Pictures from an Eltham bus ........ no.19 ....... Friday morning

The top deck of a London bus has to be a pretty neat way of seeing the world below.

And when it is the same bus at about the same time every day then you have got yourself a project.

All you need is a camera and the patience each week to record the same spot and the rest as they say is Larissa Hamment’s “Pictures from an Eltham bus.”*

And on this very warmish day it's good to see that work continues to turn the old Co-op site into the cinema.

I know there are some who bemoan the loss of our old picture houses, but they closed at a time when people had given up on going out to the "flicks".

But there remains something magical about sitting in the dark and seeing giant images of your screen heroes.

So I await the next progress report from Larissa who I thank for her continuing task of recording Eltham as it changes.

Location, Eltham, London


Pictures;  the site of the new cinema, 2018, from the collection of Larissa Hamment

*Pictures from an Eltham bus, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Pictures%20from%20an%20Eltham%20Bus

Naples ............ the event in the street

Sometimes you just wonder what was going on to attract the attention of the four men.

Whatever it was it proved amusing for one and provoked another into a comment which we will never know.

Location; Naples









Picture; Naples in 2017 from the collection of Saul Simpson and Emilka Cholewicka

That red box on a wall at Edge Lane ...... the correction

Now yesterday I ran a story on a post box on Edge Lane, which featured the pictures of Robert Williamson and how it came to be restored to working order with the help of David Harrop.

The box is on a wall on the corner of Edge Lane and Hampton Road.

I was pleased with the story and with the response, particularly as people nominated their own one which were all relatively close by.

But I misled you, and Ian has corrected me with, “technically the box at Edge Lane is not a pillar box, but a wall box, designed to be inserted in a wall. 

Pillar boxes are the tall round ones or the 6-sided Victorian ones known as "Penfolds" [after their designer]. 

Readers may be interested in the work of the Letter Box Study Group, the world’s leading experts on post boxes. 

Their website is at: www.LBSG.org”.

All of which is as it should be, and a thank you to Ian.

Locations Chorlton

Picture; the Post Office Wall Box, 2014 from the collection of Robert Williamson

*The story of that Victorian pillar box on Edge Lane, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/the-story-of-that-victorian-pillar-box.html#comment-form

The story of that Victorian pillar box on Edge Lane

Now I like these two pictures of that post-box on the corner of Edge Lane and Hampton Road.

They were taken by Robert Williamson a few years ago, who asked if it was the oldest pillar box in Chorlton and I rather think it is.

My old friend David Harrop thinks so suggesting that it dates from the 1870s and he should know given that he has a large collection of memorabilia from both world wars and more particularly from the history of the Post Office.

Nor is that quite all, because David has a special connection with this pillar box.

Back in the 1990s he was working in the Facilities Branch of the Post Office which was responsible for the siting and maintenance of post boxes in Greater Manchester.

By then our Victorian box had become redundant replaced by a new one attached to a lamp post nearby. 

And to add insult to injury it had lost its door.

On discovering the sad plight of Queen Victoria’s best he instigated a search and the door was found in a garden restored to its rightful place which in turn led to the reinstatement of the said oldest pillar box in Chorlton.

He tells me that people are very sensitive about the position of their local pillar boxes and when the branch moved the one from outside Salford Fire Station it caused quite a storm despite only being moved 30 or so yards.

All of which leaves me to say that ours was made by Smith and Hawkes of Birmingham and given David’s interest in all things posty you won’t be surprised to know that in his collection he has a door from a Victorian pillar box.

Now that door isn’t on display in his permanent exhibition in the Remembrance Lodge at Southern Cemetery but there are lots of interesting things to see from post cards and medals from the Great War to a pillar box salvaged after the Coventry Blitz.

David was insistent I should go down to Edge Lane and take a picture but Robert has kindly let me use his.

So a winner all round, and for those wanting a bit more local history our box will have arrived on Edge Lane sometime in the 1870s reflecting that suburban creep which had seen fine new villas constructed by the well to do spreading up from the station at Stretford.

But that is another story.
Bit in the meantime I received a correction to the story, Ian has pointed out that, "technically the box at Edge Lane is not a pillar box, but a wall box, designed to be inserted in a wall. 

Pillar boxes are the tall round ones or the 6-sided Victorian ones known as "Penfolds" [after their designer]. 

Readers may be interested in the work of the Letter Box Study Group, the worlds leading experts on post boxes. Their website is at: www.LBSG.org".

Thank you Ian

Pictures the Edge Lane pillar box, 2014 from the collection of Robert Williamson

A bullet holed ambulance, and a shadowing story of a secret agent ....... Madge Addy from Chorlton

The story of Madge Addy is a fascinating one, not least because there is still more to discover.*

Madge Addy, 1938

On Saturday over 50 people gathered in front of number 34 Manchester Road to remember a very remarkable woman who was an active participant in two wars, was awarded the OBE and briefly worked here in Chorlton.

She remains a shadowy figure and until December 2016 I knew nothing about her, and even now the references to her work as a nurse during the Spanish Civil War and then her role as a secret agent in occupied France are fairly limited.

She wrote articles about the Spanish war which appeared along with her photograph in the Daily Worker, and there are fleeting references to her in books on both the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War.

And then like so many war heroes, she fades from the limelight.

But now there is a plaque which was unveiled on Saturday at 34 Manchester Road, which was attended by Cllr Eddy Newman, the Lord Mayor, and Jeff Smith MP for Manchester Withington, along with a representative from the British Legion.

In Marseilles

And interest is building.

Chris Hall, who organised the efforts to get the plaque, received a picture of Ms Addy with Wilhelm Holst during the Second World War, possibly in Marseilles.  Mr Holst was Madge Addy’s second husband and the picture comes from his grandson.

In time I am sure some of the gaps in the story will be filled, and only today I got an email from Margaret Riley who commented that Ms Addy was “Inspirational” and went on to say “I saw her bullet holed ambulance when she returned from Spain. Always remembered it.

The only ambulances I’d seen were the Disney printed ones, which would pick children up for tonsillectomies in the morning and bring them back in the afternoon.  I couldn’t see why this one had holes in it, and I can’t remember where I saw it, as I was taken to Stalybridge via Dukinfield and Ashton”.

The unveiling, 2018

Now I find that memory fascinating.  The news value of that bullet riddled ambulance will have been immensely useful in making the public aware of the war in Spain, and in particular, the illegal act staged by a group of the military against the democratically elected Government of Spain.

So, given that the date must be around 1938, a trawl of the Daily Worker and even the local Manchester papers may turn something up.

We shall see.

Picture; Madge Addy from the Daily Worker, 1938, in the company of Wilhelm Holst, date unknown, courtesy of Mr Host’s grandson and at the unveiling of the plaque, May 12, 2018 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Madge Addy, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Madge%20Addy

Pictures from an Eltham bus ........ no.18 .......

The top deck of a London bus has to be a pretty neat way of seeing the world below.

And when it is the same bus at about the same time every day then you have got yourself a project.

All you need is a camera and the patience each week to record the same spot and the rest as they say is Larissa Hamment’s “Pictures from an Eltham bus.”*

And on this very warmish day it's good to see that work continues to turn the old Co-op site into the cinema.

I know there are some who bemoan the loss of our old picture houses, but they closed at a time when people had given up on going out to the "flicks".

But there remains something magical about sitting in the dark and seeing giant images of your screen heroes.

So I await the next progress report from Larissa who I thank for her continuing task of recording Eltham as it changes.

Location, Eltham, London

















Pictures;  the site of the new cinema, 2018, from the collection of Larissa Hamment

*Pictures from an Eltham bus, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Pictures%20from%20an%20Eltham%20Bus

What we lost ...... what we have gained ....... from a Crown to a Bucket

This isn’t a nostalgic rant, nor a lament for another lost traditional Eltham pub.

The Crown, 1977

It could be but what is the point in that?  Pubs are closing at an ever faster rate across the country and I suppose that old phrase “use them or lose them” is as true as ever.

I don’t know exactly why the Crown closed.  I went in there a few times over the years before I left Well Hall and it struck me as a well run place, and then it closed.

And now as Larissa’s picture shows it is back in business.

I wish it well as I do any enterprise which seeks to maintain a tradition of selling beer from a site which was offering happiness and cheer from the mid 19^th century and probably much earlier.

The present building stands on the site of the older one which has a rich past and so having written about the place I rather would have liked to have a drink there.

In 1840 it was being run by John Blundell who was still there the following year, but seems to have retired by 1843 when the place was in the hands of John Martin who seems very much a young man with a determination to go places.

At the age of 19 he is there in the 1837 land tax records,renting a stable from a James Wright and land from a Mrs Dobson, and by 1843 is in the Crown renting the building and the yard.

The Rusty Bucket, 2018

And as he began his long partnership with the Crown I wonder what its former landlord did with his retirement, which sadly was not long for John Martin died at the age of 51 in 1844.

Not so John Martin who was to serve pints for another three decades.

Leaving me only to reflect on the new name which is the Rusty Bucket which breaks that long link with the Crown. 

But which does offer a range of beers and ciders, which are streets away from the stuff offered up by the big breweries in the late 1960s and 70s.

The Rusty Bucket can be found on twitter where its describes itself offering 

"craft beer, cask ale, gin, cider and wine" is "kid friendly till 6pm", and "doggo friendly all the time".

Location; Eltham

Pictures; the Crown in 1977, from the collection of Jean Gammons and the Rusty Bucket, 2018 courtesy of Larissa Hamment

*The Rusty Bucket, https://twitter.com/rustybucketpub?lang=en