Now sometimes you come across an image which captures perfectly a moment in time.
And so, it is with this one from 1960, where the clues to how we lived tumble from the photograph.
This was still a time when adverts were painted on walls, and this one for Shaw’s Radio and Television Service is a wonderful example.
There will be plenty of people who recognise the brands of electrical products, along with particular machines, like the Ultra Bermuda 17” television.
And many will also remember as each of these new appliances came in to the house, some less glamorous than others, but all of them marking that slow move from the post war years of rationing and austerity to the consumer society, reflected in that phrase you have never had it so good.*
Of course, this explosion in new goods which made life easier and more fun, was set against pockets of dire housing and abject poverty.
A later generation might criticise the rush to acquire shinny new white goods or state of the art radios and TVs, but that is to ignore the fact that these were being bought by people who had grown up and lived through two world wars and a trade depression, and were in part looking to the consumer age to deliver as much for their children and grandchildren as for themselves.
Added to which this was a period of full employment where factories were turning out the things people wanted, thus sustaining the growing prosperity.
All of which brings me back to the picture, and the other clues to a lost time, which include the purchase price expressed in guineas, the head scarf, the profusion of hats, and sturdy old-fashioned prams.
But there is one mystery associated with the picture, and that is its location.
The street sign says Cranbrook Road and the telephone number is I think Openshaw, but as yet I have been unable to find it where I thought it might be on Ashton Old Road.
Nor are the bus routes any help. The bus stop carries the numbers 57 and 109.
The 57 ran from Piccadilly to Salford and on to Pendleton, Swinton, and Pendlebury, which seems to be confirmed by the destination sign on one of the buses, but the 109 was a Wythenshawe bus.**
So, I am left confused.
That said, I know someone will come up with the answer.
And they did.
My old friend Andy Robertson tracked down Cranbrook Road to Reddish Lane.
And as way of evidence offered up a road map from 1934, following it up with a picture from Manchester's Local History collection, which features our shop from 1964.
None of which helps with those bus routes ...... but that's another story.
Location; Cranbrook Road
Picture; Cranbrook Road, 1960, "Courtesy of Manchester Archives+ Town Hall Photographers' Collection", https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/albums/72157684413651581?fbclid=IwAR0t6qAJ0-XOmfUDDqk9DJlgkcNbMlxN38CZUlHeYY4Uc45EsSMmy9C1YCk
*More accurately, “most of our people have never had it so good”, which was part of a speech made by the Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, in 1957, in which he asserted, “You will see a state of prosperity such as we have never had in my lifetime - nor indeed in the history of this country. Indeed, let us be frank about it - most of our people have never had it so good. Go around the country, go to the industrial towns, go to the farms and you will see a state of prosperity such as we have never had in my lifetime - nor indeed in the history of this country." At a rally to mark 25 years' service by Mr Lennox-Boyd, the Colonial Secretary, as MP for Mid-Bedfordshire. July 20th 1957, ONTHIS DAY,BBC, http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/20/newsid_3728000/3728225.stm
**Service list, 1969, The Manchester Bus Michael Eyre and Chris Heaps, 1989
This was still a time when adverts were painted on walls, and this one for Shaw’s Radio and Television Service is a wonderful example.
There will be plenty of people who recognise the brands of electrical products, along with particular machines, like the Ultra Bermuda 17” television.
And many will also remember as each of these new appliances came in to the house, some less glamorous than others, but all of them marking that slow move from the post war years of rationing and austerity to the consumer society, reflected in that phrase you have never had it so good.*
A later generation might criticise the rush to acquire shinny new white goods or state of the art radios and TVs, but that is to ignore the fact that these were being bought by people who had grown up and lived through two world wars and a trade depression, and were in part looking to the consumer age to deliver as much for their children and grandchildren as for themselves.
All of which brings me back to the picture, and the other clues to a lost time, which include the purchase price expressed in guineas, the head scarf, the profusion of hats, and sturdy old-fashioned prams.
But there is one mystery associated with the picture, and that is its location.
The street sign says Cranbrook Road and the telephone number is I think Openshaw, but as yet I have been unable to find it where I thought it might be on Ashton Old Road.
Nor are the bus routes any help. The bus stop carries the numbers 57 and 109.
So, I am left confused.
That said, I know someone will come up with the answer.
And they did.
My old friend Andy Robertson tracked down Cranbrook Road to Reddish Lane.
And as way of evidence offered up a road map from 1934, following it up with a picture from Manchester's Local History collection, which features our shop from 1964.
None of which helps with those bus routes ...... but that's another story.
Location; Cranbrook Road
Picture; Cranbrook Road, 1960, "Courtesy of Manchester Archives+ Town Hall Photographers' Collection", https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/albums/72157684413651581?fbclid=IwAR0t6qAJ0-XOmfUDDqk9DJlgkcNbMlxN38CZUlHeYY4Uc45EsSMmy9C1YCk
*More accurately, “most of our people have never had it so good”, which was part of a speech made by the Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, in 1957, in which he asserted, “You will see a state of prosperity such as we have never had in my lifetime - nor indeed in the history of this country. Indeed, let us be frank about it - most of our people have never had it so good. Go around the country, go to the industrial towns, go to the farms and you will see a state of prosperity such as we have never had in my lifetime - nor indeed in the history of this country." At a rally to mark 25 years' service by Mr Lennox-Boyd, the Colonial Secretary, as MP for Mid-Bedfordshire. July 20th 1957, ONTHIS DAY,BBC, http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/20/newsid_3728000/3728225.stm
**Service list, 1969, The Manchester Bus Michael Eyre and Chris Heaps, 1989
The picture is Reddish Lane Gorton. The photo was taken with the Bulls Head pub behind the photographer. The sign is the boundary sign for Stockport. I lived in the next street along, Athol St.
ReplyDelete109 was a bus fom Houldsworth Suare to Manchester. There was also a 33 Stockport bus which ran from Mersey Square Stockport to Manchester (Piccadily) it was a limited stop express.
ReplyDeleteYes this brings back memories of my childhood, standing outside Shaw's window to watch TV, the only opportunity we got as kids. I lived two streets away in Granville (later renamed Goulder) Road opposite Aspinall Church, which you can see on Reddish Lane. The square concrete block in the picture marks the border of Gorton, Manchester and Reddish, Stockport.
ReplyDeleteThe shop on the right with the sun blinds out became Kwik Save in the 1980's/ 90's.
ReplyDelete