Lawrence Beedle ... my friend

 I have been thinking of my friend Lawrence who died recently, and as you do I have been reflecting on over 40 years of friendship.

Lawrence

We shared an interest in history and particularly the Labour Party and the Co-op movement which for Lawrence translated into a deep knowledge which was a product of years of research.

Co-op Spring fashions, 1939

I always remember the time he compiled a complete collection of local election results for Chorlton stretching back to 1904 which also included all the MPs elected for our bit of south Manchester charting the complicated journey of boundary changes. 

Nor was it just the obscure.  

His knowledge and understanding of Co-op history was so detailed he could talk with authority on the founding of Co-operation in Manchester, the advance of the Manchester and Salford Equitable Co-op Society not to be confused with Marks and Spencer’s which carried the same initials on their shop fronts.  

And Lawrence could offer up the dates for the opening of the stores and exactly which Co-op store was best for buying furniture. 

Lawrence recounting when the Co-op went Self service, undated

Equally Lawrence was his blog on just one Co-op store … the one on Hardy Lane.   *

The blog ranged over all sorts of history from food to retail stamps, old 78 gramophone records and the story of Sanatogen that “Tonic and Restorative Wine”.

As he once said “before Lucozade there was Sanatogen”.

Now that blog is still live and is well worth a visit.

And all of this was done with joy as if the discovery and retelling was the fun.

And the fun also came in testing the past like the time he announced he was going to recreate some now forgotten war time dishes using the same rationed ingredients.

Orange curd, 1940

He started with the National Loaf from 1941 and accompanied it with Woolton Pie which consisted of diced cooked potatoes, cauliflower, carrots and turnips to which were added rolled oats chopped spring onions and vegetable stock which formed the gravy.  

Both the loaf and the pie were met with derision and even hostility during the war and so Lawrence just wanted to taste them himself and see what the fuss was all about.

I brought to the table a bowl of orange curd made from a 1940 recipe.  

We sat back and reflected that as vegetarians all three dishes were pretty dammed good, and the project was the perfect example of reenacting history.

And along the way we had touched a bit of the past even if it was a tad silly.

That silliness could also be the academic challenge, like the day he found a card of fuse wire, and challenged me to turn it into a history story, commenting,  “We’ve all got things at the back of a drawer. This must be 40 or 50 years old. Fuse wire in three different amperages. When did you last use fuse wire?

Winfield was the brand name for own label goods from Woolworths”. 

The Lawrence fuse wire challege

Of course there was so much more to him, from his days with Rabid Records, his fascination with the possibilities of the early internet, his contribution to the Unicorn Food Co-op, along with his impish sense of humour, his rabbit hole interests and much more.

So there you have it, my friend Lawrence.

Pictures; Lawrence, courtesy of Kathy his wife, and other images drawn from his blog, Hardy Lane Scrapbook

*Hardy Lane Scrapbook, https://hardylane.blogspot.com/