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| READER MESSAGES May-June 2003 |
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Hi Aidan, Just come across your website via Google. As a born and bred Manc, I'd just like to say well done for capturing the city so well. Your shot of the Irish Sea from a Greater Manchester location reminded me of a recent trip to Lyme Park. I took a pair of binoculars up to one vantage point above the Knott Car Park where I was able to sweep from Hyde in the east across to the new stadium, the CIS and even Winter Hill beyond. Moving round, I was able to to track a plane coming into land from above Werneth Low to touchdown at the airport. If you haven't been there, I suggest you give it a go the next time you have a clear day and a few hours to spare with a telephoto lens. Keep up the good work, Thanks very much - that spot is a great vantage point and you can see right into Manchester city centre. I was there on Sunday 13 July. The visibility wasn't great, so here's one of the Cage, looking south west, with the Cheshire plain just visible on the right. I'll go back and get some telephoto shots on a clear day. Subject: EWM Ardwick Pages I hope the following may assist your notes. Page4 - 4th item "Former Cinema" This was the Apollo Ballroom . This groundfloor entrance was dual purpose .It was the entrance to the Apollo Ballroom and school of dancing situated on the first floor. Also it was used as an entrance to the cheaper seats in the Apollo Cinema. From this ground floor entrance you decended a flight of stairs and entered the cinema to the left of the stage. This kept the lower classes away from the patrons of the more expensive seats who entered the cinema via the Stockport Road entrance. This cinema/ballroom entrance also housed the first Wimpy Hamburger resturant in the Manchester area. Page7 - Ardwick Station you mention that you have never seen anyone there.
Many years ago there was a petrol filling station on Ardwick Green roundabout
at the intersection with Brunswick Street. Behind the filling station
at the top of Brunswick Street was abuilding called Hope Hall thought
to be a Plymouth Bretheren Hall. Every kid in the area went to Sunday
School there because never mind the reigion . They had the very best Sunday
School "Outings" so I and many others have great memories of
Ardwick Station. C.J.Jarvis ------- Kings Lynn.... That's fascinating and extremely valuable information regarding the buildings close to the Apollo and Hippodrome site. What's there today is a pale shadow of how it was in the 20's and 30's, but as you say, at least the Apollo is still there and a major UK concert venue. Thanks very much for your contribution. Subject: Ardwick Vivienne Butler I would love to be able to go back and see Ardwick in the past - I'm still waiting for that time machine - Can't someone at Manchester University or MMU or Salford invent one please! Subject: Cheetham Hill Baths I wish the beer was as cheap as the Sinclairs bar over here, still not to worry. Cheers Ray The Cheetham Hill swimming baths building was a magnificent landmark. See the photos at the Archives and Local Studies Unit at Manchester Central Library http://www.manchester.gov.uk/libraries/arls/ I regularly meet up with EWM readers visiting abroad, so if anyone fancies a chat and a drink, please e-mail me! Aidan, please tell me you weren't responsible for the photo of Ricky Tomlinson fronting 'Eyewitness in Manchester People'? I've nothing against Mr.Tomlinson but most people know he is not a mancunian. Manchester has an absolute wealth of famous personalities who would have merited their picture on the front page, probably more than any other city of comparable size. I realise that Ricky plays the dad in a comedy series based on a M/cr family but using his pic could mislead some readers that M/cr has to borrow its celebrities from elsewhere, when this is definitely not the case. regards, Terry McAloon. PS, keep up the good work! This has to be one of the best sites on the net. PSS, What do you know of this proposed new 48 storey building to go at the bottom of Deansgate? Ricky Tomlinson is currently at the top of the page with the latest additions to the Eyewitness in Manchester people pages. EWM People showcases my photographs the interesting people some famous some not so famous, with a Manchester connection, who I meet in the course of my work. As Ricky Tomlinson is one of the most famous actors in the UK today, and stars in one of Manchester's most celebrated comedy programmes, I am justified in featuring his photo. Besides I like to give the impression that I rub shoulders with famous stars! At the next update he will be replaced by someone new and I guarantee it won't be Lily Savage! Thanks for your comment about my website. As for the 48 storey building at the bottom of Deansgate, I'm all for it! More in another update of EWM. Subject: Reply re Previous reader message mentioning Bella Vista. Hi Aidan, I also attended Bella Vista (Broughton High School), Broom Lane, Salford in the fifties and also used to see the girls coming down the fire escape staircase at the unmarried mothers home behind the school on Broom Lane. The school was a beautiful building inside with attic rooms (we were told of a "grey lady" ghost but never saw her).There were terrific wide polished wood staircases, a library, and a hall which you could imagine being the "ballroom" of the original old house, with steps down to it at one end, and a big fireplace at the far end (the fire only lit for Christmas party dances)- above the fireplace and around the far end of the room was a wooden balcony. There was also a music room with large windows and balustrade and cherry tree just outside.I think it was this room which also had a lovely Dome in the ceiling. It was a beautiful building and I agree it should definitely have been preserved.I am only sorry I have no photos of the interior or the building itself.There were steps outside up to a separate Biology Lab and we spent lunchtimes sitting on the Broom Lane side wall looking over to the little Broomedge School (another lovely old building) over the other side of Broom Lane. One teacher used to take us over there in Biology lessons to see the Broom. Lovely memories which now seem so long ago. Jean Nilan (nee Burgess) Bella Vista - Certainly an evocative name. That part of Salford looks very different today to how it looked then.
regards, Thanks very much for the information. I must do a return visit and photograph the scene as it looks today. Shame about the loss of the railway bridge, but the recent refurbishment of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal is a great achievement, as I'm sure you'll agree! Subject: Chorlton-cum-Hardy Greetings from PerthW.A. I came across your articles not so long ago, you mention in one the Twisted Wheel. That was one of my old haunts when I was a lad. It got me thinking of the times I had when I was growing up in Manchester in the sixties. Belle Vue, Old Trafford, West Gorton, the Apollo etc. My wife and I went back home five years ago. It was the first time in over thirty years. My house on Oxford Rd across from the Eye Hospital was gone. Shame it was a nice three storey place Victorian I think. Now there is a bunch of ugly flats. The thing that suprised me most was that my school had gone, the Mosley Rd. Sec. Modern Fallowfield. I was one of the first pupils in the new part of the school. That was in 1961. I was wondering what happend to it,maybe you could shed some light on it. I would be thankful for any news about it. Thank you for bringing back all the memories of my youth with your photos . Yours thankfully Paul Tanker Your school must have gone the way of many schools, and closed due to decreasing numbers of pupils. If anyone has any info about it, or went there, please contact. Thanks very much for your message.
We also visited St Mary's to pray for the soldiers fighting the Falkland's
War. You are four years younger than us. I remember visiting the disco's
in Town (Manchester) and dancing to all the Motown, do you remember the
'Hustle', it was great. I used to go 'down town' on Saturday afternoons
on the bus and go shopping for clothes with my sister and sometimes we
have to travel back on the bus with the Manchester United fans, it was
good when they won. We also enjoyed having our lunch outside Mancheter
Cathedral, when all the trees were in blossom. Manchester has certainly
changed since we were last there and all for the better. Thanks for this - very interesting stuff. Yes, I remember the 'Hustle', very much part of the 'Kung Fu' era. Manchester has certainly changed, but I don't think all of it is for the better! I'm currently finishing off this Reader Messages article sitting on a bench in Fletcher Moss Gardens, Didsbury (above right)! Subject: Jewish Settlement.! Dear Aidan, Have you any details of the Jewish immigration into Manchester
in the 1800's. I would be very interested if I could get some information.
My father lived in Broughton and he actually died in the Jewish Hospital
in 1942. For this information, you need to contact the Manchester Jewish Museum on Cheetham Hill Road. It's also well worth visiting if you're in Manchester. The web address is: Subject: "Mali" dancing - we called it Molly Dancing Jean Nilan (nee Burgess) I've never heard of 'Molly dancing' myself, though I see you use the word 'toffees' which referred to all kinds of sweets. I remember I was one the bus coming home from primary school once, on the 30 in Edgeley, and the inspector was reprimanding a child who had no money to pay the 3d fare (thruppence, or thrupenny). I can still hear his words clearly: "You mustn't spend your yer busfare on toffees!" Subject: Manchester 1950's Dear Aidan,
Happy Days Aidan Mary. Thanks for that. I'm glad to say I know all those songs very well
I used to attend a convent which was situated just down from the Prince of Wales Pub. My street has now long since been demolished. I have had a couple of emails following my in touch notices in the MEN, but as yet, no one seems to remember me, ah!!!!!!!!!!!!! However, I will persevere. My name used to be Patricia Catherine Daly when I lived in Manchester, until I got married the first time, and when my first husband passed away I was widowed for four years before remarrying. I have just realised that this is of little interest to you. However, I will send it anyway. Thanks a million Patricia O'Driscoll Oh yes it is of interest to me. I love hearing peoples life stories, even potted versions!
Any research to date has come up with a blank. Any advice would be welcome.
I remember a coal depot next to Fallowfield Station. As far as I remember it was there up till the final closure of the line in 1987. Now there is a Sainsbury's supermarket on the site - The entrance takes up half of the station building, making a rather weird-looking hybrid of 1891-style neo-Tudor and contemporary style razor-edged angular. Can anyone give some info on the South Manchester Coal Company? If you're interested in the South Manchester Loop Line, the book by celebrated local railway historian and ex-South Trafford College colleague of mine Eddie Johnson is fascinating. Subject: Oxford Road Corridor Exhibition Thanks very much for the info about the exhibition. In fact I went along on the opening event on June the 9th. John is a very accomplished photographer indeed. The style is totally different to mine in that it focuses in on things. The photos are well-crafted and quite thought-provoking, as they reveal details which most of us ignore as we walk along this very familiar corridor. I'd certainly recommend anyone in Manchester to go along to the Contact Theatre and the Kro2 bar - next to the BBC - to see the photos, as they're great.
These are magnificent buildings in the pastiche style popular in the 19th century. I love pastiche, though it's a dirty word to today's architects, who currently seem to be into plain minimalist shopfronts. As for the origins of Police Street...
Keep up the good work. I have only just discovered Eyewitness and I am
thoroughly enjoying the trip down memory lane. I'm not sure about Metrovicks - If it's the first one on Southmoor Road, on the right, just after you cross the railway bridge coming from Altrincham Road, then it is still there.
OK!
I hope to get back for a visit and try to track the places I use to live and go to school. It is hard to recall the name of the schools I did go to as the good old memory is not working with me. My dad and mom ran a couple of pubs in the sixties. One was the Mechanic Arms, last name I recall since then. It was close to Piccadilly Gardens and across the road from a University. I believe it is on the same street as Woolworths, the one where I heard an explosion went off a few years ago. Could this be Oxford Road? I would love to get some photo's of the old Hulme. I lived on 12 Marple Street before the homes were condemned. Those to me were the times I hold onto as a child's memory. It is hard to believe how well dressed my mom kept us considering the hardship, and area being such a mess from the war. I miss my family over there. I hope to someday reunite with my cousins....the last name Degnan. I know he is in Cheadle Hulme, wherever that may be. I also enjoy your stories you get from the people that can go way back in time. The one I really enjoyed was the elderly lady you spoke to about the past, especially pulling together how the area I grew up in for 9 yrs of my life and the areas my mother was (Longsight) and dad was from Sale. Is it not wonderful having this kind of technology to communicate around the world?! Thanks again. Theresa Casey ( Brantford, Ontario Canada) Yes, it
certainly is nice to have this technology! Can I clear up some details
about the places you mentio.. The Mechanics Arms must be on Oldham Street,
which is close to Piccadilly Gardens (now sadly not the place it used
to be, see the upcoming EWM feature). There was a fire at Woolworths in
the late 70's. The bomb exploded a half a mile away on Corporation Street
on 15 June 1996. Oxford Road is a mile to the south west. Cheadle Hulme
is a pleasant residential suburb around 9 miles south of Manchester. Thanks
very much indeed for your message and hope you find your relatives.
Amazing how these memories come back John Hines Kiama Australia. Yes, memories can stay very fresh. I never went to a washhouse in Manchester, but I used to go to the local washhouse when I lived in West Berlin 1979-1980. Many tenement flats, including the one I was staying in, didn't have any washing facilities. I have vivid memories of the old Stockport baths and a very stern swimming instructor, who kept shouting at me 'Swim! Swim!' but I couldn't get the hang of it! Here's a photo of the former library in Cheetham Hill. Subject: Wash Houses! What a chore it was in those days ( 1940's) to do the weeks wash. We had no hot water in the house we lived in, and not even a bathroom. So once a week we went to have a bath at the Harpurhey Baths, where we paid a few pence to have a warm bath.( the baths were in small cubicles or rooms as I remember) Life was so much harder then, but you never heard anyone complain like people do now. Although I certainly would not like to go back to those times. Regards from Australia. Eileen Robbins (nee Perry) Young people tend to scoff when older people say things like 'We had it hard in those days but it never did us any harm...' But the fact is that difficult circumstances, whether caused by poverty or war, are character building. Many young people in Manchester today have it very easy. The most difficult decision in their lives being whether or not to get up before lunchtime and which bar or party to go to later in the day. I know, because that was the kind of life I led when I was a student myself! Maybe more young people should do like Prince William and go on an outward bound course in a remote location. Young people today! They don't know they're born!
Dear Aidan, That part of Salford bears virtually no resemblance to how it used to be. The whole area was razed to the ground in the 1960's and a new council estate appeared, with six and eight lane highways on three sides. Despite the efforts of Salford City Council to maintain and upgrade the area, it is not the most desirable place to live in. I know, I used to live in Thorn Court, the neighbouring block, to Churchill Court. Hope you get a response. You'll find photographs, local books and maps at the Salford Local History Library, part of Salford City Council. Here's a photo of a model by Roy Picford of some old houses in Salford.
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Subject:
Police Street, Manchester. 
