A book, and a thank you ......... Didsbury Through Time

Now for no other reason than I can, here is one of those smashing comments on a book I wrote.

The book, 2013

The book was the first I did in collaboration with local Manchester artist Peter Topping, and was commissioned by Amberley Publishing for their series "Through Time".

The format is a well travelled one, and consisted of taking 90 old and 90 new images of a place and writing a short comment focusing on "the changes over time".

Ours was Didsbury, and while Peter sourced the images from old picture postcards I wrote the text.

But nether of us wanted to follow the format exactly.

So Peter included some of his paintings of places in Didsbury which contrasted with older photographs of the same place.

And mindful that Didsbury has a well known and respected historian along with a series of historians who wrote accounts of the area in the 1960s and 1970s, I chose to write about the people in the pictures.  

In some cases these were those mentioned on the reverse of the cards, and others were people who lived behind the doors of the houses in the pictures.

It led to a sub title for many of our subsequent books which was simply "The Stories Behind The Doors".

The book proved very popular when it was published in 2013, and last week I got this message from John.

School Lane, circa 1900

"Dear Mr Simpson,

Having received a copy of your book from my son John, may I say a heartfelt 'Thank you' for a wonderful, memory evoking publication of Didsbury - as I write with tears in my eyes out of sheer gratitude and appreciation of your wonderful publication, you have helped an 80 year old woman in frail health be transported back to my childhood, your descriptions and dialogue are so splendid I feel

I am actually back in my beloved Didsbury and I smell those oh so familiar smells of the village and see the faces of  many shop keepers and personalities who lived around the area. 

Thank you once again, I am eternally grateful to you".

Leaving me just to add, that since the publication of Didsbury Through Time we have returned to the area and written Manchester Pubs The Stories Behind the Doors Didsbury and another on the places of worship in West Didsbury and Chorlton-cum-Hardy.**

Location; Didsbury

Pictures; cover of Didsbury Through Time, 2013, and School Lane circa 1900 from the book

*Didsbury Through Time, Peter Topping and Andrew Simpson, Amberley Publishing, 2013

**Manchester Pubs The Stories Behind the Doors Didsbury & Chorlton-cum-Hardy Churches, Chapels, Temples A Synagogue And A Mosque are available from us at http://www.pubbooks.co.uk/ 

When Didsbury got into a book on Chorlton ……….

Now when Peter told Eric, that the new book on the places of worship in Chorlton-cum-Hardy would include the Didsbury mosque and the synagogue on Queenston Road, he was quick to point out that both of us must have failed Geography GCSE.

Shaare Hayim Synagogue

Which was a bit unfair, given that we were are too old to have sat GCSE’s and anyway the Geography departments of our respective schools would have nothing to do with us.

The reason for their inclusion is the obvious one that there will be people in Chorlton who may attend either the mosque of the synagogue and that secured them a place in the book.

So with that sorted out, here for those not in the know, is a short description of the Shaare Hayim Synagogue with a promise that nest week I shall visit the mosque.

The synagogue dates from 1927 and is a Grade ll listed building.
Originally, it served the needs of the Withington Congregation of Spanish and Portuguese Jews, which had previously been located on Mauldeth Road in Withington and was formed in 1904.

In 1997 the congregation merged with the Sha’are Sedeck Synagogue which worshipped on Old Landsdown Road and was formed in 1924.

And the rest is in the book.

You can obtain your copy  from us at http://www.pubbooks.co.uk/ or Chorlton Book shop, 506 Wilbraham Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester M21 9AW 0161 881 6374

Location; West Didsbury

Painting; Shaare Hayim Synagogue, © Peter Topping, 2018

Mr. Booker’s amazing book about Didsbury

Now if you want to immerse yourself in the history of Didsbury from the earliest times, you can’t do worse than read Mr. Booker’s amazing book about Didsbury, which was published in 1852 and was part of a series of books on the chapels and townships around Manchester. *

The Chapel in 1620

And it is more than just the story of the church, pulling on documentation which describes the evolution of the township from the 11th century, through to the mid-19th century.

What I particularly like is the level of detail, which allows you to explore the numbers of baptisms, burials and marriages in the chapel from 1561 to 1855.

So, for those who want to know, in that first year there were 28 baptisms, and 18 burials, while at the close of 1855, the records record 51 baptisms, 71 burials and 65 marriages.

Baptisms in the chapel, 1838-47

And that is a fantastic amount of detail which offers up the chance to follow the changes in population during three hundred years, filling out the more meagre census returns.

Added to this there is a wealth of information about some of the people who lived in Didsbury, including wills, charities, and the names of people baptized, married and buried in the chapel.

I am the first to admit that these snapshots of people are drawn from the wealthy, but this was 1852 and the idea that history should be about “common people” was an idea yet to have its day.

Mr. Booker's amazing book, 1852

That said there is a lot to read, starting with the opening paragraph,

“The township of Didsbury is situated about five miles and a half south of Manchester and three miles west of Stockport.

It is bounded on the north by Withington; on the south by the river Mersey, which there divides the counties of Lancaster and Chester, on the east by Burnage and Heaton Mersey …and on the west by Chorlton-cum-Hardy and the Mersey.

It is the most southerly township in the parish of Manchester. Its area has been computed by Messrs. Johnson at 1616 acres; the Tithe Commissioners in the Census Returns of 1851 estimate it at 1527 acres; the Ordinance Survey of, 1552a; and Rickman in the Census Return of 1831; 1560 acres.  

It lies on the north bank of the river, at a point where the stream is sufficiently shallow to admit of passengers crossing from Didsbury to Northenden; the river and the lands adjacent to the ford receiving the anciently the name of Didisford- an appellation still to be traced after the lapse of nearly six hundred years in Ford Bank”

Location; Didsbury

Pictures, from A History of the Ancient Chapels of Did bury and Chorlton in Manchester Parish, the Rev. John Booker, 1852       

*A History of the Ancient Chapels of Did bury and Chorlton in Manchester Parish, 1852

A new history book for Disbury ……….. tell your story of where you live

Now the last book on the history of Didsbury came out in 2013, and so it is time for a new one.

But this one will be different, because instead of writing a “general history” which has been done, not once but four times, the latest will focus on Didsbury’s places of worship and will not just be restricted to a history of the buildings but will include the stories behind the doors.

And there will be plenty of those stories, each with an individual perspective which will add to the whole.

So the appeal is, for any one with a story, a memory or a picture, to get in touch, using the links on the poster.

The book, will be the second in the new series, devoted to places of worship which started with Chorlton - Churches, Chapels, Temples, A Synagogue and a Mosque, which was published earlier this month.

And for those intrigued with the first book, and with an eye to what the Didsbury book will look like, the launch of with Chorlton - Churches, Chapels, Temples, A Synagogue and a Mosque in on Monday December 3 at 7.30, in Chorlton Library, on Manchester Road.

Leaving me just to add that the last book written specifically about a Didsbury church was 165 years ago, so time for a new one.**

* History of Didsbury, Ivor Million, 1969, A New History of Didsbury, E. Woodall, T.F. France, 1976, Looking Back at Withington and Didsbury, Peter Helm, 1988, Didsbury Through Time, Peter Topping, Andrew Simpson, 2013

** A History of the Ancient Chapels of Didsbury and Chorlton, John Booker, 1853