have scenes of the shopping precinct, the Royal Oaks at the point of demolition along with the Princess Club which I remember variously as Valentines and Ra Ra’s and its replacement MacDonald’s. There is even one of the Mersey Hotel that great barn of a place soon after it was renamed the Mersey Lights.
None of these places existed in the dim and distant past and many will remember them. I know I have spent evenings in the Royal Oak, afternoons in the Mersey Hotel and nights I would rather forget in Valentine’s. Val reminded me recently of her memories of “Chorlton Palais and later Valentines, I loved Chorlton Palais but it was two buses and difficult to get to.”
Gone also are the Southern and the Feathers and of course all the cinemas.
Picture; the parish church yard and over the meadows, 1979 from the collection of Andrew Simpson
But Cliff just keeps popping up. I have his book, Chorlton-Cum-Hardy, Sutton Publishing Ltd, 1999, one of my sons bought a DVD of his on the history of Manchester and Brian the Book often talked about him.
Rereading his book I am struck by his deep knowledge of the township and his modesty, particularly his concluding words where he acknowledges his debt to both John Lloyd and Thomas Ellwood.
His book has many pictures which are not in other published collections and this alone makes his Chorlton-Cum-Hardy so interesting. Its other great strength is that Cliff includes more recent photographs. So we have scenes of the shopping precinct, the Royal Oaks at the point of demolition along with the Princess Club which I remember variously as Valentines and Ra Ra’s and its replacement MacDonald’s. There is even one of the Mersey Hotel that great barn of a place soon after it was renamed the Mersey Lights.
Gone also are the Southern and the Feathers and of course all the cinemas.
Picture; the parish church yard and over the meadows, 1979 from the collection of Andrew Simpson
I met Cliff a couple of times, both times at Salford Museum and Art Gallery, one of which when he gave a local history talk. He came across as a lovely man.
ReplyDeleteI also met Cliff a few times. I remember once when he gave a talk at Salford Museum and Art Gallery and another time when he attended an event at the same venue when Fred Fielder was guest speaker. I have a few of his local history books and am always looking at them. In one, there is a lovely photo of him holding his granddaughter. Sad to think he's no longer with us.
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