A chance to visit St George’s Garrison Church in Woolwich

Now here' one to do.

Today's mailing from Shooter's Hill includes the news that "will be open for London Open House weekend, despite not appearing in the Open House brochure. 

Between 10am and 5pm on the 19th and 20th September we’ll be able to see the marvellous mosaics after phase 1 of their restoration and the new tensile fabric roof that protects them. 

It is planned to have a mini-autumn festival at the church, with food and arts and craft stalls. There is no charge for stalls, if you’d like to take part contact Julie Ricketts, the Heritage Project Officer, on hpostgeorgeswoolwich@gmail.com. 

Also contact Julie if you’re interested in helping other Friends of St George’s to show visitors round on either of the two days."

The full story can be read at e Shooters Hill*


*e'Shooters Hill, http://e-shootershill.co.uk/open-3/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+e-shootershill+%28e-shootershill%29

That Congregational Chapel sitting nicely against the Beetham Tower

Now I like pictures that contrast shapes and history.

So here is one taken by Andy Robertson down at Castlefield in February.

The tall tower of the old Congregational Chapel sits nicely against the Beetham Tower.

The chapel was built in 1858 by Edward Walters in the Veneto-Byzantine style and has had many different uses which at one time included a recording studio with a cafe bar in the basement.

And I rather remember it being used as auction rooms in the late 1970s, but I might be wrong.

Back in those days Castlefield was still a grim place with its once proud industrial heritage slowly sliding into dereliction.

For me it was just one those routes by bus from into town.

Occasionally I did get off the bus and take some pictures but back then I had little idea of the rich history that was everywhere around me.

Later still, the old station complex became the museum and the area was awarded a world heritage status

Picture; from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Manchester, Clare Hartwell, 2008

Passing through Derby Station on a Sunday in September ............

Now sometimes it is the unremarkable picture which offers up a story.

The train was passing through Derby on its way from Bristol to York and Lois caught the moment mainly I suspect because Derby was where mother grew up and where I spent many holidays.

As such it is a place I have often written about but in truth with little affection.

That said it plays an important place in our family who grew up in a small area bounded by Traffic Street, the railway station and the canal.

Like many in the early 19th century they were agricultural labourers who migrated to the nearby town and made a living as handloom workers, domestic servants and in the new engineering works.

And when the time they came acquitted themselves in the armies of the old Queen and later still in the great global conflicts of the last century, but always they returned to the same small collection of streets.

Of those that left and never returned, one is buried in a war grave in Thailand, two crossed the Atlantic and mother settled in London.

It’s a set of family stories which could be replicated countless times and all that makes it different is that it’s my family.

And I had come to forget that story which makes Lois’s picture very timely and has set me off on a whole new quest.

Picture; Derby Station, 11.47, Sunday September 13, 2015, from the collection of Lois Elsden

Make a date with the Red House ........... home of William Morris ...

Now I am a great fan of William Morris.

For years we had his wallpaper up in our hall, I have reproductions of some of his work and have read News From Nowhere,but I never visited his house in Bexleyheath.

But this Sunday courtesy of Heritage Week I could pay the place a call.

Heritage Week is the one week in the year where plenty of historical buildings and gardens usually closed to the public are open for inspection.

And so it is with Red House,* which offers “free entry to William Morris' house, founder of the Arts and Crafts movement. The only house he commissioned, created and lived in, Red House is a building of extraordinary architectural and social significance which is set amongst a wonderful garden in the midst of suburbia.

Entry to the house will be on an unguided basis with a maximum of 50 in the house at one time to ensure everyone has an enjoyable visit.”**

Now I could go on and explore his work and influence, as well as his political; writings and much more but I won’t, instead recommend you visit the place which Ann has pointed out is "usually open Wednesday to Sunday 11 to 5"

So if you miss tomorrow there are also other opportunities.

I will await the stories and pictures.

Picture; The Red House, May 2014, Ethan Doyle White

*The Red House, Red House Lane, Bexleyheath, London DA6 8JF,

**Visiting the Red House, Sunday September 13 : 1100-1700, http://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/directory/red-house#sthash.dFgv21b7.dpuf

Walking past New Cross Fire Station

Some things about Queen’s Road don’t seem to have changed in fifty years.

The Fire Station is still there and so is Edmund Waller School but much else has gone including that row of shops from Lausanne to Dennet’s Road.

But reading back copies of the BBC news I see that even the fire station was nearly lost when it was one of those slated for closure in 2013.*

And that would have been a shame.  It was built between 1893-4 and is an impressive building reminding me of a grand French Chateau rather than a work a day fire station.

That said I just took the place for granted and only now have come to appreciate it.
And much the same is true of Edmund Waller, which I left in the summer of 1961 and have less happy memories.

Now I am not inclined to that old belief that your school days are the happiest time of your life.  Mine weren’t and that I guess is partly because of my problems with dyslexia and also the shadow of 4a which still bites deep bringing back a mix of humiliation and failed achievements.

On reflection they should never have promoted me from 3b, in the September of 1960.
I was as they say a fish out of water.  All my friends including Jimmy O’Donnell and John Cox stayed in the second class, I found much of the work difficult and had to endure all the preparations for the 11 plus which Miss Reeves confidently announced to mother I would fail, which of course I did.

Added to which there was that top class ethos which I didn’t fit into.  After all I had not travelled the first three years of Juniors with the other children so didn’t really know them and at least one felt so superior that he insisted my name should be left of a group project.

As it so happened I came across Barry “something or other” some years back on a social network proudly listing his academic and professional achievement and his current job somewhere in California.

I could have responded but chances are he would never have remembered me or the incident and to pass a comment seemed very childish.

But enough of such bitterness within a few months I left the school for Samuel Pepys and later still for Crown Woods.

I never went back to Edmund Waller and doubt I ever will.

But the fire station now that is a different thing.  One day it might feature as one of the places to go during Heritage Week when all sorts of interesting places are thrown open to the curious and historically minded.

But not so this year.  Instead there is an event at the South London Gallery** “working with historical material found in Southwark Local History Library and Archive, artist, composer and performer Sarah Hughes has developed a series of works relating to the early history of South London Gallery (SLG) and its proposed impact on the local community."**

Sadly I won’t be there but perhaps some will and report back.

Picture; New Cross Fire Station, January 17 2007, © Danny Robinson licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license, and Edmund Waller School from the collection of Colin Fitzpatrick

*Two London fire stations win reprieve from closure plan, July 10 2013, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-23263766

**South London Gallery, 65-67 Peckham Road, London, Greater London, SE5 8UH -  http://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/directory/as-with-dwelling-so-with-life-sarah-hughes#sthash.RFN1U7So.dpuf, http://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/directory/as-with-dwelling-so-with-life-

A new chapter in the story of the Whalley Hotel

There will be many people who have their own story about the Whalley Hotel and even though it closed without much warning the stories still go on.

Well I say stories but for now it focuses on just one which is all to do with its future.

Like many I had wondered what that future might.

At worst there were those who though it might be pulled down while others speculated on a residential conversion.
But what was clear was that its days as a pub were over.

I did go looking at the planning applications but missed the proposal for “a change of use into 14 self-contained apartments (with associated parking, landscaping and elevational alterations”*

And it took a contribution to the blog to alert me to the application which had been lodged in April and approved in July.

All of which makes me wonder if Peter will go back and paint the finished development.

His first painting which was completed in 2013 has featured on the blog in various stories and I  have no doubt the new one will make its appearance in due course.**

And that is all I am going to say for now.

Painting; The Whalley Hotel,  © 2013 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures,
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

*108296/FO/2015/S1 | Change of use of vacant public house (class A4) into 14 self-contained apartments (Class C3) with associated parking, landscaping and elevational alterations | The Whalley Hotel 2 Withington Road Whalley Range Manchester M16 8AA, , Manchester City Council Online Planning, http://www.publicaccess.manchester.gov.uk/associateddocs/MCCList1.aspx?108296/FO/2015/S1

**“Wally of the Whalley” Says Goodbye ......... stories of the Whalley Hotel, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/wally-of-whalley-says-goodbye-stories.html

In Dukinfield with Andy Robertson and the Princess Cinema on King Street

Now we all know that there is nothing sadder than a pub with no beer, but perhaps worse is the old cinema with no customers and not even a discarded bag of popcorn to show what happy times the place once offered.

This is or I should say was the Princess Cinema on King Street in Dukinfield and was a picture house I never knew.

It closed a full nine years before I came to Manchester and by the time we arrived in Ashton I guess many had even forgotten about it.

So I turned to that excellent site Cinema Treasures to learn that,

“There doesn’t seem to be much information on this cinema but I know it was built in 1913 and was a cinema till 1960.

In 1956, was the scene of a riot, during a showing of “Rock Around the Clock” when Teddy boys jived in the aisles and slashed seats. 

After closure, it became a bingo hall and, more recently, a snooker hall. I have played snooker there and it seems in good condition.”*

And my old mate Andy Robertson was passing yesterday and couldn’t resist adding it to his collection of departed places.

Andy continues to do an excellent job of recording how the twin cities and the outer townships are changing.

My only fear is that one day he will take a picture of me or our house and I fear where that might lead.

Picture; Princess Cinema on King Street in Dukinfield, 2015, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*cinema treasures, http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/6751