Nothing to do in Oldham ……..

So there are possibly 96,420 people who I could offend with this picture postcard, which dates from the early 20th century. *

To which I could add heaps more who now live elsewhere, or passed through on a sight seeing tour, or like me visited occasionally to call on my friend Lois.

But a picture postcard dedicated to shrubbery and a set of gates is fair game.  

The commercial photographer who wandered into Alexandra Park sometime in the 1900s seems to have lacked a  bit of imagination, given that there are heaps of things he could have photographed.

And even more today which Oldham Council proudly declare is “Alexandra Park is a Victorian town park, which was built by the people of Oldham during the cotton famine sparked by the American Civil War, which prevented the export of raw cotton from America to Oldham. Small areas of clough woodland can be found at the southeastern end of the park.  There is a woodland walk adjacent to Queen’s Road.

From Alexandra Park there are marked paths leading into Snipe Clough, Brushes Clough and to Park Bridge Heritage centre and beyond".** 

And the attractions include a "Heated conservatory, Boating lake, Fishing club, Boathouse with cafe, 7 free tennis courts, 3 crown green bowling greens, Children’s play area, Sand pit, Toilets (when the gardeners are on site), Ornamental gardens, Herbaceous borders and shrub beds, Car parks. Alexandra Park is also the home of the 'Lion’s Den' a public shelter which has been recreated from an original design, and now forms the focal point along the promenade.”

All of which makes the park a fascinating place to visit and leaves me to point out that the picture postcard doesn’t do the place justice.

Even if this card is typical of many produced across the country.

That said it does anticipate that popular series of books produced by Andrew Simpson and Peter Topping which goes under the name of nothing to do in Chorlton.***

Location; Oldham

Pictures; Oldham Park, undated, courtesy of Tony Golding

*2012 census

**Alexandra Park, https://www.oldham.gov.uk/info/200393/parks_countryside_and_canals/676/alexandra_park

***A new book on doing nothing in Chorlton, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20doing%20nothing%20in%20Chorlton

The magic of the markets ............. crossing the Continent

Yesterday was a wet day in Varese.

And while today it is dry and sunny the weekend offers up more rain.

So far there is no sign of snow, but I live in hopes.

After all, it will soon be Christmas, and like Manchester, there is plenty of emphasis on the forthcoming festival, which should be accompanied by snow.

But in the absence of the stuff, I am reflecting on a day at the markets.

I have always liked markets, from the one at home in Woolwich, which once upon a time was so busy that the stalls spread out across the square forcing buses to gingerly crawl past them, flanked by traders and shoppers, to the battered old one in Grey Mare Lane and the bigger and busier ones in Ashton and Bury.

And into that mix are added the Christmas Markets, which pretty much pop up everywhere.

Varese has them, and so does Manchester, and here I have to confess to being a little down on them.

I like the idea, and I know lots of people find them fun, and come away with some smashing stuff, added to which there is a magic about wandering past countless different stalls, all lit up against the night, with the promise of all sorts of interesting things.

And there is no doubt that they bring in lots of people into the city centre, who go on to visit the pubs, bars and restaurants as well as the more traditional shops.

So, it all looks a winner, and on top of  this, there is the atmosphere, which reminds me of being taken to see the Christmas lights on Oxford Street in the 1950s

The historian in me wonders just how different the stalls might have been in the early  19th century, when in the absence of street lighting, the markets would have offered their own little bit of bright light, noise and bargains.

Of course I am well aware that the present Manchester Markets are a recent Christmas addition.

But there would have been their Victorian and Edwardian equivalents

And here there is a danger in being too romantic.  Those 19th century traders were forced to stay open late to catch workers, who in turn were late at work, and there was little in the way of trading regulations, with the result that some foods were heavily adulterated, and in the gloom offered by just candles and oil lamps, the quality of what was on offer was hard to judge.

Today, the lighting and the quality of the produce are not in question, it is just that often the products are replicated across the streets, but that I suspect is a small objection, compared to the magic of the markets, here or in Varese.

Location; Varese; and Manchester, 2016, and 2019

Pictures; Varese; 2016, 2017, and the Manchester markets, 2019, from the collections of Andrew Simpson and Balzano

When young Bertha Geary heard history in the summer of 1911

I am looking at a postcard of Didsbury sent in the summer of 1911.

But the scene is not as important as the message on the back, for Bertha Geary aged just 13 of School Lane has heard history.

“We saw the flying man on Tuesday night fly over head.  Beaumont is his name.  I wish you could have seen him.  It made such a noise.”

He was André Beaumont and he was one of 30 competitors in the Daily Mail Circuit of Britain Air Race in 1911. Flying in a Blériot XI he was the first to complete the course which was no mean achievement as many of the aircraft either failed to take off or crashed along the way.

So to him went the £10,000 prize awarded to a man whose real name was Lieutenant Jean Louis Conneau of the French Navy.

All of which today we take for granted but was pure magic and wonderment to young Bertha, after all the persistent buzzing of the aircraft’s engine above her head was something new and I guess louder than anything she had yet encountered.

The streets were still dominated by the horse drawn vehicle, few had telephones, and radio as a form of mass entertainment was still in its infancy.

So hers was a generation which would embrace profound changes, and this drew me towards Bertha Geary.

She was born in Prestwich in 1898, and her father described himself variously as a school keeper and general labourer.  One of her elder sisters worked as “children’s milliner” and the other made “children’s costumes.”

There the trail goes quiet for Bertha, because if she married I can find no record, nor of when she died but she did leave one clue and that was her address on the postcard.

It is a simple but vital clue which allowed me to track her family on the street directory for 1911, establish a surname and search the census for that year.

Her story and many others appear in Didsbury Through Time by Andrew Simpson and Peter Topping.

Picture; Bertha’s postcard from the book Didsbury Through Time

Didsbury Through Time is available in Didsbury from Morten’s Bookshop on Warburton Road, Didsbury, and of course from all other bookshops.

* E.J. Morten Booksellers, 6 Warburton Street, Didsbury, Manchester M20 6WA,
Telephone: 0161 445 7629, Email: morten.booksellers@lineone.net

Help Mr Shaw and give his photograph a suitable caption

This is a picture I have featured before
It can also be found in the collections of Chorlton pictures.

It is of Shaw’s garage on Barlow Moor Road which was there from about 1912.  Now it is a simple enough task because I want you to supply a caption for the picture which was taken to record the opening of the first kerb side petrol pump.

And so what might Mr Shaw have wanted as a suitable comment?

Now you can think your way back into the time with all the novelty that the motor car then had or try and reflect the pride of this enterprising businessman who only years before had been repairing bicycles.

I trust you can do better than the advert which appeared in 1928.

All suggestions, if any will be published on July 10th.

Pictures; from the Lloyd Collection and the St Clements Parish Magazine courtesy of Ida Bradshaw

The lost Eltham & Woolwich pictures ...... no. 45 ..... from the station

Now I say from the station, but I can' be sure, but the direction and the height would suggest I was looking down from the stairs that led form the platform to the road below.

This was one of the pictures I took of Eltham and Woolwich in the mid ‘70’s which sat undisturbed in our cellar.

But all good things eventually come to light.

They were colour slides which have been transferred electronically.

The quality of the original lighting and the sharpness is sometimes iffy, but they are a record of a lost Eltham and Woolwich.

And this one in particular is a lost scene because of course I could never replicate the shot.

The creation of a new station east of the old one means that there is no way I can stand on the same spot and that is shame because for two a bit years it meant I was home having left New Cross and a school I didn’t warm too for Eltham.

Somewhere just hidden from view was our house on Well Hall Road and beyond it the woods.

All very reassuring.

Location; Eltham

Picture; Eltham, circa 1978, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

When Santa stole Christmas ...... all this week on the wireless

So given the time of year, Radio 4 just had to put together a compilation of Santa/Christmas "bits" drawn from the archives, and what a  wonderful collection it is. 

The programme explores the historical roots of the chap, what it owes to US popular culture and consumerism and falls back on Christmas films and songs.  Now that makes it worth a listen

Location; on the wireless

Picture; when Santa arrived in Manchester, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*When Santa stole Christmas, Archive on Four, Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0001pk3

Citizen Kane ........ "one of the greatest films yet made" .... and one to listen to on the wireless

Citizen Kane, The Third Man and the Magnificent Ambersons rank as three of my most favourite films, all of which were made by Orson Wells.

Kane addressing a campaign meeting

And so this Radio 4 programe on Citizen Kane is a must to listen to.

"Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Orson Welles' film, released in 1941, which is widely acclaimed as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, films yet made. Welles plays the lead role of Charles Foster Kane, a newspaper magnate, and Welles directed, produced and co-wrote this story of loneliness at the heart of a megalomaniac. 

Jospeh Cotten, Orson Wells, and Everett Sloane

The plot was partly inspired by the life of William Randolph Hearst, who then used the power of his own newspapers to try to suppress the film’s release. 

It was to take some years before Citizen Kane reached a fuller audience and, from that point, become so celebrated.

With, Stella Bruzzi, Professor of Film and Dean of Arts and Humanities at University College London, Ian Christie, Professor of Film and Media History at Birkbeck, University of London, and John David Rhodes, Professor of Film Studies and Visual Culture at the University of Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson"

Location, on the wireless

Picture; Promotional still for the 1941 film, Citizen Kane, January 1941, International Photographer, Volume XII, Number 12, January 1941 (front cover), RKO Radio Pictures, still photographer Alexander Kahle and Promotional still for the 1941 film, Citizen Kane, CK-115, January 1941,International Photographer, Volume XII, Number 12, January 1941, RKO Radio Pictures, still photographer Alexander Kahle

*Citzen Kane, In Our Time, Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001g37l