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READER MESSAGES MID MAY 1999
Hi, Just a quick mail to say a big thank you for all your time and effort
in putting together the excellent selection of pictures of Manchester.
I've been in the USA for 4 years, I grew up in Swinton and came across
your page. It brought back a lot of memories. My only request would be more piccies
of Swinton if you are ever over that way. Thanks again, Andi. OK! Date: Tue, 18 May 1999 16:33:12 -0700 (PDT) Hi, Once again your marvellous web site has done it again! Not only did I find the email address of one of my husband's school friends who now lives in America, nut you have solved the mystery of who Silkin Court was named after... or at least you may have! Check out http://manchester.htmlplanet.com/rather If you have time, and let us know what you think! Diane Thanks, and OK! From: John Kelly <JohnK@klineaus.com.au> To: Aidan O'Rourke <aidan@anamaria.u-net.com> Subject: RE: Manchester Date: Mon, 17 May 1999 14:27:07 +1000 Sensational! Every picture holds a thousand memories. You can almost
see the back of my old house from one of them. Thanks so much, it's
really great to be able to have access to the information and pictures
that you gather together each week. If you love your job as much as
we enjoy looking at the fruits of your labour you must be a very happy
person. Best wishes, Did you see the postcard of Victoria Avenue?
Best wishes John Kelly From: RAYOPINT@aol.com Wow Aiden, with an E. Thanks for those memory invoking pictures of Victoria Ave. I was in the mobile unit patrolling the Ave from near Chadderton to Middleton Road, and I remember there was a scare on about Anthrax, this was in the mid 60s. There was a farm just midway along the Ave and I had to close it to all and sundry, except of course the Goverment Ag men. I felt real sorry for the farmer because he went broke after this. Anyway I was known as the traffic scourge by the locals because of pulling them over all the time, but to be honest, I let most of them go with a warning. Thanks for the memory. Ray O'Neill Thanks very much. I've posted your e-mail as part of the exhibition in the Central Library. Please read the next message. From: RAYOPINT@aol.com Hello Aiden , In the MEN I noticed that the bus companies were having trouble on one of their lines. What we have here is MAX light rail and of course the Metro bus lines and they carry there own police backed up by the Portland Police Bureau. We have our problem lines to, shootings and such like but since they have radios on all buses and the police, the problems are very negligble. The chap who was writing in reference to Hulme didn't mention any particular streeets or areas, but I worked at Jackson St Station, and me and another PC we called Tony the Tiger were the first to arrest 22 lads who were playing Penny toss behind an advertising board, under the new (then) Betting and Gaming Act of 1963. It was so funny marching all these lads in double file, all in step down to Jackson Street to charge them. Not one of these lads tried to run away or try anything but thought it was great fun. The next day in court the Magistrate had a good laugh about the whole thing and found them all 10 bob. These lads then proceeded to take us to a pub and treat us to a pint. It was all so civilized and no hard feelings, not like today. Ray O'Neill I saw a youth being arrested at a supermarket in Hulme today, and the police seemed very good natured with him! So maybe things haven't changed that much!
Hi Aidan,Just got finished reading the MEN report of Sunday's match
which I saw part of tape delayed.The Man Utd lads were awesome, absolutely
awsome. Anyway I have a request could you please publish this letter as I have
again tried on several ocassions to contact Ray O'Neill only to have
all my messages returned with the explanation address faulty due to
errors. I have tried both large and small case letters to no avail. Ray can you check with AOL and ascertain what the problem is. Thanks Aidan and look out Newcastle and Bayern, the Reds are coming. Peter Foy As I write this on Saturday 22 May , the match is just over an hour away, so best of luck to Manchester United, and Ray O'Neill, please get in touch! From: "Paul" <paulhg@rivernet.com.au> Sorry, I haven't at the moment. I'm planning a feature on Hulme, but the Hulme of today is a creation of the 1990's and bears little resemblance to the Hulme of your childhood. Hopefully I will be able to include some old pictures and maps of Manchester in EWM soon. From: "Sjmartin" <sjmartin@zip.com.au> Thank you for the lovely 'photo's, problem is I get very homesick
when I see them and memories come stop you!!!!!!!! Notice on the performance
list for this week the Beastie Boys- they sure get around, my daughter
is seeing them perform here in Australia on Wednesday. Hope you are
well. sjam8@hotmail.com Thanks, Which photos did you like best? Aidan Sandra Martin Well here are some spring flowers - they could be anywhere, but these ones are special, as they're from Heaton Park. Thanks again for your kind comments.
From: Sonia Morris <soniamorris@start.com.au>
I was reading your comments on the reconstruction of Piccadilly gardens,
and was wondering how " they" can never leave matters alone,
always another grandiose scheme, thought up by some jumped up upstart,
who is inevitebly better paid than he or she ought to be. Don't think for a minute it's unique to Manchester, it happens here
in Melbourne, Sydney, etc, and I'm sure it happens in all other cities,
usually by politicians determined to make their mark before they slide
back into their deserved obscurity. Phew, I'm glad I've got that off my chest.!! Regards, from Sonia. Yes, I empathise very much with your sentiments. Still, there are times when reconstruction is necessary, but the trick is to get it right. The current plan for Piccadilly gets it very wrong! Envelope-to: aidan@anamaria.u-net.com Hi Aidan, Just finished reading the current newsletter and as usual you have managed to stir up memories through your photos and editorials.
The picture of Piccadilly Gardens towards the end of the newsletter reminds me of my last days in Manchester before coming to Canada. I believe the photo is looking towards Lewis's and on the left is where the bus islands used to be. The plaza in the middle of that street is, I guess, where the hotel is located. On the open mezzanine level was where the Air Canada offices were, and may still be, that's where I picked my one-way ticket in May 1965. In your Piccadilly Picture selection is a photo taken from the big wheel in the Xmas fun fair.
We had one guy working for us who, like a lot of folks, liked his beer. One Christmas - if I was to guess which one, I would say '56 but I'm not sure - we had our company Christmas Party and broke up for the holidays, fully expecting everyone to be back at work the day after Boxing Day. But the gentleman I am writing about didn't show up for 2 weeks. In those days you couldn't just pick up a phone and contact people. It turns out that on Xmas Eve, he was out doing the rounds of the various drinking establishments and arrived in Piccadilly just in time to miss the last bus. It was snowing and feeling a little the worse for where he didn't want to walk home. At around 3:00 am a Bobby on his beat heard snoring echoing as sound does in the quiet with snow on the ground, and went to look for the source. He found it, there was our friend, cuddled up on Queen Victoria's knee where he had climbed to get out of the snow. He was released from the army with TB and spent the next two weeks in hospital recovering, but nobody had bothered to tell the employer where he was. I still laugh about it when I see that statue. Another story, centres around the theatre at Parrs Wood, isn't the one being demolished in your photo the one where the early TV programs were shot?
I was in a bus shelter outside the BBC on Piccadilly, the pavement was about 20 yards deep in those days. It was raining cats and dogs and the BBC doorman came out onto the edge of the pavement and blew his whistle. It was a signal to the taxi rank across the street that one was needed.
It quickly came over and the doorman opened the door. The revolving door in the BBC started to spin and out squirted this pencil thin man, running hard through the rain, arms out at his sides with a brief case in one hand and his mac over the other arm. He collided chest first with a lady who promptly fell over backwards. This guy stopped, lifted his bowler and said 'Dreadfully sorry' then carried on running into the taxi, leaving the doorman to clean up his mess. He was apparently on a tight schedule having just finished a radio spot, and had to get to Parrs Wood for a TV show. As you know, I could go on for hours but I'd better close now. Talk to you later, George I'm sure you could fill a book with your stories, and I'm sure readers would find them very entertaining - I certainly do. The Statue of Queen Victoria is still there today, though in a sorry state. It'll be refurbished with the redevelopment of Piccadilly. As for the BBC, they moved to their new complex on Oxford Rd in the seventies, and the Piccadilly taxi rank is now at the south east end of the gardens, across the road from the Portland Thistle Hotel. Thanks for your stories, and please send more! From: "ronald taylor" <indron@telusplanet.net> To: <aidan@anamaria.u-net.com> Subject: hello Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 00:06:55 -0700 I was born in Salford Received this very short message from you. Perhaps you'd like to tell me a bit more! Nice to hear from you. Envelope-to: aidan@anamaria.u-net.com
Then I moved to Calgary Alberta Canada 17 years ago with my wife. I am a insurance adjuster/appraiser here in Canada which I love as in my job I get to see a bit of the the country both Canada and USA, especially in the summer when there are tornadoes and hail storms as I am sent out to access the damages to buildings ( I did start out estimating auto damages) in the winter I am kept busy with normal claims and fire claims. I am a member of the Canadian association of fire investigators and the Canadian adjusters association. I have been back home a few times (Manchester, Worsley) and still miss some things over there i.e.. Man United. In fact I watched the game live at a local pub here in Calgary on Sunday (United v Spurs) morning 8.00am. There was a bunch of ex Stretford enders at the pub.
However I also look forward to coming back to Calgary (which is close to the rockies) and think of it now as our home. Anyway I thought I would respond to your e-mail Thanks for asking and all the best. Ron Thanks for your message - very interesting. In the Central Library at my exhibition, I bumped into Eyewitness in Manchester reader Melanie McCluskey. She returned with her family after 20 years in Calgary, and likes it here very much. Here are two photos from Salford - the River Irwell near Castle Irwell and the Salford Arms pub on Chapel St Date: Thu, 20 May 1999 02:15:40 -0700 As for me, as you know I left Manchester in the mid-60's, but of all the areas of Manchester that I remember, the most fond memories are of Piccadilly being the lone bright spot in what was then a soot begrimed city. The addition of a building on the Portland Street side of the square can only serve to diminish the aura Piccadilly emits to past and present Mancunians.
I have a hard time accepting some of the changes your superb photographs display in the area, although some of them such as the Metrolink are necessary I suppose to enable the area to remain pedestrian friendly. But it appears to me that the powers that be in Manchester want to turn it into a mini Las Vegas, at least as far as the overall appearance they are suggesting for it. I know my opinion will carry very little weight in the decision making process, it is probably a fait accompli already, but I just had to put in my pennyworth. As usual, your newsletter stirs memories other than those that prompted the previous diatribe. The photo's of Old Trafford for example. It stirred one of those 'Do you remember where you were when...' memories when I once again saw the Munich clock (right). At the time, I was working for ICT and was on a training course at their Letchworth, Herts training centre. I was staying at the Sun, in Hitchin, and on the day in question I was in the dining room eating dinner when the radio in the room began broadcasting the first sketchy details I had heard. At another table were a couple of guys from Liverpool who were rejoicing at the news and their attitude sickened me I can tell you. Mind you, I was luckier than some of United's fans, having been at Highbury to see my Reds beat Arsenal 5-4 in a thriller. The panic rebuilding of the team began almost immediately and one of the people front and centre in the process was the man who ran the Cromford Club. It was a managers club in Cromford Court, a place where United's players regularly congregated and a nightspot where I used to go fairly often with my father. We would go there after the pubs closed to do a little gambling at the tables, watch the floor show, and have a good meal of scampi while it was on. I think the guy was Paddy McGrath, but I couldn't swear to it. Is the club still around? Anyhow, this man took it upon himself to intercede in the Ernie Taylor transfer, going to Newcastle personally to bring him to Manchester in time for the first post-Munich game. Sad times. The current squad reminds me very much of that great team which also had a number of players in their late teens and early twenties who had already won two league championships and would surely have gone 3 straight that season. That's enough for now, talk to you again soon. George Ps. I received an e-mail from Jim Turner in Australia the other day. If you remember, he was the man whose father owned the shoe repair shop on Openshaw's Dyer St. With this e-mail he sent me a photo of Dyer St., in 1998. What a change, trees, flowers and no old houses or stores. I agree with you about Piccadilly. The Council are asking the opinion of the general public, so it would be worth sending them an e-mail message or writing a letter to them. I certainly will. I'm not sure if the Cromford Club is still around. Can anyone help?
Date: Sat, 22 May 1999 21:47:51 +0800 Cheers from an autumnal Perth, Western Australia. Kaye Hawley kaley@wantree.com.au Amazing! I was one month old at the time! Here's a recent picture of the Odeon cinema at dusk. It's still a cinema, thank goodness! From: "The Triggersons" <triggerson@globalserve.net> Brenda T. I'm not sure. But I can say that the Queen Victoria statue is covered in ugly graffiti, which I trust will be removed when the area is redeveloped. From: Brit165@aol.com Dear Aidan:
I love the picture of the rain soaked road in Piccadilly and the double
Decker bus, you can see the headlights through the rain. You really
put us there, Aidan. I think you could photograph pigeons on the statue of Queen Victoria
and it would look great. You are a gift to the people of Manchester past and present. How is
your book coming along? Will we be buying soon? I can't wait. Thank you again for all your wonderful photography. You are the best. Cheers. Barbara Cunningham What can I say? By the way, had you seen my panoramic picture taken from the steps of the Queen Victoria statue, with the two pigeons in flight? (Scroll up this page to see it) If not, then what an amazing co-incidence! Thanks to the exhibition, I now have the bulk of the pictures ready to put into book format, and I'm pressing ahead with the project this week. To reward you for your kind words, here's a scene which you may recognise - tell me if you do.
From: Brit165@aol.com Thank you, first for the picture of Queen Victoria with pigeons in flight. Funny thing is Aidan, I had not seen that picture so it is an amazing co-incidence! Now as for the picture "Irk Valley" off Rochdale Road that you sent me. The closest I can guess would be where I used to go fishing in my younger day "Lankys" I used to go down the steps behind my school Alfred St. and cross what was then Central Avenue. In the background you could see the Dye Works (In fact the water used to flow in different colors) behind the Dye Works was C.W.S. biscuit works. Lankys was like two big ponds with swans. I loved it there fishing for hours with just a net. I used to bring home all kinds of creatures tadpoles, newts, frogs and then have the nerve to think I could keep them in the house! My poor mother put up with this. Anyway, Lankys is still there at least it was a few years ago on one of my return visits. I have a picture and was trying to compare with the one you sent me? Well, am I close Aidan? Do any of your readers remember Lankys? Looking forward to your BOOK. Regards. Barbara Cunningham I'm not sure, as I'm not from this area. Maybe some more Harpurhey people out there remember going to Lankys? I wonder how it got that name. Can anyone help? Date: Sun, 16 May 1999 10:16:04 +1100 Dear Aiden, Just a note to say how much I enjoy reading the Manchester Online Features.
I joined the Royal Australian Airforce back in the 60s and am now retired and living in our beautiful capital city - Canberra.My wife and I have visited Manchester a few times over the years and still have a soft spot for our former hometown. I attended Princess Road Boys School, Moss Side, and would love to hear from any of my old school mates who left in 1952/53. I have only ever kept in touch with two of them (one now living in Adelaide and the other in Chorlton) and often wonder what became of the other guys who I spent many happy times with back in those long ago days. I can be contacted via email on woffcomms@australia.airforce.net or derador@tpg.com.au. My snail mail address is:- PO Box 551 Erindale Centre LPO Canberra, ACT 2903 Australia Once again, many thanks for your most informative and interesting features. Kind Regards Derek Wilkinson Thanks for your message, and hope you find some of your old chums. You should also contact In Touch, who may be able to include your message in the Manchester Evening News.
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