Now there is a story to tell about the Chorlton Carnival which ran through the 1930s and echoed the village celebrations of a century before.
Walking through Chorlton, date unknown |
This is all the more important given that they will soon pass out of living memory and I doubt that there are many accounts of what went on.
It was it seems linked to the Alexandra Rose Day which was the prime fund raising activity for medical charities in the Manchester and Salford area and dated back to the first held in London in 1912.
There were a number of carnivals across the city during the 1930s but ours seemed to be the biggest, according the Manchester Guardian in the June of 1937, “The gala held in St Margaret’s playing fields, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, on Saturday [June 19th] may be said to mark the opening of the charity carnival season.
The parade |
The format was much the same with the crowning of a Rose Queen a procession through Chorlton “of characters in comic and fancy dress, on horseback, cycle or on foot.” and the gala which included Morris dancing, a horse show and a brass band competition. The 1937 show had excelled itself with five bands taking part but so far there is no record of whether our own band won a prize.
I must confess a little pride in knowing that the procession set off from the Rec after the crowning of the Queen and have often speculated whether Joe and Mary Ann Scott who lived opposite in the house we now occupy were in the crowd.
Oswald Road |
And it may have been the war that contributed to it coming to an end. The last seems to have been in 1938 and the break of ten years and changing attitudes made it less likely that it would come back.
In 1948 the Labour Government had introduced a national health service which made the penny finding activities of hospitals and medical charities less necessary.
And for those with a keen sens of the past here is Andy Robertson's picture of the same spot taken a few years ago.
Oswald Road, 2016 |
It is not the ones on the corner of Claridge or Kensington and I know of no others.
Also if you check out that old Lloyd photo you posted of Oswald Road a while back there is that big Tree!"
Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy
Picture; Horses being paraded along Oswald Road sometime in the 1930s, courtesy of Mrs Kay, from the Lloyd collection and the shop on Oswald Road, courtesy of Andy Robertson
*Manchester Guardian June 21 1937
Loved that bit of history
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