Carts …. horses ….. and another busy day …… the lost Hulme and Moss Side .. part 3

This is the third dip into a collection which recorded life in Hulme and Moss Side during the house clearances of the 1960s and 70s.

They were taken by Roger Shelley and they are a powerful visual description of communities who continued to work and play as around them the wrecking ball wiped away a century and a bit of houses and workshops.

I have to say I had almost forgotten “the rag and bone man” who went door to door collecting the broken, the discarded and the out of fashion household goods.

Today it’s a man in a van, often as not only interested in scrap metal and who announces his presence with a bout of loud music and still occasionally with a call for “any old iron” which would have been recognised in the streets by characters from a novel by Charles Dickens.

And Roger captured the scene as it played out in the 1960s.

Location; Hulme and Moss Side

Pictures; from the collection of Roger Shelley, 1960s and 70s.

The lost Hulme and Moss Side

Now I have been a great fan of Roger Shelley’s photographs for over a decade, ever since he shared a collection of pictures he took of a group of young lads playing in the near ruin of Hough End Hall nearly 60 years ago.

The attention to detail and his ability to capture the moment are skills I wish I had.

And so, I was very pleased when he posted another group of images he took during the house clearances in Hulme and Moss Side.

The pictures are a mix of street scenes, and the people he encountered, including kids at play, men and women at work and the ever present piles of rubble as the grand plan advanced and centuries old houses disappeared under the impact of the wrecking ball.

Like the work of Shirley Baker* his pictures don’t dwell on sentimentality and don’t make judgments of the wholesale clearances of communities.

They just record what he saw.

I don't have exact locations for the images, but some can be traced through the odd street name or feature.

And with his permission I will be working my way through the portfolio, fastening on images which tell their own stories.

Location; Hulme and Moss Side in the 1960s and 70s

Pictures;  from the collection of Roger Shelley, https://www.flickr.com/photos/photoroger/

*Baker, Shirley, Without a Trace, Manchester and Salford in the 1960s, 2018

The lost Hulme and Moss Side .....

Now I have been a great fan of Roger Shelley’s photographs for over a decade, ever since he shared a collection of pictures he took of a group of young lads playing in the near ruin of Hough End Hall nearly 60 years ago.

The attention to detail and his ability to capture the moment are skills I wish I had.

And so, I was very pleased when he posted another group of images he took during the house clearances in Hulme and Moss Side.

The pictures are a mix of street scenes, and the people he encountered, including kids at play, men and women at work and the ever present piles of rubble as the grand plan advanced and centuries old houses disappeared under the impact of the wrecking ball.

Like the work of Shirley Baker* his pictures don’t dwell on sentimentality and don’t make judgments of the wholesale clearances of communities.

They just record what he saw.

I don't have exact locations for the images, but some can be traced through the odd street name or feature.

And with his permission I will be working my way through the portfolio, fastening on images which tell their own stories.

Location; Hulme and Moss Side in the 1960s and 70s

Pictures;  from the collection of Roger Shelley, https://www.flickr.com/photos/photoroger/

*Baker, Shirley, Without a Trace, Manchester and Salford in the 1960s, 2018

When Chorlton was in Moss Side

The year is 1978 and the Labour Party is defending its Moss Side seat in a byelection which was occasioned by the death of Frank Hatton who had won the seat for Labour  in February 1974.

George Morton and "team" in Chorlton, 1978

The Labour candidate was George Morton, who had served on both Manchester City Council and the Greater Manchester Council and lived locally.

There were four other candidates, drawn from the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party, and the National Front and the Workers Revolutionary Party, and the election was fought against a backdrop of growing industrial conflict, which has come to be remembered as the “the winter of discontent”.

Added to which the Labour Government had lost its slim majority of three in 1976 and entered a pact with the Liberal Party the following year, which lasted until September 1978.

Here in Moss Side and indeed in Chorlton, George was well received and the outcome of the election was a Labour victory, with George increasing his majority and share of the vote in the General Election which followed in 1979.

And for those who are pondering on the significance of a Moss Side story, that is because Chorlton was in the Moss Side Constituency.

The seat had been created in 1918 and was abolished in 1983 when changes to the Parliamentary boundaries moved Chorlton into Manchester Withington.

For most of its existence it returned a Tory MP, with the Liberals briefly winning the seat in the 1923 General Election only for the Conservatives to win it back a year later.

Campaigning in Moss Side, 1978

By 1929 the Labour Party had over taken the Liberals as the main contender to the Tories and across the next three General Elections achieved between 32% and 41% of the votes cast.

The seat was finally won by Labour in the landslide victory of 1945, when William Griffiths took the seat for Labour with 49% of the vote.

Sadly in Chorlton, Labour had to wait until 1986 for its first election victory, which was followed  a year later when Keith Bradly won Manchester Withington, giving Labour voters the double.

Location; Moss Side and Chorlton

Picture; George Morton campaigning in the by-election in Chorlton and Moss Side in 1978, with fellow MPs, the local organizer and volunteers, from the Lloyd Collection

Vanished Manchester communities ...........

Now I have been a great fan of Roger Shelley’s photographs for over a decade, ever since he shared a collection of pictures he took of a group of young lads playing in the near ruin of Hough End Hall nearly 60 years ago.

The attention to detail and his ability to capture the moment are skills I wish I had.

And so, I was very pleased when he posted another group of images he took during the house clearances in Hulme and Moss Side.

The pictures are a mix of street scenes, and the people he encountered, including kids at play, men and women at work and the ever present piles of rubble as the grand plan advanced and centuries old houses disappeared under the impact of the wrecking ball.

Like the work of Shirley Baker* his pictures don’t dwell on sentimentality and don’t make judgments of the wholesale clearances of communities.

They just record what he saw.

And with his permission I will be working my way through the portfolio, fastening on images which tell their own stories.

Location; Hulme and Moss Side in the 1960s and 70s

Pictures;  from the collection of Roger Shelley, https://www.flickr.com/photos/photoroger/

*Baker, Shirley, Without a Trace, Manchester and Salford in the 1960s, 2018

Things we did ..... Liverpool .... 1980

It was the first big demonstration against the newly elected Tory Government.

The year was 1980, and on that day in late November I was there with the Moss Side CLP and its banner.

We had travelled across from Manchester in two double deck buses and were joined by 40,000 from around the country.

I have long lost all the newspaper clippings but today came across a piece by William Border published by the New York Times on November 30th which reported Michael Foot telling us  "You are here stating for the nation that we are not going to tolerate what this Government is doing to us.

We're going to carry this campaign from one end of the country to the other, to mobilize the power and strength of the people to destroy this Thatcher Government and build a real socialism,”*

Needless to say I don't remember the speech, although that may have had more to do with taking pictures.

But along with others I did carry the campaign on from Liverpool to Birmingham and on to London.

All now a long time ago.

But emboldened by Mr. Border's I shall now trawl the Guardian archive for more on the spot reporting.

Location; Liverpool

Pictures; in Liverpool with the Moss Side |CLP banner, 1980, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*40,000 March In Liverpool to Protest Unemployment; Recalls Marches of the 30's Unemployment at 8.4 Percent, William Borders New York Times, Nov. 30, 1980,https://www.nytimes.com/1980/11/30/archives/40000-march-in-liverpool-to-protest-unemployment-recalls-marches-of.html

When only the pubs were left ........

It is pretty true that during many of the urban redevelopment schemes of the 1960s and 70s, it was the pubs which remained long after the homes of their customers had been bulldozed down

Now I have been a great fan of Roger Shelley’s photographs for over a decade, ever since he shared a collection of pictures he took of a group of young lads playing in the near ruin of Hough End Hall nearly 60 years ago.

The attention to detail and his ability to capture the moment are skills I wish I had.

And so, I was very pleased when he posted another group of images he took during the house clearances in Hulme and Moss Side.

The pictures are a mix of street scenes, and the people he encountered, including kids at play, men and women at work and the ever present piles of rubble as the grand plan advanced and centuries old houses disappeared under the impact of the wrecking ball.

Like the work of Shirley Baker* his pictures don’t dwell on sentimentality and don’t make judgments of the wholesale clearances of communities.

They just record what he saw.

And with his permission I will be working my way through the portfolio, fastening on images which tell their own stories.

Location; Hulme and Moss Side in the 1960s and 70s

Pictures; from the collection of Roger Shelley, https://www.flickr.com/photos/photoroger/

*Baker, Shirley, Without a Trace, Manchester and Salford in the 1960s, 2018

How we lived …….. the lost Hulme and Moss Side

Now I have been a great fan of Roger Shelley’s photographs for over a decade, ever since he shared a collection of pictures he took of a group of young lads playing in the near ruin of Hough End Hall nearly 60 years ago.

The attention to detail and his ability to capture the moment are skills I wish I had.

And so, I was very pleased when he posted another group of images he took during the house clearances in Hulme and Moss Side.

The pictures are a mix of street scenes, and the people he encountered, including kids at play, men and women at work and the ever present piles of rubble as the grand plan advanced and centuries old houses disappeared under the impact of the wrecking ball.

Like the work of Shirley Baker* his pictures don’t dwell on sentimentality and don’t make judgments of the wholesale clearances of communities.

They just record what he saw.

And with his permission I will be working my way through the portfolio, fastening on images which tell their own stories.

Location; Hulme and Moss Side in the 1960s and 70s

Pictures; an alley and some kids, from the collection of Roger Shelley, https://www.flickr.com/photos/photoroger/

*Baker, Shirley, Without a Trace, Manchester and Salford in the 1960s, 2018

Fish … chips… Vimto ….. and the abandoned lavatory …… the lost Hulme and Moss Side .. part 2

This is the second dip into a collection which recorded life in Hulme and Moss Side during the houses clearances of the 1960s and 70s.

They were taken by Roger Shelley and they are a powerful visual description of communities who continued to work and play as around them the wrecking ball wiped away a century and a bit of houses and workshops.

Location; Hulme and Moss Side

Pictures; from the collection of Roger Shelley, 1960s and 70s.

Alex Park ......... the people’s park ........ remembering a century and bit of protest

It was Keir Hardie who called Alex Park “the people’s park” in 1893 and I rather think that remains a pretty good alternative name for the place.*

Expressing free speech, 1980

On any day of the week at any time of the year there will loads of people doing something in the park, from walking the dog, to watching the sun glint on the lake or kicking a ball and of course once the weather gets just a little like summer out will come the picnic baskets, the old rugs and a heap of interesting sandwiches.

All of which fulfils Keir Hardie’s reference to the people’s park.

But Mr Hardie’s description was less about the park’s recreational opportunities and more about its place as a forum for debate, and on that day in May 1893 he wasn’t alone in addressing the crowds.

There were according to the newspaper reports a number of platforms each with speakers but all united by the issue of demanding an eight hour working day summed up by the slogan “work for all out work for none.”

But like some many demonstrations down the centuries it was also about free speech with Mr Hardie condemning “the authorities in refusing the legitimate demand of the citizens to the free use of the people's park, and regards that refusal as an overt attempt to crush the right of free meeting and free speech.”*

Mrs Annot Robinson, date unknown

And that has intrigued me. For almost a century one of the popular meeting places had been Stevenson Square, and long before that peaceful assembly gathered in St Peter’s Field the centre of much popular unrest had been New Cross at the junction of Oldham Street and Great Ancoats Street.

But now increasingly protest marches would finish with a rally in the park.

It was here that Mrs Annot Robinson spoke in 1908 spoke to a crowd of thousands on “Votes for Women” and was undeterred by a section of the crowd “of young fellows inclined to be hostile [and] frequently hostile.”

Now I have great admiration for Annot Robinson juggled the demands of being a single parent and played an important part in the politics of the labour movement here in Manchester.***

And two years later she was back, speaking from the Women Workers' platform, she argued “that women were ‘too cheap@ in the home and in the labour market. ...........The best step that could be taken to raise the position of women in society was to allow them to have some share of political power. 

There were cases in Manchester, Mrs. Robinson went on, of girls who worked long hours for six, seven, or eight shillings a week. In the mackintosh trade wages sank even below that. It was this underpayment of girls that incited them to evil living. If women were given an opportunity of influencing the laws of the land matters would be mended.”****

Nor was she alone because during the period after her first meeting there were a whole series of political rallies in support of extending the vote to women.

Busy with the business of protest, 1980

It was a tradition of political protest which has continued.

There will be many like me who remember finishing marches in the park in the 1970s and 80s and I even came across a reference to the veteran fascist Oswald Mosley attempting to peddle his bankrupt ideas.

So there you have it ........... the people’s park more than just a place for a picnic.

At which point I just have to say that the banner of the Moss Side Constituency Labour Party often appeared in the park but not in this picture which was taken in Liverpool in 1980 on another demonstration.

So if anyone has a picture of a demonstration in the park I would love to see it.

Location; Alexandra Park

Picture; popular protest, the Moss Side CLP banner, Liverpool, 1980 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

* The Alexandra Park Labour Demonstration, Manchester Guardian, May 8 1893

**Annot Robinson, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Annot%20Robinson

*** Votes for Women, Interruption in Alexandra Park, Manchester Guardian, July 13 1908

**** Women's Suffrage, The Conciliation Bill, Meeting in Alexandra Park, Manchester Guardian, October 10 1910

Walking through the lost Hulme and Moss Side

 Now I have been a great fan of Roger Shelley’s photographs for over a decade, ever since he shared a collection of pictures he took of a group of young lads playing in the near ruin of Hough End Hall nearly 60 years ago.

The attention to detail and his ability to capture the moment are skills I wish I had.

And so, I was very pleased when he posted another group of images he took during the house clearances in Hulme and Moss Side.

The pictures are a mix of street scenes, and the people he encountered, including kids at play, men and women at work and the ever present piles of rubble as the grand plan advanced and centuries old houses disappeared under the impact of the wrecking ball.

Like the work of Shirley Baker* his pictures don’t dwell on sentimentality and don’t make judgments of the wholesale clearances of communities.

They just record what he saw.

I don't have exact locations for the images, but some can be traced through the odd street name or feature.

And with his permission I will be working my way through the portfolio, fastening on images which tell their own stories.

Location; Hulme and Moss Side in the 1960s and 70s

Pictures;  from the collection of Roger Shelley, https://www.flickr.com/photos/photoroger/

*Baker, Shirley, Without a Trace, Manchester and Salford in the 1960s, 2018

Recording the end of communities .......

 Now I have been a great fan of Roger Shelley’s photographs for over a decade, ever since he shared a collection of pictures he took of a group of young lads playing in the near ruin of Hough End Hall nearly 60 years ago.

The attention to detail and his ability to capture the moment are skills I wish I had.

And so, I was very pleased when he posted another group of images he took during the house clearances in Hulme and Moss Side.

The pictures are a mix of street scenes, and the people he encountered, including kids at play, men and women at work and the ever present piles of rubble as the grand plan advanced and centuries old houses disappeared under the impact of the wrecking ball.

Like the work of Shirley Baker* his pictures don’t dwell on sentimentality and don’t make judgments of the wholesale clearances of communities.

They just record what he saw.

And with his permission I will be working my way through the portfolio, fastening on images which tell their own stories.

Location; Hulme and Moss Side in the 1960s and 70s

Pictures; Lost Manchester,  https://www.flickr.com/photos/photoroger/

*Baker, Shirley, Without a Trace, Manchester and Salford in the 1960s, 2018

How we lived …….. the lost Hulme and Moss Side

Now I have been a great fan of Roger Shelley’s photographs for over a decade, ever since he shared a collection of pictures he took of a group of young lads playing in the near ruin of Hough End Hall nearly 60 years ago.

The attention to detail and his ability to capture the moment are skills I wish I had.

And so, I was very pleased when he posted another group of images he took during the house clearances in Hulme and Moss Side.

The pictures are a mix of street scenes, and the people he encountered, including kids at play, men and women at work and the ever present piles of rubble as the grand plan advanced and centuries old houses disappeared under the impact of the wrecking ball.

Like the work of Shirley Baker* his pictures don’t dwell on sentimentality and don’t make judgments of the wholesale clearances of communities.

They just record what he saw.

And with his permission I will be working my way through the portfolio, fastening on images which tell their own stories.

Location; Hulme and Moss Side in the 1960s and 70s

Pictures;  from the collection of Roger Shelley, https://www.flickr.com/photos/photoroger/

*Baker, Shirley, Without a Trace, Manchester and Salford in the 1960s, 2018

What we did in Alexandra Park in 1906, nu 5 ......... admiring the Clock Tower

A short series of how we used Alexandra Park in 1906, from a collection Valentine’s Snapshots of Alexandra Park.

And no sooner had I posted this when Dave Hulson shared this, 

"Hi Andrew, I know the tower clocking Alexandra park was a gift from the market traders of Sheudehill Manchester as they didn't want or need it.

When it was erected at Alexandra Park it's clock faces never kept the correct time

This is where it gets a bit strange it was removed from the park ( date not known) and reappeared at Belle Vue on an island , but I don't know what happened to it after that or the date it was removed."

Well Dave that should set the memories going.

Location; Alexandra Park

Pictures; the Clock Tower, Alexandra Park, from Valentine’s Snapshots of Alexandra Park, date unknown, courtesy of Ann Love

What we did in Alexandra Park in 1906, nu 4 ........ at the bowling green

A short series of how we used Alexandra Park in 1906, from a collection Valentine’s Snapshots of Alexandra Park.



Pictures; The bowling green, Alexandra Park, from Valentine’s Snapshots of Alexandra Park, date unknown, courtesy of Ann Love

What we did in Alexandra Park in 1906, nu 3 ..... at the lake

A short series of how we used Alexandra Park in 1906, from a collection Valentine’s Snapshots of Alexandra Park.







Pictures; the lake, Alexandra Park, from Valentine’s Snapshots of Alexandra Park, date unknown, courtesy of Ann Love

Walking in Alexandra Park in the November of 2014 part 2

The thing about Alexandra Park is that it looks good pretty much all the year round and so here are a series of pictures from Andy Robertson taken at the end of November on a day when the sun shone and the last of the leaves had yet to fall.

I thought I would start with the lake not least because it will allow me to include one of almost the same spot taken over a century ago.

The earlier shots come from a delightful little collection marketed by the Valentine company under the simple title of “VALENTINE SNAPSHOTS, 12 REAL PHOTOGRAPHS FOR YOUR ALBUM 1/-.”

They date from 1906 and perfectly capture what the park once looked like.

Not that I want to short change Andy’s pictures which make me wish I had wandered down there myself.

The makeover has recreated a stunning place to walk and take time out from the usual busy demands of everyday life.

And of course there is much more to the park for not only has it given untold pleasure to countless generations of people but has a rich history, including demonstrations and events stretching back into the 19th century.

Pictures; walking in the park in November 20114, from the collection of Andy Robertson and the lake, Alexandra Park, from Valentine’s Snapshots of Alexandra Park, date unknown, courtesy of Ann Love