Chorlton Conservative Club and that post card from Spain nu 2 ........... a new mystery

Now it is odd just how stories come about.

Yesterday a new friend in Spain sent me a post card addressed to "Miss M Calderbank, Chorlton Conser, Club, Wilbraham Road, Chorlton. C. Hardy, England."

There was no date and I doubted that I would ever know who Miss M Calderbank was, or how the postcard got back to Spain.

But within an hour of posting the story Annette, Della and Marie all replied with memories of Melody Calderbank.  Annette went to Levenshulme High School with Melody, Della remembered her parents Dick and Mona and Marie told me she would now be in her fifties which might date the postcard to around 1974.

But the best was that Melody's sister was also in touch commenting that "my sister is 66 now...... I'm 56...she married in 1972 when she left the Conservative Club...so post card could be older..."

Of course that just led to the mystery of how the picture postcard from Chris to Melody having arrived in Chorlton made its way back to Spain.

The answer is a bit more sinister and suggests that Miss M never got the card.  Emma who sent me the card wrote that, “la postcard was rescued with another hundred , more or less , of a factory that recycled papel. todas rescued postcards have ornaments with pictures of Gypsy dancing sewn , so I think someone post , many years ago stole to coleccion.hay postcards to many parts of the mundo.I try to arrive but that some difficult. Que joy arrives.”

So perhaps Melody never got to know of the holiday Chris had in Spain and in turn Chris may well have just mumbled something about the Spanish postal service.

All of which is a nice lesson i how even the most mundane events have a habit of offering up a story of how we live.

Today the message would have been sent as a text, or from anyone of a number of different social media platforms, included would have been a photograph of the beach and perhaps even a selfie.

It would have been instant unlike our postcard which even in the 1980s would probably have arrived long after the suntan had begun to fade.

And the same social media platform allowed Emma to find me and pass on the postcard which perhaps 47 years later will allow Melody to be reunited with the postcard from Chris and along the way has given me a new friend from Spain who I might add has a better command of English than I of Spanish.


Location; Chorlton & Spain

Painting; The Conservative Club  © 2012 Peter Topping

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Picture; the postcard, date unknown, courtesy of Emma Gilarranz Gutierrez

A Chorlton mystery under a Spanish sun

Now I have no idea who Mel is or was or when she received this postcard from Chris, but it’s an intriguing little mystery.

I am sure someone will know of Miss M Calderbank who either worked, or lived at the Chorlton Conservative Club.

And maybe even the surname of Chris who confided that “the sea is far to rough for the boat.”

What makes the postcard just that bit more interesting is that it was sent to me by Emma in Spain, which begs the question, of why was it not posted?

Or if it was how did it end up back in Spain?

All very intriguing and within the hour Annette, Della and Marie all replied with memories of Melody Calderbank.  Anntte went to Levenshulme High School with Melody, Della remembered her parents Dick and Mona and Marie told me she would now be in her fifties which might date the postcard to around 1974.

But the best is that Melody's sister has also been in touch commenting that "my sister is 66 now...I'm 56...she married in 1972 when she left the Conservative Club...so post card could be older..."

So not bad as a start and more to come.

Location; Chorlton & Spain

Picture; the postcard, date unknown, courtesy of Emma Gilarranz Gutierrez

Travelling around Chorlton in the 1930s in the company of Harold Clarke

Now I am not a great fan of those postcards which give you more than one scene.

It is true of course that you get more for your money, but the pictures are smaller and lack the clarity that you get with just the one image.

But if you can date the card you have a pretty neat snapshot of Chorlton and so it is with this one.  It was produced by Harold Clarke, who lived at 83 Clarence Road, which is now Claridge Road.

During the 1920s and 30s he took  photographs of both south and central Manchester.  Some he seems to have marketed himself and others were sold by commercial companies including our own Mrs H. Burt who ran a stationery shop on Wilbraham Road almost opposite the shop of H.T. Burt, “Gentleman’s Outfitter” which only closed a few years ago.

But always he made sure his name appeared on the cards, and with another eye to financial gain some of the scenes reappear on other collections.

The most popular being the two halls and the green.

My own favourite on this one is the image of the Baths on Manchester Road.  Photographs of this bit of Chorlton are quite rare and so it is a welcome addition.

If pushed for another it  would picture  of the junction of Barlow Moor and Wilbraham Roads.

There are quite a few of this spot at the turn of the last century and a few in the 1950s but this is the first to show in detail the houses along Wilbraham Road which were demolished to make way for the precinct.

There had been five of them similar to the ones further along.

Now the bank of course looks little different but it had been a private residence from at least the 1880s and would remain so until it became the bank and underwent a major remake which drastically altered the appearance of the ground floor.

It is still possible to read the name Sunwick on the stone gate post just to the right of where our picture finishes.
Now that is not quite the end of the story but that will wait for another day.

Picture; from the Lloyd Collection circa 1930s

The mystery of the Chorlton postcard

Now the quality of the postcard reproduction is a bit iffy.

This is our Post Office shortly after it had opened on Wilbraham Road in 1905.

It did the business of selling stamps, taking in parcels and offering advice on the cost of postcards to America, until it was damaged beyond repair in the Manchester Blitz just before Christmas 1940.

The picture post card was acquired today by David Harrop, who like me was less interested in the photograph and more on the message on the back, which hoped that “you have arrived safely”, adding “I am glad to say there was no one hurt”.

And that reference to no one being hurt was tantalizing.

A quick trawl of the newspapers revealed that in the few days before the card was sent there was an accident to HMS Implacable which caused the death of two stokers, while  at Tynmouth, three bathers were drowned when a “heavy sea running 50 yards from the beach”  caught them “in a strong current and they were rapidly carried out to sea” and late that evening another chap was drowned at Llangollen.*

But despite these deaths, the Manchester Guardian also reported that no one had been hurt when a motor train of the Great Western Railway ran “into the station at Oswestry without reducing speed and proceeded towards the stop blocks which, with a tremendous noise threw high into the air, snapping the metal like tinsel, and forcing down the boundary wall and railings adjoining the main road”.**

It may seem a trivial story, but it is a Chorlton one, and is a reminder that back in the early 20th century, it was possible to send and receive postcards on the day they were sent, allowing people to arrange to meet later in the day or announce their return from holiday on the day they set off.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Picture; picture postcard, 1905 from the collection of David Harrop

*Accident on Implacable, Manchester Guardian, July 13th, 1905 and A Dangerous Sea, The Manchester Guardian, Jul 15, 1905

**Runaway Rail Motor, Manchester Guardian, July 15,th, 1905 

Linda Rigby R.I.P. ....... from Tony Goulding

Sadly, my friend Linda died last month. 

She was always very encouraging of my history writng and periodically provided me with material to use. 

To celebrate her generosity, I thought I would make use of a couple of old postcards which she recentlygave to me, together with, other photographs and her collection of local history books. 

Linda was well aware that they were produced by my grandfather, A.H. Clarke.Picture 1 

I shall now doubly treasure them.     

Linda partcularly appreciated stories of my family history and we had oten swopped stories of each other’s families over a coffee. 

She will be missed.

Pictures; from the collection of Linda Rigby

In celebration of A. Harold Clarke …….. photographer of Chorlton

This is a picture postcard of the old chapel which predated the parish church on the green, and was taken from an original print which appeared in John Booker’s account of the chapels of Didsbury and Chorlton, published in 1857.*

But for once the story is not about the picture postcard but A. Harold Clarke who produced the card along with many others during the 1920s and 30s.

He is someone who I have written about on several occasions on the blog and who was also the subject of a biography by his grandson Tony Goulding.**

Mr. Clarke’s pictures of Chorlton pop up all the time and remain a wonderful insight into what the township was like in the decades after the Great War.

The real prize of course would be to find the catalogue of all Mr. Clarke’s postcards.

In the meantime I will just point out that someone got the date wrong for when the chapel was demolished, which was not 1760 but 1799.

But we can't blame Mr. Clarke for that.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Picture; Former Parish Church, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, 16th century, A.H.C, 662, from the collection of Tony Goulding, donated by Linda Rigby

*A History of the Ancient Chapels of  Didsbury and Chorlton, The Rev, John Booker, 1857

** Harold Clarke, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=harold+clarke

An aplogy for a night out in Withington and Didsbury

I am not over keen on these compilation postcards, mainly I suppose because a lot of the detail is lost but they had the virtue of offering the recipient a good mix of Chorlton images and with perhaps one exception all of them are still familiar today.

For me its real value is the message on the reverse which neatly sums up the attractiveness of the postcard to the people of the period.  It was sent at 10 in the morning as way of an apology for not coming over from Chorlton to Ardwick the night before because  had “gone to Withington and Didsbury.”

Now with equally frequent deliveries as well as collections, Miss McCale of Stockport Road would have read the card with its apology before tea time if not after her mid day meal.

Although there is one detail which makes the card just a bit more interesting and that is the name given to the last image, but that is for you to spot and correct.

Picture; from the Lloyd collection

A little bit of history for just £1.28 ............ be the first to revive the picture postcard

Now I love technology.

I text, and use WHATSAPP, have a facebook and Twitter account and could be persuaded to use instagram but I am rather taken with the idea of the picture postcard.

And so is Peter Topping who has now produced a series of cards with images of Chorlton which are on sale for just 75p plus the cost of a second class stamp which is currently 53p.

All of which means that for the grand total of just £1.28 you can send a message to a friend with a picture of your choice.

No finding the image on your phone then downloading it and sending it before you added your message, and no chance that at the other end your friend, family member or complete stranger will erase the picture and lose it for good.

Instead the said picture postcard compete with personalized hand written comment will sit on the mantelpiece of the recipient for all to see marking you out as a thoughtful person who looks for originality.

And the selection of picture postcards now includes iconic scenes of Chorlton.

So not only will you get to revive a forgotten form of communication but will also share a bit of our history.

You are happy, the recipient will be happy and along the way the post person and the staff in the Post Office will also be happy and you get a trip to the post box thereby adding to your five walks a day.

The selection is available from Chorlton Bookshop which means that you will also have done your bit to shop responsibly and locally.

The alternative is a smiley face and miswritten bit or predictive text.

Pictures; reviving the picture postcard, © 2016 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures,

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

A little bit of Chorlton on sale at Chorlton Bookshop ..................... picture postcards with a twist

Now I maintain and I maintain most strongly that every area should have its own history book.

And if it has its own history book it should also have plenty of picture postcards.

Of course for all sorts of reasons we don’t send many today and the number produced by commercial companies has dwindled.

So I am pleased to report that local artist Peter Topping has been busy making new picture post cards of some of the most popular bits of Chorlton-cum-Hardy

And no surprises, but many are of the same spots that a century ago were sold in newsagents across the township.

But of course there is a difference which is not just the passage of a 100 or so years but that the  new ones are in colour and are paintings not photographs.

And that is all I am going to say, other than that they cost 75p each, can be bought as a collection or individually and are on sale at Chorlton Book shop.

Postcards of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, © 2016 Peter Topping 

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Facebook: Paintings from Pictures https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures

Something new for Chorlton ....................

Now here is a smart idea.

Think of somewhere in Chorlton that is special to you.

It could be one of those iconic buildings like the Lych Gate by Chorlton Green, or the Library on Manchester Road or your favourite pub, and then share the image with a friend.

And for good measure add a message on the back.  It doesn’t have to be an essay just a simple “hello,” “wishing you were here” or “come over for dinner.”

Then, and here is the very clever idea send it by post, remembering of course to put a stamp on the card and add the address .

No fiddling with a smart phone, which means you won't have to  remember to save the picture, spell the message correctly and do all this before the battery runs out.

Moreover it avoids that other great pitfall of placing it on social media thereby avoiding the embarrassment of sharing it with people you would rather not know that your favourite place is a post box on Edge Lane

And at the end of all this, your friend, family member or next doors cat will have a permanent reminder of how thoughtful you are.

Moreover the said picture with its message will sit on the fire place or on the pinboard for as long as they want.

It’s an idea that I am sure will catch on.

Peter Topping thinks so, so he has turned some of his paintings into picture postcards and is selling them for just 75p each.  They are available from Chorlton Book shop and this is number 3 in the series.

And ever mindful to capture the moment he is open to suggestions for more iconic images. All you have do is contact him on the link below.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Paintings; Scenes of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, © 2013 Peter Topping

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Facebook: Paintings from Pictures: https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures

Picture postcards of Chorlton .................... the new ones

Now the age of the picture post card has gone.

It flourished in the late 19th century into the middle decades of the next.

It was helped along by the regular collection and delivery of mail which meant a card sent in the morning could be on the mat by the afternoon allowing the sender to arrange a meeting later that day or announce they would be home for tea.

And for all of us desperate to know what the world looked like a century and a bit ago the pictures on the other side of the card continue to offer up images of old buildings, roads with no traffic and slightly unfamiliar places.

But the telephone followed by the mobile and the mobile with a camera has meant that the instant message along with the instant picture is just a click away.

So the old traditional card has gone into decline.  You can still find them but the postage alone will cost a shed load of money and at best they might fall through the door just in time for dinner.

All of which is a lead into a new set of picture postcards which Peter Topping has produced from some of his paintings.

So far two in the series are available but he assures me more are on their way.

These two can be bought from Chorlton Bookshop price just 75p which I think is a small enough price to invest in a bit of Chorlton.

And as Peter has already discovered some of the places he painted have already gone.

So that is all I have to say.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Paintings; The Library and the Lych Gate, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, © 2013 Peter Topping


Painting; Beech Road © 2013 Peter Topping 

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Facebook: Paintings from Pictures: https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures

So where am I this time and when?

Now here is challenge with a difference.  

The post card was sent in the August of 1930, and was produced by our old friend Harold Clarke, Photographer, 83 Clarence Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

He was responsible for a series of postcards.

The easy task is to name each of the buildings or sites and Mr Clark has made it easier by adding an identifying  letter for each image

The difficult task will be to list them again, this time in chronological order starting with the oldest and ending with the most recent.

I trust no one will cheat by downloading the card and enlarging it to read the titles under each picture that just wouldn’t be very Chorlton.

And those who want the super accolade could also explain the thinking behind the dating answers.

Yes I know it’s that working out type of answer, but you do have all of the weekend.

Of course there will be the clever ones of you who spend Saturday walking the streets of Chorlton looking each one up, and perhaps even taking a modern picture and posting them on the Chorlton History facebook site on the Sunday.

But there will also be a few and I know who you are who will give up after the third wine bar beckons you in along the trail.

Finally apologies to all those who read the blog but live faraway.

Picture; from the Lloyd collection