Cycling to a beauty contest …….. “the pretty entrants” of 1937

I bet there will be someone who remembers Riding’s Stores Ltd.

They sold cycles and advertised themselves as “The largest Quality Cycle Specialists in the North of England”, with branches on Deansgate, Corporation Street, Market Street and Swan Street, with shops in Moss Side, Rusholme and Stretford as well as here at 362 Barlow Moor Road.

And in their drive to bring cycles to the world they boasted “No Risk - No Bother – No Fuss – It’s so easy, so simple Riding’s ‘Best of All’ Easy Ways”, which meant that from 1/6 a week you could have any Hercules model , with the added bonus of no deposit and a ”Seven Day Free Riding Trial”.

The advertisement appeared in the Chorlton and Wilbrahampton News for July  16th, 1937, but what caught my eye was an additional notice drawing attention to “More Pretty Entrants in Riding’s Great Northern Cycle Queen Contest”, which featured eleven young women, with one posing with a cycle, another in a swim suit and another talking on the telephone.

And in an act of overkill, the company posted yet another reference to the contest calling on women to “Send in your photographs now!  Adding, “Waste no time. This is a marvelous opportunity for some local girl to gain fame and popularity”.

All that was required was a  name and an address on the back of the picture which was to be sent in a “1½d. sealed envelope to Riding’s” main showrooms on Stockport Road. 

The company also embraced all the modern technology, promising that “Elimination contests will be filmed and the final selection will take place at the New Manchester Hippodrome”, which I suppose opened up the potential for a cinema news story.

But if that was not enticement enough there was the promise “handsome cash prizes” and the simply direct question “Will You Be Queen?”

So, there you have it and by one of those little quirky twists, the Riding’s shop on Barlow Moor Road was just four doors down from Ken Foster’s cycle shop.  Now that is a bit of historical continuity,

Location; Chorlton and Manchester

Pictures; addverts from the Chorlton and Wilbrahampton News, July 1937 from the collection of Maggie Watson

What we bought in Chorlton in 1936 .... part 2

Now I have Steve Casson to thank for this page from the 1936 St Clement’s Parish Magazine.

The rest as they say is up to.

For those who go back a long time, some of the names will be familiar, and search of the locations using google street maps will offer up what has taken the place of these businesses.



Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Picture; St Clements’s Parish Magazine, 1936, courtesy of Steve Casson

What we bought in Chorlton in 1936

Now I have Steve Casson to thank for this page from the 1936 St Clement’s Parish Magazine.

The rest as they say is up to you.

For those who go back a long time, some of the names will be familiar, and search of the locations using google street maps will offer up what has taken the place of these businesses.

All I will comment on is the emphasis on pure milk.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Picture; St Clements’s Parish Magazine, 1936, courtesy of Steve Casson

Four things to do with a closed Chorlton supermarket

Now I concede that the story is about just one way to use a disused supermarket, but in that mix of entrepreneurial flair and total disregard for the environment it has been done three times.

I don’t approve of fly posting, and while it might brighten up an empty site, all too often it is blatant misuse of someone else’s property, a headache for the owner and ultimately becomes shabby and forlorn.

More so when bits of the wall/window/doors are over posted, creating a jumbly confusing mess.

But then the historian in me can look back at photographs of said messes and track a bit of history, and of course fly posting has always been with us. 

The Romans advertised gladiator contests as well offering up the names of election candidates along with their promises, awhile the Victorians and Edwardians did more than their fair share.

These come from what was once the Co-op on Barlow Moo Road, and before that a Hanbury’s a Tesco, a workshop and at the very beginning a cinema.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; fly posters, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

The Alternative Chorlton tourist attractions ……. No. 2 Manchester Road

 Celebrating those bits of Chorlton which usually just get ignored.

The adverts.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; Manchester Road, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson 

Where ever I post the advert ......that's my Circus ……….

Mid-day on a Sunday on Beech Road.

Location; Chorlton

Picture; Where ever I post the advert , 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

The new our times …… sliding into slush

I am of an age …. so far removed from the present that I have never consumed those beverages made from mixing a syrup with water which is then frozen.

There are a number of different companies that make them, and in the course of my research I came across Slush Puppie which was created in 1970 and of course Snow Shock whose advertising boards pop up across Chorlton.

I have no doubt they are very popular, but with fewer years ahead of me than behind I think I shall pass.

Leaving me just to add the image to the Chorlton collection of adverts.

Location; Beech Road

Picture; the advert, Beech Road, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Discovering the silly on Beech Road …….

There is always  fun in collecting adverts.

Location; Beech Road

Picture; the Lush in Slush, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Another story from Tony Goulding ............ Cinema programme August 1981

To create a context for what follows and possibly stimulate a few memories of the era here is a summary of the screenings scheduled for the month.

Along with the perennial school-holiday fare of Disney cartoons and other family-oriented films two blockbusters, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Superman II" were being shown.

Also on the agenda were these two perhaps less memorable offerings: - "Clash of the Titans" and “Hawk the Slayer." 

All films would have carried one of these classifications as set out in this notice in the programme.
                     
The above recent find not only supplies a later name "The Shalimar" for the "Essoldo" Chorlton-cum-Hardy's last remaining cinema but also provides, by virtue of the advertisements it carries, a fascinating glimpse into the commercial life of the area at that time.

The back page has this interesting item;

"Johns Cycles" were still, in 1981, trading from the little shop on High Lane.

There had been a cycle shop at this location since at least the early 1960's when I used to pass it every day on my way to school.


The shop itself stood out as bit of an oddity being as it was so isolated from the main trading areas : the only other business with premises on High Lane I recall was the motor coach firm "York Motors" who operated from offices and a garage on the corner of York Road
   

On the inside of the back page, these two separate ads appear:-  
                                       
Two businesses occupying the same address - 66, Beech Road, whilst elsewhere the programme also carried this listing

"The Green House" located on the corner of Stockton Road.

The building which was home to all three is now shared between "Loop" [now closed] and "Thai Spice" and unfortunately the upper floor of what was once possibly quite a grand building is now virtually derelict.

Incidentally just a little further along Stockton Road was a large Builders merchant which remained there till well into the 1990’s.

To complete the picture of that end of Beech Road there was the "Box Factory" adjoining Acres Road.

       

The inside front page featured this advertisement for "Shaun's Garden Centre on Wilbraham Road.

Of particular interest is the inclusion of the guide to the location of "Shaun's" place of business.

From this we can deduce that enough people still had their shoes repaired to make the use of "Rushton's" as a landmark worthwhile. Indeed there was still a shoe repairer in Chorlton at the tail-end of the 1980's.

Shortly after my return to Manchester in June 1989 I used one in the row of shops which stood opposite were the Metro entrance is now.


In closing the impression given by both the document and the standard of the films being shown (both "Raiders of the Lost Ark " and "Clash of the Titans" were new releases ) is that this cinema was experiencing  a " last hurrah" prior to entering into a terminal decline later in the decade.

© Tony Goulding
















Pictures; from the Shalimer Cinema Programme, 1981, from the collection of Tony Goulding