Beech Road, the church above a shop, and a story from Paul Maylor

I like the way that that sometimes a picture reveals a story which most of us will have never come across.

This is Wilton Road on the corner of Beech Road and the building behind has in its time been a grocer’s shop, a launderette and is now a restaurant and for almost all of the 19th century stretch back into the century before it was a wattle and daub cottage known as Sutton’s cottage.

All this was familiar to me  but what I didn’t know was the connection with the upstairs room of the building and Chorlton Evangelical Church.

For the following story and the pictures I am indebted to Paul Maylor who writes, "Chorlton Evangelical Church has met in its own building on the corner of Brookburn Road and  Ivygreen Road facing the old St.Clement’s graveyard since 1951, but originally rented a hall above John Williams & Sons (grocers) on the corner of Beech Road and Wilton Road now the site of the 'Laundrette' restaurant. 

Originally known as Chorlton Christian Fellowship, the name was changed to the current one in 1953.

The church met there from 1930 when I believe the row of shops was only newly built, through to 1951. 

This picture shows a group from the Sunday School stood outside the door to the stairs leading up to the upper hall, so it is sometime in the period before the move away in 1951. 

The doorway is now hidden behind the wooden fence/partition at the rear of the 'Laundrette,' the protruding wall has gone by then but the line could be seen on the ground.

The picture of the church building dates from sometime soon after the opening in December 1951 and the change of name to Chorlton Evangelical Church.

This is the original building and the white hall which is at the side of the building today wasn’t built until the 1960s.”

And like all good stories Paul has promised more, commenting “I have realised that there is one lady who still attends the church who will probably remember the names of at least a few of the faces in the photos that I have, so I hope to check facts with her and add more later. 

Meanwhile for your own interest, I’ve attached one of the images which I hope to get one or more names confirmed for. 

It looks to me like some sort of a Sunday School trip, in the 1950s or maybe the 1960s. I can’t tell if they are at their destination, or about to board from somewhere in Chorlton, which would probably be around Beech Road or Chorlton Green.

I think the man in glasses on the right of the picture is might be Ken Saulez, who I only met a few times in his later years when he was a trustee of the church but then living in Alderley Edge. I think he had previously lived on Morville Road.”

So as they say, watch this space.

Location; Chorlton in the 1950’s

Pictures; Wilton Road, the Chorlton Evangilical Church and a an outing, circa 1950’s, courtesy of Paul Maylor

In Didsbury ……….. with the offer you can’t turn down

Now here’s a challenge and an offer, take a picture of somewhere in Disbury, and I if I can, I will find a story about the picture.

Warburton Street, 2020

The Edit, Wilmslow Road, 2020

Of course, your name will appear in the story.

There is no prize other than the knowledge you have contributed to the story of Didsbury.

You can leave a comment with an email address on the blog, which I won’t publish, or send a message via Facebook or Twitter.

Location; Didsbury

Pictures, Warburton Street, and the Edit, 2020, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Broughton Park R.F.C.. ... a story by Tony Goulding

During the last five or so years I have written a number of contributions to this blog exploring Chorlton-cum-Hardy's various connections to both football and cricket. 

Broughton Park’s present ground at Hough End Crescent 

I have until now, however, not submitted a story concerning that other popular spectator sport, rugby.

Although the city of Manchester was and is soccer dominated there are, also, a number of rugby clubs in the Greater Manchester area. Rugby League is represented by two clubs in the city of Salford, Swinton and the historically more successful Salford. (1)

Closer at hand there is the Union club Sale (now known as Sale Sharks). What is easy to overlook, however, is that Chorlton- cum-Hardy itself is home to another Rugby Union club of some note; Boughton Park. Indeed, in the 1960’s and 70’s they were one of the premier clubs of England, (2) with their results regularly given in the Rugby Union results broadcast on “Grandstand”; the BBC’S Saturday afternoon sports programme.

Broughton Park in action, December 1959 

One reason Broughton Park’s Chorlton-cum-Hardy heritage is less widely known lies in the club’s name which indicates that when it was formed in 1882 it was based in the Broughton area of Salford and it was not until the mid-1950's that it re-located to Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

This was at Chelsfield Grove for almost half a century until the club’s move to its present ground on the other side of Mauldeth Road at Hough End Crescent in 2004.
   

27 Steps, Mauldeth Road, 1959

Whilst growing up in the area I was aware of a rugby ground off Mauldeth Road as the public footpath (known by some locals as “The Bumps”) which runs between Nell Lane and Mauldeth Road was a favourite playground and gave views across the ground from the “27 Steps” (3) at its far end.

It was not however until I returned to Manchester in 1989 that I attended any matches there. By that time, I had developed a liking for the sport of rugby, stimulated in part by my time spent at University College Cardiff in that hotbed of rugby union, South Wales.

Programme, 1989

 Programme

Although, by the end of the 1980’s the fortunes of Broughton Park R.F.C. had gone into somewhat of a decline as this fixture list from one of 1989-90 seasons programmes shows they could still engage in playing some fairly high-profile clubs.

There were the local derbies against Sale and other home games against the Metropolitan Police and the curiously named Preston Grasshoppers.

The club also had a prestigious away fixture with the West of Scotland. Broughton Park were promoted in this season of 1989-90 but with the impact of the increasing professionalisation of rugby union since 1995, the club has struggled to climb any higher in the sport’s league structure.

They currently play at level 6 in the North West 1 League. The club are, however, the highest ranked rugby union club in the city of Manchester and proud to field 4 men’s and 1 women’s team each week. They have also eagerly embraced “Mini Rugby” and now have teams in all the six year groups from U-6 through to U-12.

Entrance to club, 2020

Entrance notice board

Tony Goulding © 2020

Location; Chorlton

Pictures, Broughton Park in action December 1959 m 07709 R.E. Stanley, “27 Steps” Mauldeth Road 1959 R.E. Stanley m18106courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass, remaining images courtesy of Tony Goulding


Notes: -
1) Wider afield in Greater Manchester there are other top Rugby League clubs. Wigan being the most prominent having 22 Championship wins and 19 Challenge Cup victories; including 8 successive successes between 1988 and 1995. There is also Leigh and Rochdale, who have always been “Rochdale Hornets” long before the modern trend were all teams have an epithet added to their name.
2) During the 1970’s, Broughton Park not only had the England captain Tony Neary but also could choose from 4 other international players.
3) The “27 Steps” were christened as such in honour of John Buchan’s the “39 steps” and were a place of childhood romance.

Bricks, flowers, and pipes ………….. Beech Road

Location; Beech Road








Picture; Bricks, flowers and pipes, 2020, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

With Charlie and Chippy in bombed out London on February 5th 1941 and the telegraph message that all was well

On leave , 1941

There is something quite sobering in realizing that events which were still fresh in many people’s memories when I was growing up are now 79 years old.

For my generation the Battle of Britain was still recent history.

I was born soon after it began and I grew up with family stories of watching the vapour trails in the skies over Kent and those old black and while films of “the Few.”

Later still on warm summers evenings we would drive out to the Kent pubs some of which were close to the old RAF stations.

But 75 years is a long time and it is easy to take the events for granted after all they are well known and the significance of those few months in the summer of 1940 can get lost in the bigger picture of a war which involved millions and was spread over the continents of the world.

The Line Book

To do so of course is to lose sight of what those months meant to the people who lived through them from the pilots who fought in the skies, the ground crews tasked with keeping the plane s airworthy and the backroom men and women maintaining the radar stations and plotting the incoming enemy aircraft.

Added to which were the families of all those in the front line, watching from a distance and always prepared for the worst.

It is not easy to get a real sense of what all that meant but sometimes you can get a glimpse.

And this month I have been lent the Line Book of 222 Squadron who fought in the Battle of Britain.  The book which is really a day to day record of what went on belongs to my friend David Harrop who acquired it after it had been found in a skip.

Charlie and Chippy in London......... "B flight holding its end up" 1941

So over the next few weeks I want to share this very human set of stories, but I am beginning with a telegram which comes from February 1941.

By then the battle had been won and 222 squadron after a spell in Scotland was back in the south of England on “offensive duties.”

And on Wednesday February 5th, “Chippy and Charlie” telegraphed F/Lt Van Mintz D.F.C., with  “just a line to let you know B flight is holding its end up in London.”

All I know of the three is that F/Lt Van Mintz D.F.C.,was according to David, "Brian Van-Metz a South African ace known to his mates as jeep jeep," and "Chippy was Sergeant D J Chipping."

In time I might be able to identify all three but for now it is just one of those tiny pieces of the human story.

Chippy and Charlie were on leave from RAF Coltishall but felt the need to touch base and no doubt would soon return and perhaps will appear in the line book.

We shall see.

Picture; telegram dated 1941 from the collection of David Harrop

The bricks of Chorlton ……..

I am well aware that there are plenty of brick walls in Chorlton …. and  few people ever bother to record them.

Making your mark, 2020

To which my friend Eric will be the first to ask “and why would anyone want to?”

To which the only reply is …… because they are there.


So here are two, taken off Beech Road in the last few days.

The first is the wall of the former Police Station, which has hosted an assortment of residents since the police left.

Bricks, plants and pipes, 2020

It stands almost on the site of the old gate house entrance to Beech House, and it's future remains uncertain, for while it is in a prime  despite location there has been little interest in the property.

There will be a few who remember the air raid siren which topped the building, and that memorable moment in the 1980s when it went off at a moment when the Cold War took a more menacing turn.

And the other wall is the one down the side of the alley off Beech Road.

Location; Beech Road

Pictures; brick walls, 2020, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Knowing your onions in 1940 ........ wartime propaganda with 222 Squadron

Now I am looking forward to seeing the original of this photograph which David tells me comes from New York.

It will be a fitting end to the story which began when he lent me the Line Book for 222 (Natal) Squadron.*

Line Books are rare and this one was nearly lost and only survived because it was found in a skip, which made its way on to the market and in the fullness of time David came across and added to his collection of war time memorabilia.

And it is a wonderful find because Line Books were the unofficial record of RAF squadrons put together by the pilots and kept in the mess.

So here are comments on operations that were flown including bitter sweet reflections on what happened in the air along with pictures poems, and telegrams sent by men on leave.

It covers the period just after the Battle of Britain goes on to record the moment the squadron was equipped with jet fighters in 1945, and its brief time as a missile unit before disbandment in the 1960s.

And while the book was started just after the momentous events of summer 1940, many of the men mentioned will have fought in that battle.

But today it is that picture which I am drawn to and the caption which appeared with it.

I am not sure of the date or which newspaper it appeared in but here is a wonderful piece of war time propaganda, which combines the seriousness of war, and a light bit of banter.

And along with that a tiny bit of factual information offering up that “the Natal Fighter Squadron ........ is paid for by the inhabitants of Natal (South Africa).  Among the pilots are many South Africans and many of the ground staff came from Rhodesia.  Enough money was contributed to Keep a full squadron in the air at all times.”

All of which reminds you that in both world wars there was a huge “voluntary element” which was partly because we were cash strapped but also because getting everyone to make a contribution was a winning piece of propaganda.

So along with war bonds there was of course the Spitfire Fund many other drives for the war effort.**

But I shall finish by returning to the picture and the story, which continues “the Natal Fighter Squadron in England have sown their onions behind barbed wire!  And here are some of them at work on the allotment.  

They find it a change from the routine work of “bagging” German planes.

A flight-lieutenant from South Africa has seven Nazi planes to his credit with a probable five more ....... he certainly knows his onions!”

Today it is easy to be cynical at the style of the propaganda and even back then I suspect there will be some who pointed fun at its jokey delivery but this was all in earnest and those men in the picture were doing the real thing.

So I am pleased that the Line Book is now in David’s possession who I know will look after it and will refer to it in his current exhibition on the Battle of Britain in the Remembrance Lodge at Southern Cemetery.




Pictures; news clipping, of pilots from 222 (Natal) Squadron, date and source unknown from the Lone Book of 222 (Natal) Squadron, courtesy of David Harrop

*The Natal 222 Squadron, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20Natal%20222%20Squadron

**The Spitfire Fund, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/remembering-battle-of-britain-part-2.html