Walking with the Manchester Whit Walks in 1969

There will be many in Manchester with fond memories of past Whit Walks when the congregations of the local churches chapels and Sunday Schools walked in procession through the streets of the city as a witness to their faith.

These were really big events with hundreds turning out to walk the few miles and thousands more lining the streets.

Here in Chorlton a few pictures have survived of processions in the 1930s passing the green and prominent in that procession was our own Brass Band which dated back to the 1820s.

Now there are many photographs of these events and just today Adele posted some wonderful pictures from the 1969 procession.*

They were taken by her father and vividly capture the day.

But what makes them all the more fascinating is that they show scenes of that old Manchester which was about to vanish. The grand clearance plans and commercial projects were during the 1960s and early 70s cutting swathes through central Manchester and areas of Hulme, Moss Side, Ancoats and Bradford and Beswick.

All of which makes these pictures so important for they are not the posed carefully composed images of professional commercial photographers, but photographs by people who lived where the procession was passing and had links to both the Walks and the people in them.

And something of the fun and pride of the participants comes through from Adele’s pictures.

Here then on that Whit week in 1969 are a few of Adele’s pictures.

Pictures; courtesy of Adele

On Chorlton Green during the annual Whit Walks sometime in the 1970s

We are on Chorlton Green sometime in the 1970s  during one of the annual Whit Walks.

And of course this is entirely appropriate given that every year thousands of people turned out to parade through the city following a tradition which began in the 1820s.

There will be many who fondly remember the walks and in particular the new clothes that they wore for the occasion.  For some this meant a year of careful saving to ensure that the children looked their best.

Now this is not the first time I have featured both the Whit Walks and a series of pictures taken on the day.

These two courtesy of Faith, like the others in the collection were not taken by a professional and were meant only for the family.

But such personal snaps are a vivid and fascinating record of our recent history.

Look carefully and something of what the green used to be like is there in the pictures.

Directly behind  the procession is the old farmhouse which became a garage and has now become a housing development.

Then there is the telephone kiosk which once stood on the green, was moved to the corner of Crossland Road and one day just vanished.

And what in a way is all the more remarkable is that I was here in Chorlton but cannot remember a single Whit Walk or for that matter the telephone box in its old position.

Now that is an awful admission.

In my defence I think I did see one which may have marched down Beech Road but that is it.

Of course there will be many who do remember the walks and still a few who were there on the green as our own Brass Band led the procession.

The first band had been formed in the early 1820s reformed in 1850 and lasted till the end of the last world war.

All of which is a long way away from that day on the green.

Location, Chorlton Green, Manchester

Pictures; of the Whit Walk, sometime in the 1970s from the collection of Faith Carter.

*Manchester Whit Walks, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Manchester%20Whit%20Walks

Walking with Christ Church Mission in Harpurhey

Now there will be many who have fond memories of walking in a Whit Walk procession.

It was a time when families decked out their children in the finest new clothes.  For some it was about saving all year and for others it was  period of going into debt.

Either way it was a badge of pride that your child would take part in the best that could be bought or made.

It is a topic I have visited in the past and will do again.*

And here today is one from sometime in the early 20^th century. The banner announces that this is the Christ Church Mission in Harpurhey, and that is pretty much all I have.

In time I will go looking for the Church and puzzle over the street name on the right hand side of the picture.

I am rather hoping that someone will have something on the church and will share it.

Of course it might not be a Whit Walk procession.

But for now that is it.

Location; Harpurhey

Picture; Harpurhey, date unknown from the collection of David Harrop

*Manchester Whit Walks, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Manchester%20Whit%20Walks

Walking through Chorlton on Medlock with a church procession

Now I don’t have a date for this church procession or exactly where in Chorlton on Medlock it took place.*

It was taken by Harry Wright who had a photographic studio at 27 Eston Street which was off High Street which ran from Plymouth Grove to Oxford Street.

It is still there but High Street is now Hathersage Road and the photographic studio long gone.

Sadly no one seems to have judged Eston Street worthy of a picture and the only two in the digital archive show just the corner.

But I am hoping that someone will recognise the street scene and perhaps even offer a date.

And perhaps that shop and the advert beside the Brook Bond sign will help.


We shall see.

Location; Chorltonon Medlock

Picture;Chorlton on Medlock, date unknown from the collection of David Harrop

*Manchester Whit Walks, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Manchester%20Whit%20Walks

** Manchester Local Image Collection, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=36700&reftable=ecatalogue&refirn=30483

On a sunny day during the Whit Walks of 1969

I am back with the Whit Walks when the congregations of the local churches chapels and Sunday Schools walked in procession through the streets of the city as a witness to their faith.

These were really big events with hundreds turning out to walk the few miles and thousands more lining the streets.

These were really big events with hundreds turning out to walk the few miles and thousands more lining the streets.

So I have returned to some of the pictures taken by Adele’s father in 1969 and it’s all here from the children taking the event with varying degrees of seriousness to the mums walking in the procession or along side

  

At their front door others have come out to watch and every where people are enjoying an event which dates back to the 1820s.

So these are just as importnat as any of those the posed carefully composed images of professional commercial photographers.

And in a way they are more significant because  but these pictures were taken by some one  who lived where the procession was passing and had links to both the Walks and the people in them.

And something of the fun and pride of the participants comes through from Adele’s pictures.

Pictures; courtesy of Adele