With Frank and the 1st Chorltonville cub and scout group

Now the picture was taken in the 1950s and is another from the collection of Frank Tomlin.

Location; Chorlton





Picture; 1st Chorltonville cub and scout group, circa 1950s, courtesy of Frank Tomlin

The Missing 1953 Coronation photograph ............. can anyone help?

Now I recently made friends with Frank Tomlin who lived on Dagnall Avenue in the 1950s and who has kindly shared some of his photographs from the period featuring his family and his friends.

The pictures perfectly recreate that time when the summer holidays stretched on forever and everyday was an adventure.

Leaving all of us just to decide whether to head out onto the meadows or catch the Corporation bus and ask to be put off at the end of the line, just to see what was there.

And Frank has now asked if anyone can track a missing photograph.

He writes, "Andrew one of my mates who passed away a few years ago, had a photograph of a Dagnall Ave 1953 street party for the Coronation.  The photograph has since been lost and I wonder if anybody on your site still has a copy?"

Well let’s hope so.  You can leave a message on the blog or via the facebook and twitter sites

Location; Dagnall Avenue, 1953

Picture; Frank and family in the garden of number 2 Dagnal Avenue, circa 1953, from the collection of Frank Tomlin

The Friends of Dagnal Avenue

I am back with another picture from the collection of Frank Tomlin.

Frank lived on Dagnal Avenue which is that long road that runs down from Hardy Lane to Cundiff Road and he recently shared some of his photographs from the 1950’s when he was growing up on the avenue.

For me they take me back to my own childhood during that same decade, and this one brings back some very sharp memories.

I think I had a cardigan like that, certainly shared the same floppy hair style and had friends who remained in shorts long after the rest of us got our first pair of long trousers.

And there will be many from that era who also remember that first pair of long trousers which marked the transition from child into grown up.

It was a time when the sun always shone in the summer holidays and adventures consisted of wandering off after breakfast and pretty much not coming home until teatime.

What we did for lunch I can’t remember although on more than one occasion mother prepared a sandwich and one of those small bottles of orange squash you could get the milkman.  These were carefully packed in an old ammunition canvas bag which were all the rage one year and were bought from the army surplus shop down the road.

But enough ...... this is beginning to slide into nostalgic tosh and that would never do.

Frank tells me that sometime of the time he and his friends camped out in a tent in their back garden which if you are ten strikes me as an adventure.

Location; Chorlton in the 1950’s

Picture; Frank and friends sometime in the 1950s from the collection of Frank Tomlin

Chorlton Friends in the 1950s ......... from Frank Tomlin

Now long ago the blog ceased to be just a place for my stories, and over the years it has hosted a whole series of pictures, and articles covering pretty much everywhere.

And so today I want to thank Frank for sharing the first of some of his photographs from the family album along with some of his memories.

Frank attended Chorlton Park Secondary school in the 1950s and “during the school holiday we made the most of the good weather, including camping in our front garden at 2 Dagnall Avenue.

We relied on our Mums for food.

I think from time to time our Dads checked on us during the nights but would never admit it.
Great times without TV or phones.

Only one of the lads had a T/V.

We would all scamper round to his house, if we were lucky and more food was supplied.
Great Times.”

And Frank’s comments brought up memories of my own childhood in the 1950s, roaming free across south east London, doing impossible things and experiencing adventures never to be repeated.

Of all those memories the tent sparked a whole series off.  On a hot summer’s day sitting in that tent with the smell of warm canvas, the sunlight playing on the green sides bathing the interior in a different colours accompanied by long glasses of orange squash.

So keep the pictures and memories coming Frank, I love that wooden wheelbarrow in your back garden.

© Frank Tomlin, 2017
Location; Chorlton

Pictures; Under canvas with Frank and friends, in the garden with Frank’s mum and others, circa 1950-53, from the collection of Frank Tomiln