That mystery in Fog Lane Park, …..

Now as bandstands go the one in Fog Lane Park was not the most attractive examples of a civic bandstand.

The former bandstand, 2020

I grew up with those elaborate iron ones which adorned the parks in my bit of south east London, and have since started collecting them.*

In that pre television, pre cinema and pre wireless age bandstands offered a place to meet, sit and enjoy live music, although by the 1950s when I was growing up they had become less popular.

And many were already sad looking rusty old affairs, which would soon be swept away.  Ours lost its fine iron pillars and decorative bits
 followed by the demolition of the brick platform.

The bandstand in 1962

So  complete was elimination of these bandstands that within a generation their very existence would be all but forgotten.

So, when Barbarella out on a Sunday walk she happened on the circle in Fogg Lane Park,and was mystified, and I have to say so was I.

I toyed with the idea of a former bowling green, but dismissed it for obvious reasons, and speculated that it might have been the site of a pond.

But, rather than stay with speculation I looked up the OS map for 1959, which clearly shows a bandstand at the Parkville Road entrance.

And quick as a flash found a 1962 picture of the bandstand.

The bandstand in 1959

I don’t know when it was built, but the park dates from 1926, and I guess that it was erected around that time or a little later.

Its design resembles the open-air theatre in Chorlton Park which was laid out in 1928.

Which just leaves me to thank Barbarella, and scoop up a description of the park from Didsbury Civic Society.

"Fog Lane Park is off Fog Lane. Didsbury.  It was purchased in 1926 by the Council and was one of first public parks in Manchester.

It is said that Fog Lane Park earned its name from a grass, commonly known as 'Yorkshire Fog' which still grows throughout the park.

The site is comprised mainly of grassland and woodland, but also contains two small lakes, shrub beds, scattered trees, rose gardens and a sensory garden and children's play areas. 

The park is particularly suited to football, having several pitches and a large grassed area.

Welcome to the park, 2020

Fog Lane has an area dedicated to the growth of wildflowers. 

These attract wildlife such as butterflies, dragonflies and a large selection of insects.  In turn, these provide food for a wide variety of birds which visit the park and are then encouraged to nest.  

These include mallards, moorhens, Canada geese, kestrels, wood pigeons, coots and the occasional heron, plus the latest additions - ring-necked parakeets.

 The park has a variety of trees and shrubs, including dawn redwood, silver birch, laburnums and flowering crabs, as well as a number of unusual specimens which have reached maturity, including hornbeams, alders, poplars, Norway maple and Indian bean.

 The park is mainly used for children’s recreation, dog walking, personal fitness including organised health walking, Saturday and Sunday league football and for educational purposes, by school groups, church groups and scout/brownie groups.

 Fog Lane Park Bowling Club and the Friends of Fog Lane Park actively work with Manchester Leisure to improve and promote the site.”**

Location; Fog Lane Park

Pictures; Fog Lane Park, 2020, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento, Bandstand, Fog Lane Park,1962, m58046, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass, and Fog lane Park, 1959, from the OS Map of Manchester & Salford, 1959

*The Bandstand,  https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Bandstands

***More on Fog Lane Park, Didsbury Civic Society, https://www.didsburycivicsociety.org/fog-lane-park

In Marie Louise Gardens …… with Miss Benson’s story which stubbornly refuses to be told

This is Marie Louise Gardens, often described as “the gem” and a place I still have yet to visit.

The tragic story of how it came to be is fairly well known, suffice to say that it commemorates the premature death of Marie Louise Silkens who died aged just 26 in 1891, but for those who want more, just follow the link to an excellent account of the parks history by The Friends of Marie Louise Gardens.*

For now, I am more interested in the postcard which carried the picture of the gardens, and the elusive Miss. Benson who sent the card from Heaton Mersey in the evening of September 16th 1905, which was a Saturday.

The message refers to a photo, hopes all is well with the family and that they are “looking out for the surprise you requested”.

And that pretty much is that.

A trawl of the records in both Heaton Mersey and Wigan has got me no nearer finding either Miss Benson or her family, and while I have come close they stubbornly refuse to come out of the shadows.

More so because there is doubt about the Wigan address, which has been crossed through.

I read it as Park Road, and there is a number 88 Park Road, close to Mesnes Park.

But on closer inspection it looks like Pearl Road, and sadly there is only a  Pearl Street, whose houses look like they postdate 1905.

Which just leaves me with the picture from the postcard.

Now, given that the park was opened in 1903 and our card was sent in 1905, the scene in front of us will be one of the earliest images of the Gardens.

And that will have to do.

Location; Didsbury

Picture; Marie Louise Gardens, circa 1903-1905, from the collection of David Harrop


*The Friends of Marie Louise Gardens, https://www.marielouisegardens.org.uk/?page_id=47

Down that narrow path .....

Now, unless you are a resident, the chances are you will not have visited  Didsbury Park.

Didsbury Park, 2020

It is after all tucked away down a short path off the very busy Wilmslow Road, and while I know there are other entrances, these also require you know where to look.

Other wise you find it by chance, which is how I stumbled across it and a bit like Dr Who’s TARDIS, the inside is a lot bigger than that narrow path would suggest.

According to Manchester City Council, “Didsbury Park was one of the first municipal planned parks in the city, redesigned in the 1920s to include recreational features for residents, some of which still exist. The site mainly consists of amenity grassland, woodland and flora. The park is thought to have an old air-raid shelter underneath the football pitch”.*

Didsbury The Recreation Ground, early 20th century

And while Didsbury does quite well for parks and open spaces compared to some parts of the city it was not always so.  According to Fletcher Moss there had been those who “long felt the village children should have a field to play in, and one had been bought by the Local Board after a long and bitter struggle,” which was opposed by those who thought it a fad and a waste of money.

But as Didsbury like other parts of south Manchester, lost their rural character and succumbed to increasing urban sprawl, open spaces became all the more important.

Flowers Walk, The Park Didsbury, early 20th century

This was not lost on the Manchester Guardian which in 1896 commented on the opening of new public recreation grounds, that as “the population of the district is rapidly advancing … these open spaces where children can play free from the dangers which are inseparable from the public thoroughfares will be even more appreciated than now”.**

Back in 1896 Didsbury, along with Withington, Burnage and Chorlton-cum-Hardy were part of Withington Urban District Council which had several  recreation grounds in Withington, Didsbury, Cavendish Road (West Didsbury), Beech Road  (Chorlton) and Chorlton Green (Chorlton).

Location; Didsbury

Picture; Didsbury Park, 2020, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento

*Didsbury Park, Manchester City Council, https://secure.manchester.gov.uk/directory_record/89213/didsbury_park

**Public Recreation Grounds at Withington, Manchester Guardian, May 18th, 1896