Sunday in a Manchester Park

Now I have always liked this painting, and it perfectly conjures up a Sunday on a warm summer’s day in a Manchester park.

Writing in 1937, J P Priestly observed that, “The Corporation has made great efforts to provide young Manchester with healthy outdoor recreation, and there are now twenty-five parks and forty-eight recreation grounds in the city.

Nearly three quarters of the land in these parks is set aside for games including bowls tennis, cricket, golf, swimming, fishing, model yachting, football and hockey”.*

Of course, the cynical will observe that a few of the recreation grounds were little more than pockets of land, surrounded by factories while some of our parks were fighting a constant battle against pollution which blighted plants and left a smear of soot on the branches of trees.

But in the absence of open fields and clear crystal streams, this was it.

Location; Manchester

Picture; from Manchester ...... heart of the Industrial North

 *Manchester ...... heart of the Industrial North, Manchester Chamber of Commerce, 1937

Taking the Parkway …….. out of the city

Now, you will have to be of a certain age to remember that taking the bus out of the city to Wythenshawe meant travelling on the Parkway.

Writing about the new housing estate in 1937, J P Priestly commented that “a novel feature of the scheme is the provision of parkways from 250 to 300ft. in width, only 40ft. of which will be used for vehicular traffic and the remainder being laid out with trees, shrubbery and grass borders, through which footpaths will run”.*

Sadly, only one was actually built, and that now has been transformed in to a soulless and busy motorway, but for those who remember with fondness the Princess Parkway and everyone else who wonders what the attraction was, here is a reminder.

It comes in the form of a painting and while it may seem idealized, I have no doubt that back in 1937, it was as accurate as the other eleven which appeared in the book some of which have already appeared on the blog.

Location; Manchester

Picture; the Parkway from Manchester ...... heart of the Industrial North

*Manchester ...... heart of the Industrial North, Manchester Chamber of Commerce, 1937

In praise of a great city ........ Manchester in 1937

Now, you can just look at these wonderful paintings of a lost Manchester, admiring the colour and verve of what you see, followed by charting how different the individual scenes are today.

The Royal Exchange, 1937

But, that would be to ignore the accompanying text by J. B. Priestly which is not only a powerful homage to the City but is a fascinating piece of historic writing.

The paintings and text are taken from Manchester ...... heart of the Industrial North, published by the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, in 1937,* when Britain was emerging from the Great Depression which for many, was “that low dishonest decade”** of mass unemployment dire poverty and the Means Test.

And while the south was prospering, great chunks of the North, were still struggling, and so hence this book which shouts the energy, drive and civic pride of Manchester and by extension Salford and the surrounding towns.

“I believe in Manchester because what really matters in the end is character, and Manchester has the right sort of character.  Its history proves that in two very different ways.

First Manchester has not only always faced adversity with courage, but has always contrived to assert itself triumphantly at what would appear to be the worst possible moment.  It is a mistake to imagine that the cotton trade, of which Manchester is the centre, has flourished without interruption until the recent slump. 

King Street, 1937

During the American Civil War when the Southern States were blockaded, there was a cotton famine, and there have been periodic slumps since then.  Manchester’s answer to them has been to build its Ship Canal, triumphantly to organise its Jubilee Exhibition, to complete its impressive Royal Exchange during the difficult years of the Great War, and during the present slump to build a fine new Reference Library and to extend its Town Hall.  

No defeatism there.  

In the second place, the character of Manchester is shown in the influence that it has had on English public life, social, educational and artistic affairs.

I should estimate this influence as being equal to that of any other three English provincial cities put together.

When I was a boy living in Bradford, a city that shares some of the characteristics of Manchester, we thought of Manchester as we did of London.  And why not?  Manchester has the best newspaper, the best symphony orchestra and the best theatre in England.  

The Ship Canal

We know that the geographical position of this city is a magnificent one for it lies in the centre of a vast spider’s web of roads and railways, and canals, and has an outlet to the sea and really lies at the very hub and heart of a colossal straggling city that includes all the densely populated regions of South Lancashire and West Riding, and it has ample supplies of good water and coal and iron and power.

This is good, but character is better.  

Perhaps the secret of the Manchester character is that it is nine- tenths hard northern grit, solid Lancashire bone and muscle and brain, plus a remaining tenth, acting as a leaven, of liberal-minded and enterprising foreign influence, a contribution from Europe.  

You are not compelled to accept my analysis, but the smallest research will convince you that I am not wrong, in my estimate of the character of these people.  

Go and talk to them, and you, too, will believe in Manchester”.

Location; Manchester

Pictures; the Royal Exchange, King Street, and the Ship Canal, 1937 from Manchester ...... heart of the Industrial North

*Manchester ...... heart of the Industrial North, Manchester Chamber of Commerce, 1937

**September 1st 1939, W.H. Auden

An almost familiar scene of Mount Street in the heart of the city ........ just 86 years ago

Now here is a picture of the city which is at once both familiar but not familiar.

Mount Street, 1937

We are on Mount Street with Central Ref and the Town Hall Extension to our right and Central Street on the left.

So far so good, but the tram and the much darkened walls of the old Town Hall places us at a time long before now.

Given that the Town Hall extension was started in 1934, completed in 1938 and opened a year later, the date for our scene must be the mid to late 1930s.

But I can get closer because the painting comes from the book Manchester Heart of the Industrial North which I know was published in 1937.

And that will places us on Mount Street no later than 1937 and I suspect no earlier than 1936.

I first came across the book on the recommendation of my friend Angela and having looked through the book decided I had to go looking for it.

Fortunately I came across a copy at a reasonable price and that is that.

Location; Manchester

Picture; Mount Street, circa 1937, from Manchester Heart of the Industrial North, 1937