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Envelope-to: aidan@anamaria.u-net.com Thanks Ray O'Neill Thanks as ever for your message - but unfortunately, many of us have had difficulty in contacting you via your e-mail address. Can I pass on this message from several people, and request that you check if you can fix the problem? Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 00:59:21 EDT I thought I would let you in on a little secret about the city I live in, Portland Oregon. It is so much like Manchester. Take for instance the two rivers that run through it, although a little bigger than the Irwell and the Mersey, the Willamette that runs through the city center and the mighty Columbia that runs a few miles outside the city center, the town of St. Helens just down the A30, the Astoria road. The incessant rain, 42 inches in February alone. The building that is going on, friendliness of the the people, the complete renaissance that is going on, and the surrounding countryside that reminds me so much of the same countryside in Lancashire. The flora and fauna is the same as in England. A little touch of home in the US. You should come here and take some
pictures. All the best Ray O'Neill Yes, soon I'll be expanding my activities worldwide, and it would be interesting to do a comparison of Portland and Manchester. I wouldn't agree that Manchester has incessant rain, though. Chicago is windy, but Manchester rainy city is a myth. I hope to prove this point. From: ENGLISHRDS@aol.com
Keep up the great work. Glad to hear you got a digital camera. The pictures are my favorite part, and to see them so fast will be superb. Take care, I'll be watching for Irlam!!!! Debbie Rhodes I decided to go to Irlam after reading your message! Is this where you went for a walk? Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1999 23:04:26 +0100 May you long continue to titilate the hearts of the like of me with
your excellent Mancunian commentary and pictorial record... Sincerely... Thanks very much, it's a pleasure! Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1999 14:55:41 +1000 I keep seeing messages from Ray O' Neill with an email address but
when I try to contact him I get told it's the wrong email address, so
if you see this Ray please email me I would love to hear from you Tony and Sylvia Usher Are you receiving this, Ray?
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1999 16:11:49 -0400 I used to look forward to Monday/Tuesday evenings to get the updated
newsletter. Now it can be anytime!! The new approach is wonderful -
it is a much more personalized focus on one area. I liked the touch
about sitting there typing the report by Irlam Locks. I was saying to
my wife the other Thanks again, and I can't wait for the next update. Vince Yes I do! I have a very good freelance contract with Manchester Online, and I get frequent paid photo orders and commissions. It's nice to get paid for doing something I'm totally committed to, and that's lots of fun too. Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 21:56:02 -0400 Great news Aidan. I didn't think you could improve on such an excellent
site. As an ex Mancunian living in Canada since 1973, I never fail to
look up EWM every week. I was born in Newton Heath, married in Blackley
(to a lovely Blackley lass), lived in Alkrington (below), Shaw,
High Crompton and now in Scarborough, Ontario.
I was lucky enough to be able to watch on TV, Manchester United (on pins until the last few minutes) beat Bayern Munich to take the 'Triple'. I read that it is now 'Sir Alex', and well deserved too. Regarding your new 'Schedule of visits' (can't wait to view), in your Locations & Transport Routes, should not Miles Platting and Newton Heath be in 'North of the City centre' instead of 'East of the City centre'. Just a thought. Keep up the good work Aidan, your news and picturesreally
make my day. John. Yes, I think so - they're on a northern route, so they should be regarded as north. It's the NW/SE/NE/SW ones that are difficult to classify. Anyhow, it's just a guideline, so I can give even coverage to different parts of the area round Manchester. Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 08:04:01 -0600 I was hoping that when you travel west of the city you would continue beyond Stretford and on to Flixton which is on the other side of Urmston. I grew up in Flixton and my mum and one of my sisters still live there. I lived on Western Road which is across from Flixton House and close to the train station. I picked up a couple of old photos of Flixton Station and Western Road on Urmston Market that I keep at my desk at work. Also, when you go to Cheetham Hill if you could find whatever remains of Notre Dame High School. It was a convent on Heyward(?) Street in Cheetham Hill that I attended from 1965 to 1970. I don't think it's even a school any more but it might still be a convent. Thanks for all your terrific work, Aiden. This has to be the absolute Heywood St runs between Waterloo Rd and Cheetham Hill Road - I'll take a photo in that area when I visit Cheetham Hill - I've had other requests for Cheetham Hill, and Flixton too. From: "Brian Oakley" <oakley@sinfo.net> Anyway, I'm very much looking forward to the new format and the excitement of logging on more frequently, I wish you all the best. Perhaps you would be good enough to let me know which camera you decided upon; there are so many on the market now and the prices seem to be dropping faster than a parachute. I'm still not convinced about the quality though, it's difficult to imagine your images remaining at the same high standard but I'm sure you will have fun with the panoramic views. I understand the software for stitching is quite advanced; perhaps we can expect some interesting 360 degree views of Piccadilly?
The visit schedule is fine by me, I'm sure all the ex pat Mancunians will search very quickly for their home town - I'm no exception and I was pleased to see Tandle Hill Country Park included in the list. Many thanks for the photos you already included earlier in the year. My wife, Del is back home in Royton for the summer, shortly to be joined by Susan, my 12 yr old daughter who will be making the trip this weekend. Of course I'll be remaining here, taking care of business as usual but taking great interest and pleasure from your weekly reports. Thanks Aidan, we appreciate your work. Best wishes Brian, Del and Susan Oakley It doesn't take as much time as you'd think to do the updates - besides visiting districts and people, taking photos and doing write-ups is fun and very interesting. And I get paid for it, so I'm very lucky indeed! The picture above is one of the first I did with the Agfa E-Photo 1280- quite reasonable, though still not as good as film. The main advantage of the digital camera is speed, convenience and not having to pay for film and processing. It soaks up battery power at an enormous rate. The solution to this is to use rechargeable batteries. Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 21:17:22 -0400 You may be right about there being all sorts living in Wilmslow but
its a bit too yuppie for my taste. Cheers David Yes it's a far cry from Longsight to Wilmslow, but my two best friends at school came from these places!
I loved your exhibition in the Central Library. Your pictures of Manchester are superb and the computer screen doesn't
do them full justice. I particularly liked the amazing skies (sunsets/sunrises/rain/clouds)
in some of the pictures. Well done. You are a great asset to the city. Best wishes, George Thank you very much indeed. Maybe computer screens will improve, but for the time being, it's true, the pictures look better even printed on an inkjet printer on paper. From: "Colin Winterbottom" <colwin@mpx.com.au> Hello Aidan, Visited your website, but kept having power blackouts, I shall have to wait until the high winds die down. Haven't been able to get any decent boks on Manchester here in Wollongong.
Did get a chance to look at some of the new parts of Manchester. I
lived there 1975-76. I worked on Canal as Policeman. My oh my has it
changed. I really don't think for the better, after all, it has lost
its character. Ordsall Lane, Regent Road, Pomona Docks they all had
something. Looks like it has gone the way of the dodo. Oh well, a visit would have been great but, after seeing the new progress I think I'll not bother after all. The government looks like it is turning the place into a scene from "Demolition Man". Next they will be having Taco Bell in town. I think I prefer the old places best. You can still smell them if you try hard enough, best done on wet evening,
around 12 degrees no wind. Regards Colin Glad to hear my pictures and reports are getting through even as far as Wollongong! Yes, that area has changed, but the area in the picture to the right is currently being redeveloped. The end result will be a modern, plush and impressive waterside district. Better or worse than what was there before? Well, that's up to the individual to decide... Envelope-to: aidan@anamaria.u-net.com Aidan, I must say I love the new layout you have developed, but I felt the same about the old one too. As for the pictures you are turning out on your new camera, they are stunning, even when viewed on my screen. You say the constant updates and such don't take up that much time, but I would have to ask what is too much time to you? It appears that whenever I write, the replies you send are at such diverse times that I'm sure you never sleep.Then there is your e-mail. If everyone is like me, you must get tons of it, how on earth do you keep up with it all?
We used to frequent a billiard hall at All Saints and take the bus back in time to book out, decking off the platform as it turned into St. Peters Square and taking Library Walk to the office. In the summer we used to go to Platt Fields quite often and row a boat on the boating lake. As you probably remember it was one-way rowing. One day, 4 of us were in a boat and one of the guys was rowing while the rest of us relaxed. He left his tool kit in the prow of the boat with us, and one of the guys gently laid it on top of the water. When we were about 10 feet away, he said to the rower, 'Isn't that your toolcase?' pointing to the bobbing box on the water. I don't know what the record is for going around the lake, but we broke it, just in time to see the box start to sink. The rower mouthed various comments directed at one person in particular and was wet to his armpits by the time he recovered his tools.
On the way back to the office, the rower was on the edge of the platform, toolcase on the outside with the lid out. The same guy who launched it, quietly lifted the larches and as the bus made the turn into St., Peters Square, tools, parts and all sorts of other good stuff was strewn into the rush hour traffic. We stood and cheered as the owner darted in and out of traffic retrieving his stuff. Believe it or not, by the next day, even the owner saw the funny side. I also worked for ICT, who were domiciled in Century House (above centre right). I have many good stories of my days there, which ended sooner than I had hoped, but my working life was the better for it. As a matter of fact, I was up for a posting to Abadan in 1959, but due to a lack of married quarters being available in their compound, I lost the opportunity, which went to my best friend. I also serviced the keystore punches in Town Hall for ICT, they serviced the needs of the huge computer Manchester bought just to do the taxes in the late 50's. It took up many, many rooms in the town hall extension. Your mentioning of plugging in your laptop gave the visual of that computer, but it did only one job, how many can a current laptop look after?
Also that musician you mentioned, Morrissey. That was my mother's maiden name, I suspect it's more coincidence than anything, but my mother's father and several brothers died in World War I and her mother in the early 1920's. They had fled Ireland on getting married as he was an Orangeman and his new wife a Papist. 'mixed' marriages were not received too well. There were several siblings who lived in the Manchester area. It's too much to hope that... well you know what I mean. Thanks for the memories, write you again soon. George
I've made one amendment -you said City Hall - American style - but it's the Town Hall, because when it was opened in 1873, Manchester was still regarded as a town. Producing Eyewitness in Manchester doesn't take up much more time than a part time job. But unlike working in a glass factory, or cleaning the insides of machines during Wakes Week (two jobs I've done in my time), doing Eyewitness in the new format is pure fun, though formatting the pages and carrying out the FTP (file transfer protocol - copying the pages to the server) is often irritating and takes too much time. Actually, I don't get that many e-mails, not as many as you'd think. But for me, taking photos, using Photoshop to enhance them to their finished state, visiting interesting places and people, doing write-ups and seeing the finished product on the Internet, is pure enjoyment. By the way, did you ride on a bus like the ones pictured here? |
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