Lost and forgotten streets of Salford no 50 on Blackfriars Street

Another from John Casey

Location; Salford






Picture; Salford in the 1980s from the collection of John Casey

Pictures from an Eltham bus ........ no.24 ....... the cinema

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

Almost finished, 2018

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”.*

In the case of our new cinema, Larissa has been recording the story from before the old Co-op building came down, and has covered its demolition, the clearing of the site and the slow rise of the new picture house, our first for decades.

Back in 2017

Now what I like about todays picture, is that amongst the early morning commuters, she has captured Greggs, open for business, poking out from the edge of the development.

Those, who like me left Eltham a long time ago, will be intrigued by the return of a picture house.

I remember all three from the ABC, to the Eltham Hill Gaumont which was the Odeon and of course my favourite, the one by the roundabout in Well Hall.

I have memories of what I went to see at each and which girl friend I accompanied too all of them.

 Eltham Cinema, 1913

But there was an earlier cinema which was on the corner of the High Street and Westmount Road.

It was opened in 1913 and demolished in 1968 which means I must have seen it countless times on my way to school at Crown Woods but even now it does not register with me.”

During the winter of 1913 had been around  I might well have decided to take myself off to where I could have seen epics like the Battle of Waterloo, stories drawn from great novels like Zola’s Germinal or melodramas loosely based on the Old Testament along with documentaries about nature, disasters at sea and much more.

The Battle of Waterloo, 1913

Its proprietor was a Mr Robert Frederick Bean who was listed in 1913 at 4 Everest Road.

A few years earlier he was in Brockley describing himself as a manufacturer’s agent for lace.

He was 31, had been married for three years and had two children and employed a nurse and a housemaid.

I wish I knew more about them but that is about it although they do seem to have moved around a bit living in Lewisham as well as Brockley and Eltham.

Before the new cinema, 2016

And Tricia had found out more, "it had 1 screen and seated 400  people. It was built in 1912 opened 1913 and closed 1937”.

So we have a rich inheritance of silver screens, which will soon be back.

Location; Eltham

Pictures; the new cinema, 2018, and earlier in 2016-7 from the collection Larissa Hamment, Eltham Cinema, courtesy of Thisiseltham, and screenshot from The Kinematograph Year Book, 1914,

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


**Eltham's cinemas, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Eltham%27s%20Cinemas

***Thisiselatham, http://www.thisiseltham.co.uk/

Before a bit of Salford became history ........ off looking for the Trafford tram spur no.2

Now, because so often we ignore how things change around us, Andy Robertson took himself off last week, to look at just how the new tram spur to Trafford Centre is changing the landscape.

He started off at “to Exchange Quay, walked down Trafford Wharf Road for a bit, then back to Pomona tram stop “, and along the way looked across at the developments on the Salford skyline, turned up a bit of industrial archaeology and caught the work on the tram tracks.

So here is the first of the new series and given that Andy never sticks to a plan we will be wandering in and out of Salford, but never too far away.

After all when you down by the docks it is possible to slip across the borders of Manchester, Salford and Trafford all in the pursuit of something fascinating.

Location; along the line of the new tram route

Pictures; in and out of Salford, 2018 from the collection of Andy Robertson

Manchester Retold ......A City’s Journey Through History ....Tonight at Central Ref

Tonight at Central Ref ........ an evening of history

From Peterloo to World War Two, discover Manchester's pivotal moments in history. Join the History Press for a special evening of readings and book signings with six local authors, beginning at
5 pm – Peterloo and Abel Heywood
Graham Phythian (Peterloo)
Joanna Williams (Abel Heywood)

5:45pm Victorian/Edwardian Crime in Manchester
Michala Hulme - Manchester Crime.

6:15 -7:15pm World War 1 & 2
Sheila Brady  - Manchester in WW1 &
Andrew Simpson – Manchester in WW1
Graham Phythian – Manchester Blitz WW2

7:15 – 7:45pm Book signings


This event will take place in the Performance Space of Central Ref.

The event is free ...... but with only 108 places you are advised to follow the link and book soon.*

Location; Manchester

Picture; Central Ref, 2013, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

* https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/manchester-retold-a-citys-journey-through-history-tickets-51397657778?aff=ebdssbdestsearch#

“While we rejoice at the advent of peace ... we remember with awe the price”* ..... with the Together Trust yesterday in Cheadle

It was a touching act of commemoration in Cheadle yesterday, when the Together Trust remembered the staff and “boys” who served in the Great War and the 33 who never came back.**

At the centre of the event was the plaque in memory of those who died which stands in the grounds of the Together Trust and is surrounded by five silhouettes, funded by the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust.

Young people from the Trust’s Ashcroft service had worked hard to learn more about the charity during World War One and were involved in the production of art work, music and poetry to mark the occasion.

You can read the full story of the preparations for the day by following the link to their blog.***

Location Cheadle

Pictures; courtesy Liz Sykes, Records, Archives and Information Manager at the Together Trust

*"While we rejoice at the advent of peace and the vindication of righteousness, we remember with awe the price. How many homes in our beloved land will mourn some who will never return! 

The end of the war has even renewed the sense of loss to many. We have our own sad yet proud record as an Institution. There was a ready response to our country’s need in the early days of the war from officers and boys alike, and we have had the sad tidings time by time of those who have fallen – a member of Committee, three officers in charge of the boys, and 29 of the boys themselves”.  Children’s Haven, 1918

**Together Trust, http://togethertrustarchive.blogspot.com/p/about-together-trust.html

***Remembering those who fought in WW1, http://togethertrustarchive.blogspot.com/2018/10/remembering-those-who-fought-in-ww1.html

Before a bit of Salford became history ........ off looking for the Trafford tram spur no. 1

Exchange Quay

Now, because so often we ignore how things change around us, Andy Robertson took himself off last week, to look at just how the new tram spur to Trafford Centre is changing the landscape.

He started off at “Exchange Quay, walked down Trafford Wharf Road for a bit, then back to Pomona tram stop", and along the way looked across at the developments on the Salford skyline, turned up a bit of industrial archaeology and caught the work on the tram tracks.

Across the water

So here is the first of the new series and given that Andy never sticks to a plan we will be wandering in and out of Salford, but never too far away.

After all when you down by the docks it is possible to slip across the borders of Manchester, Salford and Trafford all in the pursuit of something fascinating.

Location; along the line of the new tram route

Pictures; in and out of Salford, 2018 from the collection of Andy Robertson

Looking out from the Naval College ...... and all there is to see

I never quite feel at home in London until the train pulls over the river into Waterloo.

Now that may seem very parochial, but as a south east Londoner that is how it is.

And whenever I am home in Well Hall, there comes that moment when I gravitate down to the river.

For me it is usually Woolwich, but on a fine sunny day I have been known to wander into Greenwich.

As kids we would walk it, crossing the Heath and by degree walking the walk along the wide road through the park to the monument of General Wolfe and then down to the Maritime Museum.

Back then I never got a chance to walk around the Naval College, but Anastasia did and in the process took these two fine pictures which show off the building and more especially the changing landscape of “other side”.

It is a scene I don’t recognise but I parted company with Greenwich in 1973 when with just the price of a single railway ticket I confirmed my decision three years earlier to give Manchester a try.

And apart from occasional visits home, usually with the children to show them their roots and catch up with family my adopted city is where I have settled.

But Anastasia’s pictures, remind me of all those lessons on classical architecture and literature, where buildings balanced each other out and a poem with rhyming couplets did the same.

I could go on, but I won’t.

Location Greenwich

Pictures; Greenwich, 2018, from the collection of Anastasia Cathy Trotman