A little bit of history came my way recently.
The history consists of a collection of letters, photographs and magazines.
The oldest is a letter dated 1895, and the most recent from 1961.
They belong to Suzanne who thought I might be interested in them, and of course I am.
We will all have these collections which have survived partly out of luck and also because they meant something special and deserved to be kept.
And what makes these ones that bit more special is that Suzanne could talk about them referring to letters she received after her marriage to the photograph of her grandmother which was taken at Affleck’s on 121 Oldham Street.
My favourite’s have to be a letter by Suzanne’s grandmother written in 1895, and the picture of Suzanne’s aunt Mary aged 15, standing outside the grocers shop on Cross Lane in Salford owned by Suzanne's parents.
What prompted Suzanne to share them was a conversation we had had about chief rents and particular the statement for the twelve houses on St Werburgh's which also included the collecting fee of £2.47.
It was quite common for one householder in a row of properties to be responsible for collecting a batch.
When I lived in Ashton it fell to me knock on and ask for the princely sum of 30p from the adjoining four houses.
Over time it became easier just to pay the £2 myself and dispense with the chore of going round to each neighbour.
And only last week someone told me they had been doing the same thing for years.
It is all part of that shared history we all have and so I will return to the collection at a later date and dig deeper into what Suzanne has kindly given me.
Location; Manchester
Pictures; from the collection of Suzanne Moorehead
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| Suzanne's aunt Mary |
The oldest is a letter dated 1895, and the most recent from 1961.
They belong to Suzanne who thought I might be interested in them, and of course I am.
We will all have these collections which have survived partly out of luck and also because they meant something special and deserved to be kept.
And what makes these ones that bit more special is that Suzanne could talk about them referring to letters she received after her marriage to the photograph of her grandmother which was taken at Affleck’s on 121 Oldham Street.
My favourite’s have to be a letter by Suzanne’s grandmother written in 1895, and the picture of Suzanne’s aunt Mary aged 15, standing outside the grocers shop on Cross Lane in Salford owned by Suzanne's parents.
What prompted Suzanne to share them was a conversation we had had about chief rents and particular the statement for the twelve houses on St Werburgh's which also included the collecting fee of £2.47.
It was quite common for one householder in a row of properties to be responsible for collecting a batch.
 |
| A fine bunch of party goers |
Over time it became easier just to pay the £2 myself and dispense with the chore of going round to each neighbour.
And only last week someone told me they had been doing the same thing for years.
 |
| Letter home |
Location; Manchester
Pictures; from the collection of Suzanne Moorehead
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