Suggestions for a Christmas present and an outrageous piece of self promotion The History of Greater Manchester By Tram

 It is one of those original ways of telling stories of Greater Manchester and fits in with that slightly quirky way that me and Peter Topping have brought you the history of where we live.

The idea of telling the story of Greater Manchester by using the tram network has a lot going for it.

You can catch a tram from the city centre and go south, east, north, and west and along the way each of the 99 stops will have a story to tell, and being the tram, you can just jump off, explore this little pocket of history and move on. 

Or skip to the end destinations and discover interesting historical things about Didsbury, Ashton-Under-Lyne, Rochdale, Oldham, Salford and bits of Trafford, Altrincham and Bury.

And this is the new project Peter, and I have chosen for a series of new books.

Each book will wander along the network, taking in nine stops or so at a time, with original paintings by Peter, old photographs, and stories by me. 

The first two in the series can be found in Chorlton Bookshop, Waterstones on Deansgate, and in the shop in Central Ref or from us at www.pubbooks.co.uk, price £4.99**

Ok everyone …. the Lych Gate is open again

It’s that brick, stone and wooden tower which is one of the iconic images of where we live.

2024

So much so that many of us take it for granted and barely realized that after 137 years it needed some tender care and attention.

2024

It had been erected to commemorate Queen Victoria’s jubilee, and was a bold statement of support for the old St Clement’s Church which dated from 1800 and stood on the site of an older wattle and daub chapel which had been built at the beginning of the sixteenth century.

Today it is perhaps surprising to discover that there had been a time when we had two churches which both went under the name of St Clement’s and that this had its roots in the  Great Chorlton Church schism, when the congregation split over where to build a new church.

The 1800 building was seen to be too small and various sites for a new one were explored, but with no agreement one wing went off, accepted the offer of a parcel of land on Edge Lane and built a new church.

But the authorities retained the old church as the place for baptisms, marriages and burials, and one of the wealthy members of the congregation donated money to enhance the old church.

This was Cunlifee Brooks who lived at Barlow Hall and his donations included money for a grand new east window and the impressive lych gate.

2024

In 1993 the gate had a make over which concentrated on the roof of the bell tower.

But earlier this year a more extensive renovation was undertaken by the City Council looking to use materials which were sympathetic to the original.

The work was finished last week, and the scaffolding came down revealing the structure pretty much as it would have looked like in 1887.

And over the last week and a bit heaps of people have gone down to the green and taken their own pictures to which I now add mine, along with one taken back in 1980 when it had yet to reach its hundredth birthday.

Since then it has stood over a series of archaelogical digs, and watched as more than 350 of the headstones from the graveyard were removed and the site landscapped.

Location; The Lych Gate

Pictures; the restored Lych Gate, 2024, and in 1980, from the collection of Andrew Simpson 

1980

 

My Manchester ..... Piccadilly Gardens and beyond

 Pretty much all life passes through Piccadilly Bus station.

And I know it's a claim that can be made for any big transport hub, be it a bus station, railway termininus or city centre tram stop.

But on that December grey morning with the Christmas markets waiting for customers, I was on the edge of the gardens looking across at City Towers and remembering just how busy it has been during all the years I have been here.

And that amounts to 55 years.

And that is it.

Location; looking out from Piccadilly Gardens

Picture; Busy at City Tower, 2024, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Eltham Cinema and a word to the wise

Now here is a building that just passed me by.

Eltham Cinema, 1913-1968

It is the Eltham Cinema and was on the corner of the High Street and Westmount Road.

It was opened in 1913 and demolished in 1968 which means I must have seen it countless times on my way to school at Crown Woods but even now it does not register with me.”

Like so many of the early cinemas it proved “not fit for purpose” when the newer plusher and more modern looking picture houses came along later in the century.

Holmfirth Picturedrome, 1912

A few of these old palaces of dreams do survive like the Picturedrome at Holmfirth.

It is was opened in 1912 and is a big enough to seat a couple of hundred people, has a double set of doors, with a veranda above it and must have made you feel special each time you went to watch that magic of light and moving pictures played out in the dark.

It was so at our cinema and the memories of some of those who attended the Eltham Cinema have been recorded but it is a pity that the building was lost.

There will be somewhere more pictures of the place, and perhaps even images of the inside along with the odd bit of furniture.

Palais de Luxe, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, 2013

And these can turn up in the most surprising of places.

I was reminded of this when I persuaded the staff of the local Co-op to allow me upstairs into the warehouse floor.  The building had been opened as the Palais de Luxe in 1915 and converted into a supermarket in the late 1950s.

But upstairs high in the roof space at one end of the building was all that remained of the plaster mouldings which stood above the cinema screen.*

Palais de Luxe, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, 1924

Of course such finds are increasingly rare and most of us are now forced back on those old photographs and picture postcards.

These are themselves not always readily available.  Some are stored in local history collections and others appear picture books.

There is a fine collection in the book Eltham In Old Photographs.**

And one in particular caught my eye of that part of Court Yard now dominated Grove Market Place.

I say dominated but that is not completely accurate because the small shopping area is undergoing redevelopment and it was while reading about the controversy surrounding the plans that I realized I had no idea when it was built.

There on page 78 as the answer.  It was opened in 1967 and once again I realized that another bit of Eltham’s history had passed me by.

I have either forgotten or was totally oblivious to the demolition of the old properties and building of the Market Place.

This is all the more appalling when within two years I was using the bank on the corner and for years after Dad went to the shop opposite for his paint.

All of which reinforces that simple rule, never take anything for granted, watch for the news of a new planning application and always have a camera with you.

Pictures; Eltham Cinema, courtesy of Thisiseltham, Holmfirth Picturedrome and interior of the old Palase de Luxe Chorlton from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Thisiselatham, http://www.thisiseltham.co.uk/

*http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/forgotten-photograph-palais-de-luxe-in.html

** Eltham In Old Photographs, John Kennet, 1991, Alan Sutton Publishing

Thisiselatham, http://www.thisiseltham.co.uk/

A ladybird, a Christmas annual and an advert

We tend to think of advertising aimed at children as something new, but not so.

Here from the Swift comic annual, is a bit of science mixed up with a bit of advertising.

Pictures; from the Swift comic annual, 1958

Suggestions for a Christmas present and an outrageous piece of self promotion ........ nu 12.... The Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Now very soon lots of you will be pondering on Christmas presents and so with that in mind here is the third suggestion.

Day five and The Story of Chorlton-cum Hardy.

Here for the first time is a detailed account of an agricultural community that was just 4 miles from Manchester and  the people who lived here, using their own words and records.

It tells of daily lives, setting them in a national context, and balances the routine with the sensational - including murder, infanticide and a rebellion.

Partly a narrative of rural life and a description of a community's relationship with a city, the book also include guided walks around Chorlton a database of references and sources.

Available from Chorlton Book shop, 506 Wilbraham Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester M21 9AW 0161 881 6374, other bookshops and from the History Press

Goodbye to the ABC in the High Street .................. 1972

Now this picture postcard of the old ABC cinema in the High Street has a lot going for it.

For a start there is that simple observation that few of us send picture postcards today.

Mobile phones with cameras which can snap and send an image around the world in seconds have pretty much done for the old picture postcard.

Of course long before this technological whizz the postcard had its day.  The cost of postage and the demise of the frequent postal collection and delivery meant that bit by bit they were used less and less.

Unlike the start of the last century when if you wanted to arrange to meet in the afternoon or tell family you’d be home later that day the postcard was the thing.

And the early 70s I guess was the cross over point when the sale and use of the picture card was in decline.

Not that the Eltham Society thought so when they produced this one which was number 4 in a series on Eltham and may well have been chosen to mark the passing of this picture house which had opened its doors in the August of 1922 and closed half a century later.

I have fond memories of the place, it was after all a safer choice than the Odeon to take a girlfriend given that we lived just a few minute’s walk from the roundabout and you never wanted to encounter family on your first date.

Its passing caught me unawares.  At the beginning of 1972 I went back to College in Manchester and when I returned at Easter it had shown its last film and gone dark.

I can’t now remember if I took in a film at the cinema before I left home but given that the ABC was showing the newly released Steptoe and Son I don’t think I did.

And that may gives us a day in January for when the photograph was taken.

Of course given the large number of young people waiting outside it could be a Saturday but as the film was classified an A and there are plenty of adults accompanying the children it is equally likely that it will be a matinee in what was left of the holidays.

So I guess I shall have to go looking in the local press for January 1972 and in the meantime reflect on the wonderful collection of images held by the Greenwich Heritage Centre, from where I found this one.

Pictures, Eltham ABC, 1972, GRW 1647, http://boroughphotos.org/greenwich/ courtesy of Greenwich Heritage Centre, http://www.greenwichheritage.org/site/index.php

What we have lost ....... inside the Corn Exchange

I really liked this metal and glass structure.

It was in the Corn Exchange beside Exchange Square, and I always thought it was an innovative way to fill a space.

Added to that I rather enjoyed sitting in there sipping an espresso and waiting for the shopping expedition to finish.

But it has gone since then the space around it was transformed from a retail centre to a series of themed restaurants from Italian, to Thai, and many more.

The Corn Exchange is a listed grade II building and was originally the Corn and Produce Exchange built in 1897 and opened in 1903.

Its role as an important centre for business suffered during the 1920 and 30s and and by the time I arrived in Manchester in 1969 its role as a trading floor were over.

But I remember it as a place full of independent traders ranging from second records and comics to clothes and jewellery.

You could spend hours wandering the stalls on the trading floor and in the surrounding rooms, but that IRA bomb did for all this.

The building was severely damaged and many of the traders relocated to what has become the Northern Quarter, and the building was redeveloped as the Triangle specialising in swish retailing, but it never seemed as busy in later years, and despite a re branding in 2012 seemed to miss a trick.

And then it closed reopening as an interesting place to eat.


Location; Manchester









Pictures; interior of the Triangle, July 2013

*Corn Exchange, Manchester, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_Exchange,_Manchester

There are always opportunities ……

 So, avoiding the controversy of the merits of the now closed Precinct along with the plans for its replacement, there is that much used observation that out of an ending comes opportunities.

And now that the builder’s boards have gone up in preparation for the demolition of the site Chorlton Traders have adopted some of the panels to advertise the presence of our local retailers.

It isn’t a new idea.  A decade and more ago Simpson and Topping used the panels around The MCarthy Stone development to tell the story of Chorlton from the early 16th century to the present day.  

It spanned 80 meters of the site and used 16 large panels and was designed as a walk stating at the village green and ending at the corner of Albany and Brantingham Roads.

And like all good ideas it quickly became a popular venue which became known as the History Wall.

Simpson and Topping replicated the project again on High Lane and currently have an installation at the former Chorlton Swimming Baths.

Back at the Precinct site the developers have given over space to Chorlton Arts Festival to display a range of material for later in the year.

Not bad really.

Location: Barlow Moor Road

Pictures; Opportunities, 2024, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

On being a dinosaur and remembering the horse drawn wagon

I am fast becoming a living dinosaur, and I suppose I have to ask how could it be any different?

I was after all born in the first half of the last century, reached the age of four before the  last vestiges of wartime rationing came to an end, and grew up with the wireless as the only source of home entertainment.

Along the way I remember the street grinder, who went from house to house sharpening the family knives, the regular call of the rag and bone man and of course the horse drawn milk float.

By the 1950s these milk carts had rubber tyres but were still a link with that time when almost all carts, wagons and public as well as private transport was pulled by a horse.

We tend to forget just how much was shifted by horse and cart.

In Manchester as in every town and city each railway company had their own stables and in all there were 157 carriers listed in the 1911 street directory and all used horses, as did the local trades people and the bus companies.

Look at any old picture of Chorlton from before the last world war and there are bound to be some horse drawn vehicles.

And so it is time for another of those occasional series which will potter on through the summer looking at how horses pulled the way.

This one  according to the caption was the, “Prince of Wales Horse bus at the green, probably about 1898 before the Corporation took over the Carriage and Tramway Company, but may be slightly later.  Photograph origin unknown.”

Location; Chorlton

Picture; from the Lloyd collection circa 1900

A Christmas sometime between 1955 and 61

I don’t usually do nostalgia, but this week is an exception.

So for all those who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s here is a selection of the presents that came into our household each Christmas from 1952 till 1963.

They are not in any order and lean heavily on my own child hood experiences, but I bet they could be replicated by many who read this.

And for those whose childhoods came later there will be in another post, with images of Barbie Dolls, the Bay City Rollers and Mud annuals, along with scaletric, my little Pony and the Turtles, including all four sourced from the cellar.

Of course if I wanted to really revel in nostalgia I could invite contributions on the upstairs of Quarmby’s, the sparkling and  groaning shelves of Woolworths and that paradise for all ages which is Toys R Us.

I don’t recall doing the storehouse Father Christmas and think we avoided it when the lads came along, but I have always been a sucker for Christmas trees.

They have to be so big that you end up chopping a bit off the bottom, come from a forest somewhere and have a mismatch collection of decorations which are as much about past Christmases as they are about elegant design and appearance.

Only recently I gave up on the multi coloured tree lights and went with the wishes of our Josh that they should be all one colour.  And every year we still put the Christmas angel designed by Saul somewhere near the top.

That said there is always that debate when to buy the tree, too early and it runs the risk of losing its needles and too late and all that is left are those sad two foot specimens which have a bit missing in the middle.

But the event is as much about family traditions as anything so despite being 39 Ben will still get a Beano album in his stocking and Luca a selection of wine gums, fruit pastilles and the odd Kinder egg.

And because I grew up in the 50s and that pretty much has frozen in time the Christmas I like, we shall bring out the Monopoly board, insist that everyone tries a selection of the festive nuts, and gather to watch “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

That said there will be the addition of those nice things to eat that Tina grew up with at home in Italy, at least three phone calls to Varese during the day and a visit from Ron and Carol.

All that and the Christmas football match which the boys and their friends play for half an hour on the Rec sometime after the presents and before the big meal.

It is a tradition which they have played for as long as I can remember, and over the years the event has pulled in friends, and anyone who is around the house on the day.

But mindful of my responsibilities I stay indoors, tending the fires, laying the table and reflecting on past family gatherings.

That said a few things have changed.  Back in the early 1950s we still attached candles to the tree, went out for a brisk walk up to Peckham Rye and ate directly after the Queen’s broadcast.

Not that it ever seemed to snow back then either.  But as they say be careful about what you wish for.  Back in the afternoon of Boxing Day in 1962 the snow fell across Peckham, New Cross and Eltham, and continued for months.

Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Saturday Morning Pictures at Well Hall Odeon in 1965

You never quite forget that mix of noise and anticipation which was Saturday Morning Pictures.

It started when the manager asked if everyone was happy, continued into the competitions and lasted through most of the morning.

It is easy to over romanticise what was just another way the cinema chain could create more revenue while introducing a young audience to the magic of the big screen.

And once you were hooked you were hooked for life.  The cycle might begin with Saturday Morning Pictures but quickly moved on to the “date” on the back row and in the fullness of time to visits with your children to Disney and of course to Saturday mornings all over again this time dropping off and collectiing a new generation of Saturday children.

But you can also be over cynical even given that what you saw was pretty dire.

I can’t say I ever enjoyed those stories of daring do by young children or the equally improbable tales of faithful dogs and intelligent dolphins saving the day.

I do remember a series which mixed the theme of Ancient Rome, alien invaders and a particularly nasty dictator.

On reflection it was probably shot on a back lot using B actors and involved lots of oddly dressed men riding on horseback across dusty plains.

You knew it was cheap because the plot didn’t follow a logical path and events often passed from bright daylight to late afternoon and back again in the course of one horse race.

All that said they were fun.  There were the cartoons and films, along with live events ranging from talent competitions and fancy dress to the appearance of a well known celebrity and it was always someone’s birthday which was met with a loud shout.

I am not sure whether it would still work today but from the 1940s into the 60s they were a way of life for many children with that added advantage that it freed up time for the adults. In the 1950’s the average weekly attendance at  children’s cinema matinees was over 1,016,000 with 1735 cinemas holding cinema matinees for children.*

The ABC chain began a special club in the 1940s for their ABC Minors complete with badge and song and birthday cards.  It cost just 6d.

I can’t now remember which cinema I went to, but I still have vivid memories of collecting my sisters from the Well Hall Odeon and getting there a little early just to catch the last ten minutes of whatever was going off.

They were never ABC Minors, after all when you lived just minutes away from the Odeon there was no point tramping all the way up to the High Street to the ABC on the corner of Plassey Place.

So that was my Saturday mornings in Eltham till mum judged that Stella and Elizabeth were old enough to take my two younger sisters without me.

I don’t suppose my mornings at the flicks had lasted that long and nor did theirs. They were probably one of the last generations to enjoy that mix of noise and anticipation in the dark accompanied by that warm smell of cinema disinfectant, and popcorn.

There may still be Saturday Morning Pictures but it costs a lot more than 6d and I can't think they will be the same, but then perhaps I am just old and biased.

* Wheare Committee http://terramedia.co.uk

Pictures, Well Hall Odeon, courtesy of Eltham, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eltham/210661675617589?fref=ts and  ABC Minors Badge, ABC Minors children’s cinema postcard Happy Birthday, 1948, BD084660
University of Essex, http://collections.ex.ac.uk/repository/handle/10472/3222?show=full
http://cinematreasures.org/video/abc-minors-matinee

Suggestions for a Christmas present and an outrageous piece of self promotion ........ nu 11 Manchester Remembering 1914-18

Suggestions for a Christmas present and an outrageous piece of self promotion ........ Manchester Remembering 1914-18

Now very soon lots of you will be pondering on Christmas presents and so with that in mind here is the fifth suggestion.

Manchester Remembering 1914-18 draws on official reports and newspaper accounts as well as letters and photographs and a multitude of other personal items.

Much of this material has never been seen before and some of it is unique in that it allows us to follow families through the whole conflict challenging many of those easy and preconceived views of the war.

So here is the story of George and Nellie Davison of Harpurhey and Hulme, Miss Rebecca Chapman’s first week as a Salford tram clippie, Mrs Fannie Jane Barlow’s, a Red Cross nurse from Chorlton and others from Newton Heath, Didsbury and Fallowfield.


Available from Chorlton Book shop, 506 Wilbraham Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester M21 9AW 0161 881 6374 other book shops and the History Press

Doors I have known .............. now that’s a zippy title

Fairfield Street

Now there is nothing original in showing off a collection of doors.

But I was reminded of just how many pictures of doors I have taken over the years after talking to my cousin Marisa in Canada.

She was recently engaged in a project to photograph and record the stories of doors in her home town in Ontario

And as you do I went looking for some of the ones I have come across over the years.

Most are from cities and towns in Italy, Greece and a shed load here in Manchester

Some of them have appeared before along with the history of the people who lived or worked behind them.

So for now I shall just post the pictures of three I like.

Via Nationale

I  don’t pretend they are classic shots but just ones that I have come to know over the years with the promise of more to come.

The first is one of those most of us pass by without a second glance.

It is on that very busy and at times desolate stretch of Fairfield Street by Piccadilly Railway Station.*

And for a big chunk of the 1970s I often caught the 218 out to Grey Mare lane and then when we bought our first house all the way up to Ashton.

The second is on the Via Nationale in Rome and caught my fancy as I waited outside a clothes shop for what seemed a century.  We had done the sightseeing and now it was that other type of activity involving a series of shops which made even the most mundane Roman relic a thing of beauty and fascination.

And that just leaves me with the entrance to J & J Shaw on New Wakefield Street.

New Wakefield Street

I long ago delved into the history of the company and acknowledge others have taken better pictures of the door and tiled surround, but then this at least is mine and not snatched from the internet.

So there you have it ...... three doors three places and I bet lots of stories, as yet untold.

Locations, Fairfield Street, Manchester, Via Nationale, Rome, and New Wakefield Street Manchester





Pictures; different doors, different places 2002-2010, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Alas it has gone

Rachel Scott (née Lovett) another story from Tony Goulding

This is another story that has been spawned during a conversation with a friend, in this case a colleague at Oxfam who also volunteers at the Pankhurst Centre on Nelson Street, Chorlton-on Medlock, Manchester. It is the story of another advocate of women’s suffrage, and rights generally, with a connection to Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

Letter to the Editor of The Clarion Newspaper - 30th October 1903

 Rachel Lovett was born in Hulme, Manchester during the December quarter of 1863. She was raised in the Newton Heath area of Manchester. She married Harold Charles David Scott on 10th July 1890 at The Albert Memorial Church on Queens Road, Collyhurst, Manchester. Harold Charles David was the eldest of at least 6 children of Walter Scott and Sarah M. (née Gotobed) and started his working life at 16 as a schoolteacher; possibly a pupil-teacher in his father’s school. Where the young couple began their life together is not known, however from 11th October 1891 they were living at 47, Keppel Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, where they stayed until September 1897. 

47, Keppel Road - November 2024

As is indicated by the above letter sent to the editor of "The Clarion", Rachel was the first Honorary Secretary of The Women’s Social and Political Union after its formation in Manchester in February 1903.

  Rachel and her husband Harold Charles David Scott had five children.

  1) Walter Lovett – born in Salford during the June quarter of 1891, died 20th June 1958 Broughty Ferry, Dundee, Scotland, where he had been living since at least November 1940 as on Thursday 21st of that month he was fined 30 shillings for breaking the blackout regulations. Married to Majorie Dawson; had at least one child, Patricia. Occupation –Analytical Chemist. In 1911 he was recorded as a “student of chemistry” probably at Manchester University.

2) Harold David –born on 7th May 1892 in the Weaste area of Salford. Joined 8th battalion Royal Fusiliers on 4th September 1914. Address on demobilization from Road the army “The Knoll”, Church Road, Urmston his parents’ residence. He was an “engineer’s designer” Married to Anne with one daughter Cynthia M. living at 6, Mardale Avenue, Urmston and described as an “estimating and designing engineer” on the 1939 Register.

3) Francis Gordon born in Chorlton-cum-Hardy on 15th January 1894.  As a former pupil of Manchester Grammar School, he enlisted in one of the “Public Schools Battalions”, the 20th Royal Fusiliers, in August 1914. Prior to his military service he had worked as a clerk in a shipping office.

He was awarded Military Medal “for gallantry on the battlefield” M.E.N. August 16th, 1916.  

Gazetted Temp 2nd Lieutenant (from cadet) on 1st May 1918, he was killed in action in France on 20th October 1918 just 3 weeks from the end of the war. He is buried in The Belle Vue British Cemetery, Briastre, France.

4) Clarissa Marion, the only daughter, also born in Chorlton-cum-Hardy in January 1897. During the First World War she served in the V.A.D. at a base in Piccadilly, Manchester.

      In the 1921 census she is recorded as unmarried and living with her parents in Urmston. Her occupation was given as Professional Pianist - “On her own account”. She appears to have followed in her mother’s footsteps as this cutting of 17th October 1919 seems to indicate.

The Vote –17th October 1919,The Organ of the Women’s Freedom League

During the December quarter of 1923 in Manchester Cathedral, Clarissa Marion married Leonard Lowe Boardman (his second wife – his first Mary (née Andrew) having died during the September quarter of 1921). The new couple moved to Mellor, Derbyshire and started to raise a family. Sadly, Clarissa Marion died, aged just 35, on Monday 23rd May 1932. Her obituary from The Stockport Advertiser and Guardian of Friday 27th May. Recorded that she had died in a Manchester Nursing Home following an operation and had lived in Mellor since her marriage, latterly at “Branford”, Longhurst Lane. It also stated that as well as her musical talents she was also a gifted tennis player.

 5) Oliver Royle was born on 7th December 1905 in Flixton, Lancashire. In 1921, aged 15 years and 6 months, he was still in full-time education and living with his parents and sister in Church Road, Urmston as recorded in the census. He later moved with his widowed father to 36, Queens Road Urmston as recorded in the Electoral Roll of 1930. Shortly after this date Oliver, who is described in various records as a “merchant” became something of a “globetrotter”. He is recorded as travelling on “The Empress of Asia” from Yokohama, Japan to St. Albans, Vermont, U.S.A. in March 1930 (1) and shown as a passenger on the “S.S. Gloucestershire”, sailing on 6th January 1933 from the U.K. (Liverpool) to Columbo in what was then known as Ceylon. On 21st December 1935 he married, Australian, Gertrude Mary (née Thorne) in St Peter’s Garrison Church, Port Columbo, Ceylon (2) and later moved to the State of Victoria, Australia. He died there on 28th October 1978 in Elwood, North Melbourne.

Rachel Scott died in Urmston during the June quarter of 1925.Harold Charles David Scott, Rachel’s husband died at “Spaldrick” 36, Queens Road, Urmston, Lancashire on 1st June 1937. His estate was valued for probate as £11, 496-18s-6d (Today that would be worth £658,000).

Pictures: - Letter to the editor of “The Clarion” 30th October 1903 provided by THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk). 

Extract from “The Vote” 17th October 1919 (with no known copyright holder) accessed from Find my Past - With Thanks to The British Newspaper Archive.

47, Keppel Road – November 2024 from the collection of Tony Goulding.

Notes: 

1) Oliver Royle’s permanent residence shown on this record is “Calcutta, India”.

2) Amy Gertrude Mary was the daughter of Doctor Herbert Roger Horne and the first of his three wives, Margaret Ross (née Thomson) of Traralgon, Victoria, Australia.

Acknowledgement.

Elizabeth Crawford’s “Lockdown Research Who Unfurled The Manchester “First in The Fight” WSPU Banner” on her blog

 “womanandhersphere” includes a lot of additional detail on Rachel’s early life and her role in the W.S.P.U.

https://womanandhersphere.com/2020/12/03lockdown-research-who-unfurled-the-manchester-first-in-the-fight-wspu-banner

The wrath of the Jelly Men …….. comic terrors no.1 …… 1960

In truth I wasn’t frightened of the Jelly Men ….. more just fascinated.

They appeared one day in the Beezer sometime in 1960 as an invading force.

They came out of the sea and had the power to trap people, animals, vehicles and even buildings in giant bubbles which were blown from their tentacles.

Just where they originally came from, their real purpose and their eventual fate are now lost in time.

And here I have a confession which D.C Thompson who published the comic may well shudder at, but the Beezer and its comic pal the Topper were not my first choice. 

That fell to the Beano and Dandy, and years later when our own children came along, our Ben got the Beano and Josh the Dandy.

Almost thirty-nine years later Ben still gets the Beano annual in his Christmas stocking.

And as I am in to confession in that great league table of comics I have to admit that the Eagle triumphed over all of them.

But this is about the Jelly Men and the heroic struggle by a group of school children to defeat them, and what a titanic struggle it became.

The Beezer reported that “Edinburgh! London! North, South, East, West – Britain is overrun by The Jelly Men”, filling the page with images of a television broadcaster describing scenes of horror as they wade ashore in Scotland, are fished up by trawler men, derail trains and imprison news vendors, as well as soldiers guarding Buckingham Palace, and interrupting a football match by encasing the goalkeeper in a bubble. 

I should have spotted the clue in a trailer the comic ran on January 22nd, which took the reader deep into the ocean,  offering up that “There are few places on this Earth where Man has not set foot. 

The highest mountain, the deepest jungle and the frozen wasteland.  

All have been explored, their mysteries laid bare.  But one area remains unconquered.  

It is the mysterious floor of the World’s deepest oceans. 

Wearing special diving suits man has invaded the home of the shark, the swordfish and lower still the giant ray. 

In enormously strong steel chambers, he has penetrated even farther into the bark depths.  But beyond in the inky blackness undisturbed for centuries who know what form of life may exist.  Perhaps strange creatures like THE JELLY MEN?”

So I now know what happened to them but as yet not their fate.

But here the kind archivist at D.C Thompson may take pity and trawl the old copies of the Beezer for the answer.

He was kind enough to help me get permission to use images of The Jelly Men and I rather think on a cold December day he might enjoy finding out for me.

That said the strip first appeared in 1960, ran to five series of which the fourth in 1985 was a reprint.*

Location; Britain in 1960

Pictures; The Jelly Men, 1960, courtesy of DC Thomson & Co Ltd"

* List of Beezer comic strips, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Beezer_comic_strips

Horses at Nell Lane

Here is another one of those occasional posts looking at how horses pulled the way across the township.

It's a picture I have posted before but I think is well worth looking at again.

It is of the pond by the Brook close to the entrance of Chorlton High School.

Now I can’t be certain but I would think the horses belonged to the farm at Hough End Hall which was just to our left beyond the bridge.

The year must be sometime around 1903 and reminds us that horses were still an integral way of work in the township.

Location; St Werburgh's Road

Picture; from the Lloyd collection, date unknown

Gambling on the popularity of a German Christmas card in the December of 1912

Now had I been a shop keeper in the run up to the Christmas of 1912 I might well have bought in to a few sets of Tuck and Sons “A Winter Campaign.”

The series showed a group of snowman in slightly different poses riding wooden horses.

The artist was Wally Fialkowska who was Austrian and the cards were produced in Bavaria and so naturally enough the snowman are wearing German military caps.

They seem to have proved popular with Mr Bernard Butler   who sent one to Madam J. Wetter at 67 Grafton Street, Fitzroy Square on December 24th wishing “you all a happy Xmas and a prosperous New Year.”

And also to “MRR” who on the back of another told Miss Halliday of Bridge Street, Banbridge, Co Down that the canary “was making such a row we had to banish him from the dining room and still he sings.”

Of course two years later and any that were still in stock would quietly have been thrown on the back of the fire, unless our shop keeper was optimistic enough to gamble on the war being “over by Christmas.”









Pictures; from “A WINTER CAMPAIGN” from the series, “A WINTER CAMPAIGN” 1912, marketed by Tuck and Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdb.org/

Suggestions for a Christmas present and an outrageous piece of self promotion ........ nu 10 nothing to do in chorlton five times

And so if you have been following our new series of nothing to do in chorlton, you will know we have published five books on the theme.

But just in case your friends don't ... here are all three.

The books costs £5, is available from  www.pubbooks.co.uk and also Chorlton Bookshop.

It is small enough to slip into your pocket or bag as you travel from location to location, and equally important for anyone looking for a special present will easily fit into a Christmas stocking.