When history is just a series of adventures

Now I do take history seriously, both in the research and in the writing but as someone once said “always have a bit of fun everyday”

Sir Robert Peel and friends, 2016

And today in the company of Peter Topping I am off on some historical adventures, collecting the pictures to support  our new tram book.

This will be the fourth in the series, The History of Greater Manchester By Tram.  It is a unique, perhaps quirky way to tell the history of Greater Manchester by using all 99 stops on the eight routes of the tram network.*

The Milk Maid, 1906

I write about the history of each of the stops and the surrounding area, and Peter produces a collection of original paintings of significant places and buildings.

And together they make up a history or the region.

So today we are off to Piccadilly Gardens, the Railway Station and New Islington, pausing to make the pictures which fit the stories.

They include the memorials, the old BBC building, with a look at the new Mayfield Gardens and that nightmare for motorists which is Stoney Brew.

We will even take the train from the Railway Station to the first stop on any of the lines, just to come back and check just how much the skyline behind Piccadilly has changed since I regularly made the journey half a century ago. 

And for those in the know I want to find the exact location of the Milk Maid on Parker Street while Peter wants to stand where students once painted a trail of footsteps from Queen Victoria’s statute to the site of the public lavatories..

So silly adventures in a good cause.

The books are available at £4.99 from Chorlton Bookshop, the shop at Central Ref, St Peter's Square, or from us at  www.pubbooks.co.uk

Location; Piccadilly Gardens, the Railway Station and New Islington

Pictures; Sir Robert Peel and friends, Piccadilly, 2016, and The Milk Maid, from a 1906 picture postcard from Tuck and Son, courtesy of Tuckdb, http://tuckdb.org/about 

*A new book on the History Of Greater Manchester By Tram, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20the%20History%20of%20Greater%20Manchester%20by%20Tram