Celebrating New Year ….. with turnips ….. a carrot …..Mr. Wilding ….. and a bit of humour

After 87 years I doubt I will turn up much on The Chorlton-cum-Hardy Amateur Gardeners’.

The invitation to New Year fun, 1936

But then until Gill Curtis posted this delightful programme advertising their New Year’s Eve Gathering, I didn’t even know they existed, but exist they did.

As Gill wrote “I thought your members might be interested in a flyer I’ve found from 1936 proving that Chorlton cum Hardy was the place to be on New Year’s Eve. My grandfather obviously thought so as he was the piano player!”

Parker's, circa 1930s

Now, I am not surprised that there was a gardening group.  

There were plenty of other such groups in Chorlton which had developed as the township grew from a small agricultural community into a suburb of Manchester.

The transformation had begun in the mid-1860s with urban creep up from Stretford Railway Station along Edge Lane and then the newly cut Wilbraham Road.

But the real pace of change started in the 1880s around what was once the Four Banks and stretched along Barlow Moor and Manchester Roads and out towards Longford Park in one direction and Chorlton-cum-Hardy Railway Station in the other.

The area attracted the “middling people” many of whom worked in the city but wanted to live in an area which still had a rural feel.  They included those who described themselves “professionals" and "clerks" along with businessmen.

And as they did, they set up “societies” from theatre and operatic groups to public speaking, gardening and a whole range of sporting activities.

In 1909 the Chorlton-cum-Hardy Show included in its event the best Chorlton garden.  The show continued well into the 1930s and featured agricultural as well as gardening events.*

Five and bit hours of fun, 1936

So, in 1936 The Chorlton-cum-Hardy Amateur Gardeners’ staged their New Years event which was at 357 Barlow Moor Road, near to the junction with Hardy lane and Mauldeth Road West.  The parade of shops still exists.

Back then it was owned by Parker’s Bakery of Needham Avenue and was one of a number of outlets across Chorlton.

To modern eyes it may seem a tame affair, but the programme is not without a sense of humour and begs the question of whether there are other bits of memorabilia out there connected to the group.

We shall see.

Leaving me just to thank Gill.

Location, Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Pictures; The Chorlton-cum-Hardy Amateur Gardeners’, New Year’s Eve Gathering, 1936, from the collection of Gill Curtis 

*Winning the best kept garden on Nicolas Road in 1909, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2018/08/winning-best-kept-garden-on-nicholas.html