Looking for a building still standing after half a century and a bit

Now there are lots of upsides of being retired, ranging from not having to face a packed rush hour tram to no longer having to be told what to do by someone who knows less than me.

When it was still new the College of Commerce, 1965

But one downside is the vast number of buildings I have known which have vanished over the years.

Of these the largest chunk are the schools I attended, along with the ones I taught in and the various colleges that had the privilege of entertaining me as a student in the early 1970’s.

From 1954 till 2008 of the eight educational establishments which I wandered through, all have gone bar one.

Oldwood Secondary Modern School in Wythenshawe is marked only by a gate post, which Derek the Developer chose to leave as my memorial, and Didsbury Teacher Training College has become an exclusive estate with properties I am told, topping the million mark.

Of course I won’t be alone in counting so many demolished homes, schools, shops and picture houses, but in my case they do count for a fair few.

And some of them have gone up and come down in the space of my life time.

Most were ready to go, but a few I am sure had a few extra years which brings me to the old College of Commerce Building on Aytoun Street.

Hall, Oldwood Secondary Modern, 1958

It was built in the mid 1960s by Manchester Education Committee, became part of Manchester Polytechnic and then the M.M.U.

I passed it last week and while the tower block was still standing the later additions including the car park have gone.

I did look up the plans for the site and must go back to jog my memory.
The good news is that it has revealed the canal side of an old warehouse which faced onto an arm of the Rochdale Canal.

All of this I have written about on the blog* and in the book on Manchester Pubs.**

Picture; the new College of Commerce in construction, W Highham, 1965,and Oldwood Secondary Modern School, 1956, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester ...... nu 66 Back Canal Street and Mr Thomas Griffiths, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/lost-and-forgotten-streets-of_16.html

**A new book on Manchester Pubs, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Manchester%20Pubs

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 A hotbed of Amateur Football .... a story by David Brundrit

In the 1800's rugby was the game played and one of the oldest clubs was Manchester FC founded in 1866 and whose ground was on Withington Road (now St. Bedes PF).

Chorlton Albion, 1924-25

The club also had a soccer team and in 1877 played Darwen in the first FA Cup Tie to be played in Manchester losing 3-1 and in 1886 were beaten by Newton Heath LYR (The Heathens) in the final of the Manchester & District Challenge Cup Final.

In the 1880's West Manchester were a top team who also played on the Withington Road ground and were founder members of the Lancashire League. On the 23/4/1887 West Manchester beat Newton Heath LYR who later changed their name to Manchester United 2-1 in the Manchester & District Challenge Cup Final.

Chorlton Albion, 19124-25

In the 1890's Chorlton-cum-Hardy & Whalley Range were playing friendly games on Withington Road and were two founder members of the Lancashire Amateur League Manchester Division in 1903 alongside Old Hulmeians (Wm.Hulme Grammar School old boys) who played on St.Werburghs Road and changed in St.Werburghs school. 1904  C_C_H and WR join together to form "The Chorlton"club for a tour of Germany.

In 1909 the LAL dropped the "Manchester Division" from their title and Manchester South East, again playing on Withington Road,joined the league so that 4 of the 9 clubs came from Chorlton.

1920 saw Old Chorltonians (Chorlton Grammar School old boys) joined the LAL and in 1921 Manchester YMCA were another club accepted into the LAL and they played at the bottom of Brantingham Road bordering onto Princess Road. Old Margaretians were an addition to the LAL in 1927 and played on their own ground on Brantingham Road.

Choelron Albion, 1924-25

The ground actually belong to St.Margaret's Sunday School and today is used by Maine Road FC who play in the North West Counties Premier League. Following St.Bedes College purchasing the ground on Withington Road Whalley Range eventually purchased their ground on Kings Road for £1,000 from Lord Egerton.

Churches, Sunday Schools and Boy's Brigade's formed teams and one such was Christ Church (on Princess Road) who later changed their name to West Didsbury and played across the road from the church on the corner with Barlow Moor Road,this was Christies Playing Field. West Didsbury played in the newly formed Lancashire & Cheshire League alongside two other clubs South Manchester and Rusholme on "Christies".

Further along Princess Road towards Manchester is Hough End Playing Fields the home of two top amateur clubs North Withington and East Chorlton amongst the many teams playing there. Both clubs eventually purchased their own gronds, North Withington on Altrincham Road Wythenshawe and East Chorlton at the bottom Of Brookburn Road Chorlton.

When East Chorlton became defunct West Didsbury obtained the ground and changed their name to West Didsbury & Chorlton. The ground was originally Chorlton-cum-Hardy Tennis and Bowling Club. WD&C also purchased the Hardy Lane UMIST site and the complex is a quality venue providing football for boys, girls and women.

Membership card Chorlton Albion, 1924-25

Chorlton Park has a number of football pitches and after the 2nd WW was the place to watch Sunday football which was not recognised by the Football Association and "pub" teams included professional and semi-professional players who supplemented their wages.

These games attracted big crowds as the teams made Millwall and Leeds Utd like Sunday School teams and the regular punch ups were an added bonus to the football.

The Harry Dalton PF on Wilbraham Road is now used by St.Bedes College but previously Wythenshawe Amateurs were amongst the many teams who used the ground. Harry Dalton was the founder of Wythenshawe Amateurs and the ground was originally known as the "Fed" ground as it is owned by the Manchester Federation of Boys Clubs and the home ground of Manchester United Youth team up to the 1960's. Chorlton Town beaten finalist on 4 occasions in the Manchester FA Challenge Trophy played on the ground when Wythenshawe Amateurs moved to Wythenshawe Cricket Club.

On  Mauldeth Road West where the Police Club is situated there was a fenced off pitch for the Deaf and Dumb club. Another small ground was at the top of Sandy Lane with the entrance  via Caddington Road owned by a motor company and used by various teams.

Footnote: Northern Nomads in the 1980's played on the ground now used by Maine Road FC and were the only club to have won both the FA Amateur Cup and the Welsh FA Amateur Cup and hold the record for attaining the highest score when beating Stockton 7-1 in the FA Amateur Cup Final in 1925.

It should be noted that they only managed to beat Whalley Range 1-0 in the last minute in the 1st Round of the FA Amateur Cup in 1925.

© David Brundrit, 2017

Pictures; courtesy of Anne Love

Salford People through the camera of Phil Portus ......Sandra Opoku & Michelle Darby

In the 1970s Phil Portus set out to record  Salford people.

He writes, Sandra,  as a child,  lived in a large terraced house on South Anne Street opposite the Langworthy Estate.  They both attended St Joseph's Infant School in Ordsall and then went on to Sacred heart School (Cathedral High)

Sandra  recalls "Happy times for me, however they did have a lot of racism at that point and coming from a mixed parentage, that had an impact on my life as well as growing up in the Salford environment.
But we are in multicultural society now which is a bit more accepting, but back then it was quite tough. I had lovely friends like Michelle who kept me going and kept me smiling"

Sandra and Michelle lost touch after secondary  school, eventually Sandra  got married and moved away.

She has 2 grown up children and currently works in the accounts department for Unilever and has a telecommunication business in Africa.

As a child, Michelle had lived in one of the  council flats above the arch on the Langworthy Estate.

Michelle recalls that it was safer for children to play out when she was a child. Children  generally belonged to  large extended families living in close proximity and they all looked after each other.

Michelle now works on reception at the Trafford Cricket Ground.  She has 2 grown up sons and lives in Peel Green, Eccles.

© Phil Portus 2016

Pictures; courtesy of Phil Portus, 1977-2016

*Phil Portus, http://www.philportus.co.uk/

Stories of the Crescent in Salford yet to be told

Now I bet there will be plenty of stories about the Crescent.

Not that Mr Frederick Engels or Mr Marx will be calling me with their tales of boozy nights over the thorny bits of “Dialetical Materialism”*

Nor I suspect will it be the man who lost his stage coach ticket after a heavy night at the place and could only remember that he thought he might have been drinking in the Red Dragon.

And that rather sets the scene.

The popular story has Mr Marx and Engels in there swapping pints with discussions on how history worked and the future and that the pub was once the Red Dragon.

All of these and more stories can be found in that excellent site, Manchester Pubs and never one to steal another’s research I will just direct you to the link.**

All I will say is that I did a quick trawl of the directories and could find no Red Dragon,.

That said I only went back to 1850 when the Crescent was run by Hannah Bradburn and interestingly it doesn’t show up in later lists

So instead that just leaves me to comment on Peter’s painting which I like, and make that usual appeal for any stories or pictures, particularly ones from inside which rarely ever survive, if they were ever taken.

Painting; the Crescent, Salford © 2015 Peter Topping 

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Facebook: Paintings from Pictures https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures

*That political and historical events result from the conflict of social forces and are interpretable as a series of contradictions and their solutions and expressed succinctly as  “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." The Communist Manifesto, Chapter 1 Bourgeois and Proletarians, 1848

**Pubs of Manchester Past & Present, http://pubs-of-manchester.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Crescent%20-%20The%20Crescent

When the story is the address ........ postcards from Oldham during the Great War

Now for some this postcard offers up little in the way of a story.

Silk cards like this one were common both during and after the Great War, and many have survived the century or so since.

Along with ones destined for home and family which, were for “a loving wife” or “dearest daughter” there were those carrying the regimental badge or name of a unit of the British army.

Most of the ones in the collection are for the Manchester Regiment, but there is one for the Post Office Rifles, a few from Canada and this one for the Cheshire Regiment.

All belong to David Harrop who has kindly shared them with me and some appeared in the book on Manchester and the Great War.*

In the case of this one there is a story and it revolves around the address on the reverse.

It was sent by Private James Moseley of the Cheshire Regiment who addressed it from D Company 12 Tent, Chadderton camp, Royton, near Oldham.

Chaderton Army Camp was on land requisitioned by the military at the outbreak of the war and had been part of the estate belonging to Chadderton Hall.

In time I will go looking for Private Moseley but for now it is that address directing the postman to Tent 12 that intrigues me and offers up the start of a story about military training under canvas during the Great War

Location; Oldham during the Great War

Picture; silk postcard, undated, courtesy of David Harrop

*A new book on Manchester and the Great War, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Manchester%20and%20the%20Great%20War

More from Tony Goulding ......The Art Heritage of Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Normally I don’t return to previous posts; however I am happy to do so in this instance. 

Following a request from a descendant I was further researching the Haigh family and came across a story which enhances both their history and the story of the High Lane.

“The Oakes” The Haigh’s family home on Greenheys Lane, Hulme in the 1880’s

The Haighs were a prominent family in Edwardian Chorlton-cum-Hardy centred on The Oaks Music School situated at the junction of Wilbraham and Manchester Roads.

The picture opposite shows the family’s earlier home and comes from a painting of it by Juliet Knowles who was related by marriage to the Haighs. Juliet’s sister Florence married Robert Wallace Haigh at St. Mary’s, Hulme on 16th October, 1894.

Juliet had two brothers who were also artists, Frederick James (a landscape and figurative painter) and the more celebrated George Sheridan (who is described as a “Genre” artist). Juliet and George Sheridan lived as children on High Lane, Chorlton-cum-Hardy in the house which became when they left it in March, 1873 Robert Davies’s “Commercial School” (1)

High Lane, 2017

Their younger brother, Frederick James, was born the following year with the family living at 117, Moss Lane West, Hulme, Manchester..
   
All three of these “Knowles” became professional artists whose works are regularly sold at auction houses around the world. George Sheridan appears to have been the most successful; after starting his career in Manchester he settled in the affluent London area of Hampstead.

Frederick James also moved away from the area to Oswestry in Shropshire and later near Macclesfield, Cheshire.

Only Juliet remained working in Manchester.

The 1890,s rate books show her with a studio on the 3rd floor of the Oxford Arcade on Oxford Street.

In the 1933 trade directory she is located at Ocean Chambers, 54, Deansgate. (2)

Former art school, 2017

The value of auctioned lots of paintings by each of the three artists varies but as a rough guide the highest “hammer prices” were obtained by George Sheridan – up to around £10,000. Frederick James’s landscapes fetch up to £1,500 whilst Juliet’s still lifes reach up to around £500.


Thus we have three more local artists to add to Thomas Edwin Mostyn who ran his art school on High Lane at the turn of !9th?20th centuries. The glass roof of its studio is still evident today in the building which now houses the Buddhist’s World Peace Café.

© Tony Goulding

Pictures, The Oakes, 1897, Juliet Knowles,m31791, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass, remaining images from the collection of Tony Goulding

NOTES

1) The school’s name was changed after two years to “Chorlton High School” The proprietor sold the building to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford in 1897 from when it was used as Chorlton-cum-Hardy’s first Catholic Church and parish school. After the new church was opened in 1927 it retained its educational role until a new school was built in the 1960’s. It now functions as a parish centre (with a successful amateur boxing club using part of the old school buildings)
2) Juliet resided with her father until his death after which she moved in with her younger sister, Florence and brother-in-law Robert Wallace Haigh and their children. This arrangement lasted for over 40 years first in Stockport and later in Levenshulme, Manchester.