In celebration of Chorlton People ….. at our Library ... in August

I am enjoying the library’s current series of exhibitions under the broad title of “Works of Art By Local People”.

And starting in August their latest exhibition show cases the work of Peter Topping who is an artist, author, poet and now song writer. *

 

All of which he combines in this presentation which has the lot.

Now, I could paraphrase the content, but where would the fun be in doing that when you can go along and see it all for yourself?

So, I will just share some of the display panels which will be the enticement to go down to the library and view the full exhibition which also highlights his workshops on how he writes his songs which are designed to be a collective experience.

Leaving me to add a mangled version of that well known song, If you go down to the library today, You're sure of a big surprise. **.

And because I am in the mood and can I will finish with that panel celebrating my literary and artistic partnership with Mr. Topping.

It began around 2012 and in that decade and half has brought forth sixteen books, umpteen exhibitions, three street installations including the popular History Walk murals as well as talks and walks.

All of which is a lead into that wonderful film Casablanca, made in 1942 and set in Vichy controlled north Africa, full of sinister Nazi officers, Free French resistance fighters, a lost love affair and some memorable catchphrases.

Of which one of my favourites is uttered by Rick Blaine to the corrupt but slightly endearing Police chief Captain Louise Renault.  It comes at the end of the film, when the nasty Nazi officer is shot dead, and the resistance leader, Victor Laszlo, leaves Casablanca with his wife Isla Lund who was also Rick’s long-lost love.  With nothing left Captain Renault and Rick face an uncertain future and resolve to head to a “Free French Garrison over at Brazzaville”, leaving Rick to say "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship".

And that has pretty much characterised that Simpson Topping partnership.

*From Poems to Musical Poems, Peter Topping, Chorlton Library, through August 2026

** Teddy Bears' Picnic,  melody written in 1907 by American composer John Walter Bratton, and lyrics added in 1932 by Irish songwriter Jimmy Kennedy

***Casablanca, 1942

Celebrating who we are .... down at the Library

Community is a much-used word but at its best is about how we react with others, how we look out for everyone and a pleasure in recognising the contributions people make to where we live.

Two additions 

And here I am not thinking about the great and the good, but to use that not very helpful word …. the ordinary person.  

Not very helpful because it has a hint of dismissal but does describe most of us, who just get on with things and in the process make a difference.

It is an idea that has exercised the local artist Peter Topping who is in the process of painting portraits to honour our local people in Chorlton.* 

He tells me “that for the next month the library is hosting some of my work featuring Chorlton Champions. 

Through dedication, leadership and tireless effort, they have made a lasting and positive contribution to the social, cultural and civic life of Chorlton. 

Their commitment exemplifies the spirit of community and inspires others. The exhibition will be added to when more people are recognised for their achievements".

The exhibition has grown over the last few weeks as new subjects have been added, and today he messaged me with, “I’m thinking of delving into the past for some of our 'Chorlton Champions' to create portraits for the Library.

Euton Christian

Here is the first one of Euton Christian”.

Mr. Christian was born in Jamaica, served in the RAF during the last World War, and was the first black person to be promoted to a managerial role in the Post Office, the first black magistrate, and the first to sit on a Crown Court bench. 

To this can be added his role as a founding member of the West Indian Sports and Social Club in Moss Side and Manchester Council for Community Relations in the 1960s.

Many will also remember him as a keen sportsman, a neighbour and a father.

He was according to one source “an inspirational man who achieved many extraordinary things. He and his story give just one example of why we should celebrate the men and women who travelled on the Windrush, and the many subsequent ships, who settled and made lives in Britain during the middle part of the twentieth century”.

And his place in the Chorlton community was recognised in 2024 when Chorlton Civic Society erected a blue plaque in his honour on his former house.

And long with Mr. Christian Peter has chosen Ida Bradshaw as his second painting.

Ida Bradshaw

She always styled herself the "unofficial archivist of St Clements Church" and she was my friend. 

Her passion for Chorlton's history was infectious and l welcomed her regular phone calls about some "new find" that she had uncovered from her trawl of the church archives.  More than that l often benefited from one of her discoveries which in turn found themselves into a blog story.

And Ida was many other things.

I still have her folders of art and craft work recording not only her own output but pictures of exhibitions and group activities.

All of which kept her busy and sometimes it was difficult to pin her down to meet up as she mixed church business, trips to Central Ref, and visits to parishioners along with Saturday mornings at some craft event.

Catherine Brownhill remembers,  "A truly wonderful lady Andrew. I was introduced to Ida through Chorlton Civic Society”. 

Four of the first

And along with our conversations on all things Chorlton history Peter’s painting is based on a photograph he took of Ida in St Clement’s Church which was reproduced in our book on the churches of Chorlton.

So as the exhibition at the Library grows you can catch  CHORLTON CHAMPIONS for the rest of this month.

P.S. nominations for candidates to be inducted into the Hall of Chorlton Champions are welcome via Peter Topping.

*Celebrating Chorlton ..... down at our library today, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2026/06/all-this-month-there-is-selection-of.html

  

Celebrating Chorlton ..... down at our library today

All this month there is a selection of paintings of Chorlton people with the intriguing title of Chorlton Champions.

I have never liked that idea of history which was all about Kings, Queens, generals and the odd scientist.

If you are of a certain age you will remember history lessons where the good, the great, and the not so good marched across the pages of text books making everyone's lives a lot better or profoundly worse depending on whether you were on the winning side or one of the losers.

So much better to know about people like me who could still have a powerful impact but didn't feed the cult of the individual.  

That isn't to ignore monarchs, statesmen or soldiers but as my old mate Bertolt Brecht once wrote when "Caesar beat the Gauls. Was there not even a cook in his army? and when Phillip of Spain wept as his fleet was sunk and destroyed. Were there no other tears?"*

And that brings me back to the paintings.

My old artist pal, Peter Topping tells me that for the next month the library is hosting  "Chorlton Champions which is part of the  Chorlton Library Pop-up exhibition. These portraits have been created to honour our local heroes in Chorlton. 

Through dedication, leadership and tireless effort, they have made a lasting and positive contribution to the social, cultural and civic life of Chorlton. 

Their commitment exemplifies the spirit of community and inspires others. The exhibition will be added to when more people are recognised for their achievements. Works of art by Chorlton Artists. @everyone"

All of which is another reason to visit your Library and catch the CHORLTON CHAMPIONS during June.

P.S. nominations for candidates to be inducted into the Hall of Chorlton Champions are welcome via Peter Topping or Chorlton Civic Society.

* A Worker Reads History, Bertolt Brecht, 1935, written, 1939 published

Faces from a Library …..Chorlton stories across a century

I bet few people look up at the guardians on their columns at the entrance to Chorlton Library.

Afterall they are high and a century and bit of Manchester weather has done much to erode some of their features.

But there they are, and yesterday I wondered just who they were.*

The practice of Medieval craftsmen working on the great cathedrals of Europe often chose fellow work mates as models offering up all manner of comic and rude depictions of what they might do on top of their columns.

And that led me to ponder were ours modelled on real people, perhaps even Chorlton residents or just stock faces turned out almost on a conveyor belt by a craftsmen mile away and just imported in.

At present I don’t know, and yesterday I wasn’t even sure if we were dealing with just a couple of faces repeated around the columns, and being totally honest assumed there were but three which might be six.

But then Sally at the library did what I should have done on Sunday and carefully studied all of them, which revealed that there are four per column, and all the faces are different, which led me to revisit the library and capture them all.

And I am glad I did.

I may be no closer to knowing who they were but at least I know them better.

Silly history but like so much of what engages me about the past they have slid out of the shadows, and that is good enough for me.

Location; Chorlton Library

Pictures; Faces from a Library, 2025, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*So……. who were the Chorlton Six?, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2025-09-23T03:00:00%2B01:00&max-results=7

So……. who were the Chorlton Six?

For just over a century and a bit they have looked out across Manchester Road, secure on their columns, and have endured two world wars and umpteen library makeovers.

A face to launch a thousand ships, 2025

That of course is the giveaway, the six sit high up on the two columns fronting the entrance to Chorlton Library. Two look directly out and the other four stare out from the sides of the column.

Herbert from the Lloyd's, 2025

And if I am truly honest, I am not sure that the six are indeed individual faces and instead there are dullicat pairs so what we really have are the Chorlton three.

To which Eric will mutter “he’s not done his homework properly”, but whether they are six or three pairs of identical faces doesn’t really matter.

The question remains who were they?

Now like most people I know the library story.  

It was opened in 1914 with money from the American steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, the original plans were lost when the Titanic went down and the building was designed by Henry Price who was the City Architect.

And according to Historic England, he “was the first City Architect, responsible for municipal building projects in the city. He has a number of listed buildings to his name in Manchester, including Victoria Baths (1903-6, Grade II*, based on the 1901-2 designs of Henry Price's predecessor, the City Surveyor T. de Courcy Meade and his assistant Arthur Davies), Harpurhey Baths & Laundry (1909-10, Grade II), Crumpsall & Cheetham District Library (1909-11, Grade II), and Didsbury Public Library (1915, Grade II).”*

One of six or one of three, 2025

I do recommend reading the full entry which gives a detailed description of the building.

But it does need an update to accommodate the recent restoration which reopened the atrium to its original pre 1983/84 design.

But I stray from the fascinating question of who were the faces on the columns?

Medieval stone masons often incorporated fellow workmen into their designs for the figures which embellished the cathedrals they were working on.

So were our six/three known to Mr. Price or the masons who carved them? Which in turn begs the question of whether the figures were people local to Chorlton.

On the day Chorlton reopened after its restoration, 2025

The romantic in me would like to think so, but the reality is they may just be a job lot fashioned almost off a conveyor belt and adorn buildings across the region.

All of which leaves me to go back and check on the six faces or three faces and explore the minutes of the relevant committee responsible for the construction of our library which may offer up someting on who carved them. 

I did go and look at Didsbury and Withington Libraries, which Mr. Price also designed but unless I missed them there were no faces on either.

Sunny days outside the Library, 2015

At which point I must confess I think ours wins the design prize.  

Didsbury looks like a squashed teapot while Withington is bare and unimaginative.

And that is that … a silly bit of history compounded by my laziness on Sunday at only taking pictures of part of the columns.

But I bet someone will put me right on the question of six or three, and may even have knowledge of who our faces belonged to.

We shall see.

And the judgement is in ..... according to Sally at the Library, "There are 4 on each pillar and they all seem to be different to me". 

So end of debate and just the correction that we are now dealing with the Chorlton Eight.

Location; Chorlton Public Library

Pictures; Chorlton Library entrance, 2015, and 2025 and those faces, 2025, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Chorlton Library, Manchester Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Historic England, https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1414760?section=official-list-entry

One speaker … 28 guests … heaps of history ..... and you have a Library Walk for Chorlton Book Festival

The sun shone the turnout was excellent and so another walk through our past sponsored by Chorlton Book Festival came and went.

In between we did the story of the library, how New Chorlton came to be and on the way looked in at the Isles, the Ice Rink and Mrs Crump, the first women to speak on Women’s Hour.

Nor did we miss the bit of Manchester Road which was stolen, Lord Egerton’s new road named after his relative Wilbraham, and the emergency telephone installed in the Lloyd’s Hotel in 1881 to alert the fire brigade to a domestic fire which failed to stop the fire.

I would like to thank Gail and Lee from the Library service who did the admin and kept me from talking for ever, Janine and the staff at the Edge which supplied the cake and drinks and of course the 28 guests who walked the walk, asked good questions and said nice things at the end.

And a special mention to Juliette who asked the question which led me to talk for 20 minutes, and Ed from Welling who told us all about the connection between Keppel Road and the Isle of Man.

Nor is that quite all because in the twenty minutes before the walk started, I got to look at the faces carved above the pillars of Chorlton Library.

Location; New Chorlton

Pictures; Chorlton Library, 2025, from the collection of Andrew Simpson 

It just gets better in Chorlton's historic library

 Now l have been going to Chorlton Libray for half a century and it's good to see it just keeps getting better.

So after it's renovation and make over earlier this year it has now got it's own special story chair which is big stylish and orange.

Just the sort of chair to curl up in and read a story, or better still gather with a group of friends and listen to a heap of stories read aloud.

I called in today and was introduced to the chair by Kay who is one of the Library staff.

And is that.

Location; Chorlton Library 

Pictures; Kay and the chair along with the animals, 2025 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

A good day to share our history

 The sun was shining on what was predicted to be the hottest day of the month and 60 people packed into the library to get a bit of our collective past.

The event was part of the celebrations for the reopening of Chorlton Library which has been refurbished and restored.

Now l won't go into details about what the place looks like, you can discover that by coming down and taking in the transformation.

And that was what 60 or so did to hear the story of the Library and of Chorlton as it morphed from a small rural community into a suburb of Manchester.

To which Peter Topping added a song especially written about the Library accompanied by some of his paintings. 

So a good day.

With a thank you to Beverly and Sally from the Library.

Location; Chorlton Library

Pictures; the Library interior and entrance from the collection of Andrew Simpson and the audience of 60 by Peter Topping

All you ever wanted to know about Chorlton's past ... today at the Library

 Yep .... all you ever wanted to know but never knew who to ask.

So today at the Library starting at 2pm you can ramble through the story of Chorlton.

We will start with the promise to build a library made when we voted to join Manchester in 1904.

It took ten years and along the way we got a temporary one on Oswald Road but that promise was fulfilled.

It stands on the site of a farm which is a reminder of our rural past, and which pretty much vanished during a period of frenetic house building.

So complete was the urbanisation that the old name Martlege was lost within two generations and the area became known as New Chorlton to distinguish it from Old Chorlton which is the area around the village green and Beech Road.

And the rest and plenty more will be revealed at 2 today in the Library.

Location; Chorlton Library, Manchester Road

Picture; the refurbished Library, 2025 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

OK you can come in now ... its official

So today heaps of people came in to Chorlton Library to officially say hello to the newly refurbished building, and by common agreement it is magnificent.

Location: Chorlton Library

Pictures; the new library, 2025 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

OK you can come in now …… Chorlton Library welcomes you back

Well actually it is tomorrow and is part of a rolling programme of events starting when the doors open to invite back the friends of the library, and the curious.

The restored dome ready for the grand reopeing, 2025

This is followed by the official launch and fun day on Saturday April 4th.

The first opening, 1914

To which on the following Saturday at 2pm I shall be talking about the history of Chorlton and the library.

And as ever it will be a mix of the serious, the daft and a collection of all the things you wanted you know about Chorlton’s past but never knew who to ask.

Which is all I want to say.

Leaving me just to thank Beverly and the Library staff, along with Sally Dadhwal who asked me to give the talk and supplied some pictures of the library during its refurbishment.

The restored entrance, 2025

To these I can add Councillors Matthew Benham, John Hacking and Tina Kirwin-McGinley who also sent me pictures and to Peter Topping who composed a ditty on the Library’s reopening

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; the refurbished dome, 2025, courtesy of Sally Dadhwal, and the Manchester Courier, November 5th, 1914

Fifty years of our story ……. history … paintings ….. photographs .... the exhibition about the Precinct in Chorlton Library …. one to do

The highly acclaimed exhibition celebrating five decades of Chorlton Precinct has moved to Chorlton Library.

It will be there till February.

Don’t miss the opportunity to see it and to contribute your memories.

Location; Chorlton Library

Pictures; poster design and photographs of the exhibition by Peter Topping 

The Chorlton Community Garden ........ which was a first

Yesterday I was musing on Chorlton Community Garden and what the plot of land had once been.

Manchester Road, 1958 and a set of hoardings

As far back as I can remember it was just an open bit land fronted by a variety of wooden fences.

Although Peter remined me that for a while it had been home to a public lavatory ….. one of those swish ones that had an automatic door which opened and closed with a whirr.

Of course, before 1914 it had been part of Redgate Farm, and after the library had been built I guessed it was earmarked as a possible site for an extension of the library.

Aerial view, 1925

And today I went looking for pictures of the site, turning up three from different times during the last century, and all revealed that it appears not to have been developed.

I have started to think what I could suggest which would add to the gardens, but as yet I seem only able to explore its history.

Location; Chorlton

The Library and a small fence, 1916

Pictures; Manchester Road, Chorlton Public Library on right, A H Downes, 1958, m18037, Aerial View, Imperial Aerial Photo Co, 1925, m72044, Chorlton-cum-Hardy Library, City Engineers Department, 1916, m77442, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass