Lost in memories in Albert Square …..

How easy it is to find and post images of Manchester before now.

But how much better to post an image you took and share it along with the memories of the place at the time.

We are in Albert Square when public lavatories were still a feature of the main island sandwiched between the statues of the great and the good and parking meters ringed this public space.

I think it is 1979 but could be any year up to 1984.  

A clue might well be the construction work on the western side of the square which now houses offices and a restaurant.

Over the years I have sat in the colonnaded space looking out at Prince Albert and the Town Hall beyond and pondered on just when the Victorian urinals vanished under a previous makeover of the Square.

They were not remarkable but were still fine examples of Municipal provision and a century or so after they were laid out as part of the memorial to Prince Albert I remember using them, marvelling at the mix of tiles and polished metal.

Location; Albert Square

Picture; Albert Square, 1979, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Chorlton Row, a road half as old as time

You have to get up early to see Beech Road at its best, preferably on a spring or summer morning when there is no traffic on the road.

 Only then can you can get a real sense of how it twists and turns following long forgotten obstacles like the old beech tree which stood for most of the 19th century almost opposite Reeves Road and the field boundaries which cut into the road.

For me the best vantage point is at the corner of Wilton Road by the railings of the Rec. Look up towards Barlow Moor Road and its twists and turns more than once, while its lazy route down to the green is even more pronounced.

I guess it will be almost as old as time, linking Barlow Moor Road with the village green and in probability was there before the Tudor buildings which include the Horse & Jockey. Various dates have been suggested for the block but its position beside the road as it turns onto the green would suggest that it post dates the road.

Picture; detail from the 1854 OS by kind permission of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

Memories of that other Thames ……

 I don’t know if cargo ships still berth along my bit of the River at Greenwich.

But someone will know, and I hope will tell me.

I left London in 1969 and while I still came home for holidays my visits to this bit of where I grew up became less and less.

But back in the late 1970s I did wander the water with a camera and recorded what I saw.

To some they will be dismal, and grimy but they were my part of London.

What strikes me about the berthed ship is how deep the inside compared to the men.

It’s a silly observation given that the hold had to store heaps of things, but it reminds me of just how different the Thames at Greenwich was five decades ago.

The image is one that sat as a collection of negatives in our cellar for 40 odd years, and only recently has come out of the shadows as I digitalize those pictures.

And Peter from Greenwich added "Good evening Andrew, I always enjoy your pictures of the grimy industrial part of my hometown. 

The coaster on the mud at Lovells was one of the first of a type designed with elevating wheelhouses and masts ets to work upstream on the Rhine and other European rivers. The depth of the hold would have probably been around 4 metres".

Location; The River Thames

Pictures; waiting to load, the Thames, 1979, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

  

Adventures along the River ............

Not all adventures happen when you are ten.

It was the August of 1979 and I was home for a holiday and armed with a new camera I took myself off down by the river.

I was curious to see how things had changed from when I worked at a food factory hard by the tunnel.

Back then our favourite end of work routine was to walk into the Cutty Sark at lunchtime with our overalls stilled caked in milk powder and rub shoulders with the posh young things who had popped over the water to sample south east London pubs.

With hindsight I am the first to admit it was childish and irresponsible but when you are 19 you view things differently.

I can remember thinking that nothing much had changed in the decade I had been away.

The river was still a working river, warehouses still lined the water and during the day the place was filled by the noise of men at work.

And in the evening, sitting outside the Cutty Sark there was that occasional dull thud as the moored barges banged gently together on the swell caused by a late night pleasure boat.

I haven’t been back in thirty years but looking at pictures posted by friends of the same places, it seems the transformation is so dramatic and complete that I would feel lost.

At which point I have to stress, that this is no nostalgic rant at what we have lost.  The Thames could be a smelly and dangerous place, where those who worked it were often labouring for long hours, for low pay, and going home to substandard houses whose sell by date was well out.

But as a ten year old from Peckham soon to move to Eltham this was the backdrop to my life.

We never lived far from the river and despite its busy working existence we played on the mud when the tide was out, looking for treasure, but usually finding nothing more than sodden lumps of timber and the odd dead fish.

We took to the foot tunnels and travelled the ferry, explored that other place north of the River and on occasion just sat watching as ships, tugs and the odd upper class sailing boat passed us by.

Along with all of that, there was the smell, which was a mix of ozone, and ships fuel and rotting seaweed.

But being out of Peckham, you were also mindful that the stretch from Woolwich to Greenwich was not your stretch and there was every possibility that you would be challenged by other kids or told to “bugger off” by someone making his living from our playground.

And then I was eighteen and standing at the bus stop opposite the ferry, behind the cinema, waiting for a bus to work at six in the morning, idly watching the river, and catching the odd sharp gust of wind whipping off the water.

As adventures go it didn’t match those from my childhood or the ones I was to recreate in the ‘70s but there was still a bit of magic about it.

Location; the River across three decades

Pictures; walking the Thames, 1979, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Catching the 81X from Barlow Moor Road in the summer of 1961

At the bus terminus, July 1961

We are at the bus station on Barlow Moor Road in the summer of 1961, and in front of us is the 81X which ran from Southern Cemetery to Hightown via Albert Square.

Now I can be fairly certain of that because beside me I have the Corporation Maps of Manchester and District for 1963.

With the 81X

Of course there is just the outside possibility that the route of the 81 had changed during the time the picture was taken and the map with its bus routes was published.

And I have no doubt that someone will point out that the 81X had a slightly different route to the 81 but until then I shall continue to assume that our bus followed the 1963 route travelling along Barlow Moor Road, Manchester Road and Upper Chorlton Road into town.

At which point I might just be accused of being a little obsessed by a Manchester bus in the 1960s.

But not so for the picture and the bus map offer up a rich source of history.

It starts with the bus livery which is the red of Manchester Corporation and is a reminder that back then both the cities of Manchester and Salford and the surrounding local authorities ran their own public transport services.

Bus routes through Chorlton in 1963

So on reaching town our passengers could be confronted with the blue and cream buses of Ashton-under-Lyne, the green of Salford, and the green of the Stalybridge, Hyde, Mossley and Dukinfield Joint Transport and Electricity Board along with the maroon and cream colours of Oldham.

What is more these different Corporation buses ran along the same roads and for some way at least shared similar routes.

And like that bus timetable there is much history in the picture.

A lost scene

Those telephone kiosks may have lingered on into the end of the century but most have now gone as have the old style bus sign with its Manchester logo.

That said the small police station has yet to be built and there is a clear view across to the houses on Beech Road which in turn points to the absence of those first two houses on the even side of Beech Road.

So not perhaps a story that encompasses the great dramatic sweep of history but one that lots of people will relate to, and that is good enough for me.

And within a few hours of posting the story, Steven commented

" Lovely! The X usually suggests a shorter route than normal.

 In 1960 the 81 only ran to Albert Square so the extension beyond must have been quite recent. I suspect the bus terminating at Hightown is the reason for the X as the whole route went to Crumpsall Green."

And a late correction to the story Annette Roberts has written in that "the police station was there when I lived in Claude Road from the 1950s. 

My dad was a police constable based for a while at the station and the first few houses on Beech Road behind the station were police houses. 

I used to play with the children who lived there. The station had an air raid siren on the roof which they used to test once in a while. 

Think the picture is N awkward angle as the station would definitely be there in 1961 as I used to go there."

So another piece of collective history.  I just love it.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester

Pictures; Chorlton-cum-Hardy bus terminus, 1961 from the collection of Sally Dervan  and Maps of Manchester and District, Manchester Corporation, 1963, courtesy of David O’Reilly 


*Manchester Buses, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Manchester%20Buses

Snapshots …………. 1841 the class divide measured by horses

Now, I am never surprised at how easy it is to get sidetracked during a piece of research.

And so today, while crawling over back copies of the Manchester Guardian, for the 1850s, I fell across “Horses, Carriages, Hackney Coaches and Omnibuses in Manchester”. *

Not perhaps the most riveting of titles as a subject to over excite the breakfast conversation, but it revealed some fascinating detail of how we lived.

In particular, this table, which “exhibits the number of horses in private use for riding, & the number of draught horses, within each township of the borough”.

At first glance it might appear trivial but as the article points out, “How distinctly the suburbs preferred for the dwellings of the wealthier classes are marked out in this table, by the preponderance in the number of private riding and carriage horses over those for draught.

The townships thus distinguished are, Broughton, Burnage, Cheetham, Chorlton-Upon -Medlock, Crumpsall, and Rusholme.  In the other seven townships, the draught horses or those used for business, predominate over those used for personal locomotion.” 

Of course, it may not be a startling observation, for those well versed in the growth of the twin cities, but it fascinated me.

Location; Manchester and Salford

Picture; from the Manchester Guardian, 1850

* Horses, Carriages, Hackney Coaches and Omnibuses in Manchester, Manchester Guardian, February 23rd, 1850

Bits of history I like ..... Sailing By ...... Soul Music .... on the wireless today

I wonder how many non sailors listen to the Shipping Forecast which is broadcast just before 1 am every morning?

Arriving home, Corfu, 1984

It is preceded by 'Sailing By', that piece of music which I always associate with news of fog patches, and wind  and rain, from places like Shannon, Rocklall, Bailey, Tyne, Dogger and Fisher.

And today BBC Radio 4's Soul Music programmes explores the music with a a mixed bag fans.

"Written in 1963, 'Sailing By' by Ronald Binge was chosen by the BBC as the musical interlude to be played every night before the Shipping Forecast. 

These are the stories of some of the people for whom this piece has a powerful emotional connection.

After Cyrilene Tollafield's parents left Barbados for the UK, Cyrilene heard 'Sailing By' whilst cuddling up to her grandmother and her cousins during hurricane warnings. 

Writer Henrietta McKervey spent a night in Fastnet lighthouse and listened to 'Sailing By' as she drifted off to sleep. Having spent years of his life out at sea, Captain Harry McClenahan marvels at how the piece mirrors the rises and falls of the sea. 

Chris Binge would interrupt his dad whilst he was composing at the piano in his music room, the air thick with cigarette smoke, and says whenever people find out who his father was it's 'Sailing By' that they know. Helen Harrison conducted the piece at a concert in Blackpool and at the piano she unpacks the musicality and orchestration of the piece. 

Cruising the River, 1979

The best part of Jane Heiserman's day is the hour in the evening when she and her adult son, who has autism and lives at home, study together. 'Sailing By' became a firm favourite of theirs when they were looking for music as part of a module on the Intertropical Convergence Zone. She says it brings a sense of calm to their day and serves as confirmation that everything is going to be alright.

With recordings of 'Sailing By' by The Perry/Gardner Orchestra, Helen Harrison, Dave Spooner (Ronald Binge's Grandson) and Baked A La Ska.

Producers: Maggie Ayre and Toby Field

Technical Producer: Ilse Lademann

Editor: Emma Harding

Soul Music is a BBC Audio Bristol production for BBC Radio 4".*

Location BBC Radio 4

Picture; arriving home, Corfu, 1984, and Cruising the River, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Soul Music, BBC Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0026999

Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester nu 92 ...... Cannon Court

Cannon Court has tidied its act up  a lot since I first stumbled across it in 1969, soon after I arrived in Manchester.

1967

I remember it as one of those places which  was a bit shabby, rather neglected, and not much of an advert for the city.

Of course now I rather wish it was still like that given than many of the other interesting alleys, courts and narrow streets have been swept away.

The last time I was down there it was clean, tidy and less interesting than I remembered it.

But perhaps I am being a little picky and unreasonable given that visitors to the Cathedral, might just not want to pick their way past old boxes, overflowing dustbins and crates of empty bottles.

So I shall leave it you to judge, using an image of Cannon Court, pretty much as I left it in the 1960s, and today, all bright and pristine.

2017

Circa 1900

So far so good ........... and now for the correction, because I never clocked the name of the alley back in 1969, and when I revisited it this week one map called it Hanging Ditch, so I followed suit.

Only to be corrected by two people who pointed out that historically this was Cannon Court, and there on my own copy of Goads Fire Insurance was indeed the name Cannon Court.
So thank you for the two who were more vigilant than I.


Location; Cannon Court

Pictures;  Cannon Court, 1967, "Courtesy of Manchester Archives+ Town Hall Photographers' Collection", https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/albums/72157684413651581?fbclid=IwAR0t6qAJ0-XOmfUDDqk9DJlgkcNbMlxN38CZUlHeYY4Uc45EsSMmy9C1YCk and in 2017 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Hanging Ditch and Cannon Court, circa 1900, from Goads Fire Insurance map, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

So just who owned Chorlton’s Conservative Club in 1891?

Now this is not an arcane question but gets to the very heart of who lived in Chorlton, and what their political affiliations were in the February of 1891 and by extension what our township was like at the end of the 19th century.

The Con Club, 2013

And of course, at the outset I have to say that the history of political clubs over the years, is that many members join because of the social attractions rather than the political outlook of the club.

It is true of Labour clubs as it is of Conservative ones, and no doubt also of the old Liberal clubs.

That said I am intrigued by those who took a risk and subscribed in the new Conservative Club which opened in Chorlton in 1892.

The share book opened on February 20th, 1891 and between that date and November 7th of the same year, 118 signed on the dotted line handing over a minimum of £1, with some putting down a lot more.

So far, I have only analyzed the first 50 and they are an interesting cross section.

As you would expect there were a few individuals who bought between £100 and £250 in one purchase, while sliding down the scale there were quite a few buying just one share.  Of those that splashed out, one was the MP, John William McLaren of Whalley Range, another was a merchant and another two described themselves as engineers.

The first 50 subscribers, 1891

At the other end over a third bought shares worth between £10 down to £1, and as you would expect their occupations were also more modest, with a collection of clerks, shop keepers and craftsmen.

The most interesting was Miss Mary Jane Weeks who bought two shares in the February and made her living from working as a domestic servant for a family living on Chequers Road.

I suspect some saw it as a solid enough investment, but it was one which Miss Weeks and a few others tired of very quickly, with a handful ceasing to be members within a year.  In the case of Mary Jane, she lasted just seven years.

The Con Club, 1908

Others stayed the course, bought into more shares,  and continued as members long after they had left the area, and were only parted from their membership by death.

So the task will be to finish collecting the data on all 118, with a side look at those who joined in the following decade, and then matching them against the other official records of Chorlton, from census returns, to directories and electoral rolls.

All of which lead to a better understanding of who our residents were and why so many chose to take a punt with a a share in the Conservative Club and Public hall.

Well that's the plan.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Pictures; The Conservative Club, 1908, from the Lloyd Collection,  and in 2013 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Register of Members Chorlton-cum-Hardy Conservative Club Limited 1892-96

Walking Woolwich and Eltham in 1948 … no 3

Now I back with my copy of the Official Guide to Woolwich which was published by the council.

It includes Eltham and Plumstead, and was the “Fifth Edition”.

I have no idea when it was issued but looking at the images and some of the listings we must be sometime between 1948 and the early years of the next decade.

And today's offering come from the drive for better and affordable housing for all.

So that is it, and I shall continue till I run out of pictures.

Location; The Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich, circa 1948

Pictures; Woolwich and Mottingham from The Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich, circa 1948

Goodbye Hotspur Press …….

I think you would have had to be asleep all week to have missed the news of the fire and destruction of the Hotspur Mill on Cambridge Street.*

The event has stirred the pot with stories about how it was one of our first cotton mills, dating from the start of the nineteenth century with the suggestion that bits dated back to the 1790s.**

Its chequered career since then is the stuff of historical drama with lots of topical discussions about its future, from its time as a printing press, to offices and latterly a residential development.

Over the years I have taken my share of pictures and have marvelled at how other photographers have managed much better than me to get the angle and juxtaposition of the building set against others just right.

And here are six from my old chum Andy Robertson who wandered down soon after the fire was put out and captured these images.

Andy has amassed a huge portfolio of pictures of both the twin cities and the areas beyond and specializes in recording buildings which are at risk and follows them as they fall into disrepair and are demolished.  And then returns to photograph the redevelopment, from the builders breaking the ground to the rise of new properties and their final completion.

He has been doing this since the 1980s and has contributed to the blog for over eleven years and in the process has created a unique collection of pictures of historic Manchester and its regeneration.

And that is it, other than to say the six I have chosen are my favourites and capture the former mill just days after that fire.

Leaving me just to add that I am sure the Hotspur Press printed what remains the best set of comics in the 1950s, from the Eagle to Girl, Swift and Robin which will always make the building special to me.

Location; Cambridge Street

Pictures; the Hotspur Press building, 2025, from the collection of Andy Robertson and The Red Moon Mystery, Eagle, Vol 2 No. 40 January 11th 1952, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*"Truly heartbreaking": Hotspur Press developers break silence after 'horrific fire' destroys mill, Holt, James, Senior Live and Breaking News Reporter, Davies, Ethan, Local Democracy Reporter, June 25th, 2025,  https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/truly-heartbreaking-hotspur-press-developers-31934909 

**Hotspur House – Cambridge Street, Manchester View, https://manchesterhistory.net/manchester/tours/tour8/area8page12.html

The Red Moon Mystery, Eagle, Vol 2 No. 40 January 11th 1952

English Olive Oil .....The Food Programme ...... on the wireless .... today

I belong to that generation whose first experience of olive oil came from a small bottle bought at the chemist and used to moisten a nit comb used to search for the dreaded "things" alive in my hair.  

That said a friend confided that her mother used it as sun tan lotion.

Either way olive oil was not something to be spread on salads or as part of cooking in our house.

I came late to this wonder green/amber oil and embraced it with the enthusiasm a drowning man grabs a lump of wood in storm tossed sea.

All of which is an introduction to English Olive Oil, The Food Programme, BBC Radio 4 today.*

"With the price of olive oil soaring in the shops after drought disrupted production in Spain, Leyla Kazim looks into the English farms planting olive groves in the hope of bottling their own oil. 

She meets a farmer in Essex who explains that English growing conditions are more suitable than you might think and discovers a producer in Cornwall who has already started pressing his own extra virgin olive oil. So will olive oil from Essex or Cornwall become the new English sparkling wine?

Dan Saladino reports from Sicily where hotter conditions due to climate change are presenting new challenges for growers. 

Food historian Dr Annie Gray debunks some of the myths around olive oil consumption in England and Leyla learns the correct way to approach an oil-tasting from one of the country’s biggest suppliers.

Produced by Robin Markwell for BBC Audio in Bristol".

Location; BBC Radio 4

Picture; One from Italy, 2024, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*English Olive Oil, The Food Programme, BBC Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002f00z

Posters from the Past ........... no 17 ......... Woolwich .......Walking The River

Now the project is simple, take an image of a building we all love and turn it into the style of poster which was popular in the middle decades of the last century.*

And because so many of us have fond memories of the foot tunnels under the Thames, here is our take on how Woolwich Borough Council might have marketed the trip.

Location;Woolwich

Painting; Woolwich Foot Tunnel, © 2018 Peter Topping,  Paintings from Pictures, from a photograph by Neil Simpson, 2016

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk 

*Posters from the Past, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Posters%20from%20the%20Past

A map, dance lessons in the Con Club and a mystery

Now here is one of those fascinating little bits of history which like so many is the result of nothing more dramatic than turning out a cupboard drawer.

It is a map of Chorlton drawn on linen and takes us back to dance lessons in the late 50s and a friendship.

And because my friend Ann found the map I will let her tell the story

“I was putting something away in a drawer, and came across this map.

When I was 13, I used to go for dance lessons at 'Rogers and Lamont', who used to be in the room above the Conservative Club, on Wilbraham Road. 

I met a boy there, who used to walk me home. He was 16, and worked at a printers in Manchester, and to show me where he worked, he drew me this map on linen.

That was 60 years ago. I wonder if he is still alive?  I'd love to be able to tell him I've still got his map.”

I hope he is too and during the evening I shall go looking for him.

It may lead nowhere but I will enjoy the search.

And of course for anyone with a keen interest in the bus routes of 1956 David was helpful enough to add these to the map.

The 94 and 82 were still running when I washed up here in 1976 and I often took the 82 in the 80s all the way up to Oldham to visit my friend Lois, while the 94 whisked you down Manchester Road along Seymour Grove and off into town via I think Deansgate.

I do have a 1961 bus timetable and map so I shall go and look at that, but I am pretty sure that before the night draws in someone will have been in touch with the routes and times.

And I rather hope this will stir the post and we get some memories of Rogers and Lamont, dance lessons and maybe even David.

Location; Chorlton

Picture; hand drawn map of Chorlton, circa 1956 by David Jones from the collection of Ann Love

Did I miss something? ……………when Manchester Regional Opera went looking for a new home in a railway station

Now, we are talking about a moment in 1971, and to be fair I was not back then into opera, so I suppose it was easy to miss the discussions which were centered around using the disused Central Railway Station as a home for a regional opera house at a cost of several million pounds”.*

Well, that was how I read it, but on a more careful reread, the plan was to clear the station buildings and use the site.

This was an alternative for one “in the Princess Street and Portland Street area", which was less desirable because of the “high cost of the land” and “pressure from developers”.

The bigger questions of a regional opera house had been rumbling on since 1965 when the Arts Council floated the idea of Manchester as a site for one the three regional opera houses, and gained ground with the proposals for local government reform which set the city at the heart of a new county council.

But the stumbling block remained the simple one of whether there would be sufficient public footfall for such a venture, and what extent the other city and borough councils would support it.

This replicated an earlier concern that a partnership of Manchester City Council and the Arts Council might not be enough to secure the financial viability of the project.

All of which led the Guardian in 1970  to reflect the “some of the steam has gone out of Manchester’s great advance in the arts … [in contrast to] the sixties when so much enthusiasm was generated for arts projects  that the city began to seem like the birth place of a new Renaissance”.**

All of which seemed very different just a few years earlier, when there were proposals for “a £5 million art centre, including an opera house, theatre and film centre”.

And when the city planners, envisaged that a new opera house and theatre along with the retention of the traditional Oxford Road entertainment area, at the expense of the old warehouses and offices.

Most ambitious of all was the scheme for a “continuous high-level pedestrian way from Central station, which is being considered as a city exhibition hall – across Oxford Road, through the entertainment area, across Princes Street and past the art gallery into the cultural area, eventually connecting with Piccadilly Plaza and through Piccadilly Gardens”.***

 Location; Manchester

Picture; Central Railway Station, 1978, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Disused station maybe arts site, Michael Morris, Guardian, February 1st, 1971

**Manchester without a Messiah, Denis Johnson, the Guardian, February 4th, 1970

Dragons .....on the wireless today

BBC Radio 4's In Our Time never disappoints and today I am listening to an exploration of Dragons.*

So here is one I will be listening to later today because later today the broadcast gets some added bits.

"Melvyn Bragg and guests explore dragons, literally and symbolically potent creatures that have appeared in many different guises in countries and cultures around the world.

Sometimes compared to snakes, alligators, lions and even dinosaurs, dragons have appeared on clay tablets in ancient Mesopotamia, in the Chinese zodiac, in the guise of the devil in Christian religious texts and in the national symbolism of the countries of England and Wales.

They are often portrayed as terrifying but sometimes appear as sacred and even benign creatures, and they continue to populate our cultural fantasies through blockbuster films, TV series and children’s books.

With: Kelsey Granger, Post Doctoral Researcher in Chinese History at the University of Edinburgh, Daniel Ogden, Professor of Ancient History at the University of Exeter and Juliette Wood, Associate Lecturer in the School of Welsh at the University of Wales.

Producer: Eliane Glaser"

Location; BBC Radio 4

Picture; Doris the Dragon or Doris the Dinosaur, 2020, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Dragons, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002dzy4

“Don’t put your daughter on the stage” …… seven years of the Chorlton Repertory Club ... part 1

The Chorlton Repertory Theatre Club is one of those half-remembered stories. 

Enjoying the theatre programme for January 15th-20th, 1951

It was where some of our well-known actors and comedians first strutted the boards including Avis Bunnage, Joan Sims, Harry Corbett and Ronnie Barker and over the years was at home in both the Lloyds Hotel and the former Conservative Cub

Cast of All The Year Round, April 7th, 1951

And here I am indebted to Ida Bradshaw who first told me of its existence, offered up a short history of the club and preserved fifteen theatre programmes from 1951-52.

She told me the “club was established in 1946and although it had no theatre of its own, offered up a weekly repertory performed by a professional company.  Initially it used a large room connected to the Lloyd’s Hotel and then moved to Chorlton Conservative Club.

It was the brainchild of two actors.  James Lovell and Arthur Spreckley.  The club played to full houses in Chorlton.  However, problems pre-empted by the sacking of Lovell began to mount and by 1951 the club was making a loss.  Membership was dissolved and blame was laid at the door of television and bad weather.  But Alan Bendle observed that ‘of the 1952 performances, perhaps only six of the 52 were successful’

A professional producer was employed in 1953 who immediately gave the company notice.

In 1954 the Chorlton Theatre Club became home to Piccola Theatre Company, which brought to Manchester  a group of young actors, designers and directors, many of whom were to leave their mark on the world of theatre.

For two seasons productions included The Women Have their way [ Frank Dunlop] and Maria Marten in the Red Barn [Richard Negri] provided an early opportunity to assess the talents of individuals who were to become more familiar to Manchester audiences”.

Drama off stage, February, 1949

And there is much more.  

The Manchester Guardian carries 131 references to both theatre companies, and it makes for fascinating reading because amongst the reviews of performances, there is the starling announcement that the club committee had “terminated the contract of the manager producer …. Mr. James Lovell”.

And if that wasn’t enough of a dramatic turn worthy of its own drama productions, just a month later  “the management committee …. was yesterday voted out of office at a special general meeting it had called to secure a vote of confidence” to rebut a call by 283 members of mount an investigation of the said committee..**

A thank you, October 29th, 1951

Now I have to say it all sounds very exciting with “some seven hundred people attending the meeting at the Princess Ballroom, Chorlton-cum-Hardy”, the revelation of huge financial losses and the possibility that the “spring programme ‘would lead to insolvency in four to six weeks’”

All of which was compounded by accusations that committee was pursuing a vindicative policy.

And with tensions mounting the Committee declared “that there was another booking of the hall and the members had to clear the furniture before leaving” , a challenge met by shouts of no confidence in the committee, a demand for a vote to replace it with a new one.

All of which I didn’t know when I began leafing through the 14 programmes, looking for references to local companies who provided props, smiling at the problems of fuel shortages and impressed by the planned  theatre improvements.

Introducing a viper, July 16, 1951

And along with various Christmas socials and fund raising activities there was the raffle for a “Beautiful Television, which may just have been a viper introduced by the club with its promise of varied entertainment in front of the fire with no recourse to a trip out on wet cold night.

A play a week, October 29th, 1951

There is so much more, but sadly I fear the Club has all but moved  out of living memory.

But if the grownups are now in short supply there may be a few of their children who went along to performances of “Christmas in the Market Place” which promised to be “A most delightful and happy Yuletide play for young and old” which were to run from Boxing Day 1952 through to January 3rd 1953.

So there is much still to do.  

Starting with the stalwart cast listed in each of the programmes, looking through all 131 references in the Manchester Guardian along with more from other Manchester papers, and finally tracking down a scrap book and perhaps the records of the club.

And as a start I know that Jean Parry the star of  All The Year Round in 1951 came from Salford was born in 1925 and died in 2005, and I have three pictures of her cast member Jean Ryder from 19159.

It's a start.

Theatre Comfort, October 29th, 1951

Location Chorlton

Pictures; selection of theatre programmes of the Chorlton Repertory Club, 1952- 1953, from the Ida Bradshaw Archive and extracts from the Manchester Guardian, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*Chorlton Repertory Dispute, Manchester Guardian, February 8th, 1949

**New Repertory Committee A Chorlton Vote, Manchester Guardian March 1949

Woolwich ……. “a place for sight-seekers to glory in” …. Mr. Bradshaw visits

Now I am back with my copy of Bradshaw’s Illustrated Hand Book to London and Its Environs, which was published in 1861.

Mr. Bradshaw will be familiar to many as the man who produced the series of railway timetables and guides which have accompanied Michael Portillo in his delightful Great Railway Journeys.

But he was more than this, and was also a prodigious cartographer and publisher, whose work included an excellent  guide to our canal network.

Sadly, while touring Norway in 1853 he contracted cholera and died in September of that year without returning to England.

All of which means that technically Bradshaw’s Illustrated Hand Book to London and Its Environs was not Mr. Bradshaw’s, but no matter.

Had I bought my copy in 1861 I might have been intrigued at the promise of Woolwich which from the River offered “long lines of walls, closely pressed tide gates, with the bows of many a noble vessel towering proudly over them from their docks, like sea monsters on their thrones, looking down in scorn on the river waves; the high heaps of timber , with the huge coiled cables, the church tower in the background, the heavy lighters crowded along the shore, and the light racking craft with pennants streaming in the wind …….”

And having waxed lyrical and at much length about the view from the Thames, the guide goes on to reference, The Rotunda, Cannon Foundry, Arsenal and Barracks, before concluding with “the  bankside tavern , halfway between London and Gravesend is a conspicuous object on the Kent coast”.

I have yet to work out which tavern this was, and a second and more extensive entry a few pages on is equally silent as to the name of the place.

That said the second entry deals in more detail with The Rotunda, Cannon Foundry, Arsenal and Barracks, and is well worth a read.

But having started out with such praise for our Woolwich the guide slides away from compliments,  concluding “Though within a short period nearly 2,000 additional houses have been built, the town presents few inducements for a prolonged visit, and has no feature of interest in itself what ever.

The old church looks better at a distance and there are few monuments in the churchyard bearing names familiar  to the eye and ear”.   

And so, having started by describing how Woolwich can be reached by water or by road via Charlton and Shooter’s Hill, it closes with offering “four speedy modes of transit back to town”, which involve various different steamers and trains, leaving the excursionist to consult his own convience for preference of choice”.

Adding that a series of facts which all travellers would want to know, starting with “the Woolwich station, eight miles and twenty-one chains from London is in the close vicinity of the Barracks; the two tunnels between Woolwich and Charlton are respectively, 120 and 100 yards in extent; and the Blackheath tunnel near the Mordern College, is 1,681 yards long”.

Location; Woolwich

Pictures; The Thames and Woolwich Reach, 1885, Interior of the Rotunda, 1915, St Mary’s Parish Church, 1915, courtesy of Kristina Bedford, author of Woolwich Through Time, 2014

* Bradshaw’s Illustrated Hand Book to London and Its Environs, 1861

Picking a municipal bus company and travelling across the city in 1963

Cover of Maps of Manchester & District, 1963

Now I am looking at a copy of the 1963 Manchester bus routes which my friend David has passed on to me.

Like me he was one of those that never went to a grammar school and recalled that

“I went to St Gregory's Technical High School in Ardwick Green from 1960-1967.

And because it was over 3 miles from Chorlton I was awarded a free bus pass...Joy of Joys, and could travel freely anywhere I liked in school hours for free.

Not that I did - but it did allow me to experiment with the various routes to Ardwick Green from the stop near Chorlton Baths.

I finally ended up using the fastest way - the 81 or 82 to Brooks Bar, and then the 53,  a great route known as the 'banana' service because " they came in bunches"  and from Greenheys the 123 to Ardwick Green.”

Now all of this reminded me that even the humble guide to the City’s bus routes comes with a story and opens up a fascinating glimpse into that not so distant past.

Back then according to another friend there were bus loads of students crisscrossing the city.

And like David many were in receipt of a free bus pass.  I too briefly had access to the same although in my case it was a season ticket for the train to travel from Well Hall to New Cross and back again.

Of course the sting in the tail was that they could only be used in term time and during school hours which rather limited the opportunity to boldly go and explore to the outer limits of the Corporation’s bus routes.

Detail of bus routes in and around Chorlton

But they were just another part of that welfare provision which some today frown upon.

Looking again at that bus guide is to follow long forgotten routes, and be reminded that the early 60s was still a time when a lot more people relied on public transport or did it themselves on a push bike.

The scenes outside all our big factories at clocking off time were characterised by people cycling home or waiting to catch one of the long line of buses parked up waiting for the evening rush.

And here there was a bewildering choice. Running through Chorlton there was the 80, 81, 82, 85,  and 94 along with the 41 and 43 all of which went into town.

Stevenson Square December 1966

There was also cross routes including the 16, 22, and 62 and it was possible to travel by bus into Chorltonville up to Rye Bank Road and out to Firswood.

The network also provided for more connections and all of this ran alongside a regular train service from Chorlton into Central Station or out to Didsbury, Stockport and the Derbyshire hills.

It was a complex system which involved not only Manchester Corporation buses, but also those of Salford, Oldham, Ashton, smaller local authorities, and the North West Bus and Car Company.

And so beside  the distinctive red livery of Manchester and the blue and cream of Ashton there was the green of Salford and the green of the Stalybridge, Hyde, Mossley and Dukinfield Joint Transport and Electricity Board along with the maroon and cream colours of Oldham.

Piccadilly with an Ashton-Under-Lyne trolley bus, 1960

For those of a certain disposition this was a wonderful cornucopia of municipal transport that made the car less essential and can only be dreamed of today and one that vanished at the end of the 1960s.

Ah I hear you say all of that is fine, but getting in a car at work and driving home with the radio to listen to is far superior than having to wait in the rain at the bus stop, fight for a seat and end up beside that rather boring chap from the end house whose sole topics of conversation revolve around pigeons and the poor performance of Huddersfield F.C.

All of which maybe so but I do miss the ease with which you could move around the city and so I shall revisit David’s 1963 bus route book and plan a few trips of my own, which may or may not have left me at ease in the company of that chap from the end house.

And that just leaves a correction and comment from, John Anthony Hewitt.

"Minor correction Andrew Simpson, the bus company mentioned was North Western Road Car Co., and they were based in Stockport. Other bus companies included LUT (Lancashire United Transport), Walkden and Ribble, Preston. Probably the longest bus route I rode departed from Victoria bus station in Salford, but was operated by MCTD, No.10, I think, to Liverpool via a zig-zag route crossing the East Lancs Road several times - Eccles, Worsley, Walkden, Newton-le-Willows, St Helens and a few other places long since forgotten. Like your friend David, I too had grown up in C-C-H and had a bus pass to St Greg's., 1956 - 1963, but my adventures in Greenheys were courtesy of trolley-bus 213 (later motor bus 123)".



Pictures; Maps of Manchester and District, Manchester Corporation, 1963, courtesy of David O’Reilly and Manchester Corporation trolley bus, Stevenson Square 1966,  © Alan Murray-Rust, geograph.org.uk Wikipedia Commons, Ashton-Under-Lyne Corporation trolley bus in Piccadilly, 1960,  from the collection of J.F.A.Hampson,  Museum of Transport, Wikipedia Commons