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READER MESSAGES MID TO LATE JULY 1999 From: Peter and Claudette FOY <pncfoy@skynet.ca>
Hi Aidan,Your recent photos are absolutely AWESOME.I found it hard to believe that the River Irwell could look so wonderful as you depict on the one from Albert Street with the two cities on either side.It almost seems as if it a brand new area from how I remember it back in the early sixties. Great stuff. Cheers Peter Foy Yes, it's certainly a transformation, but it's still by no means perfect - it would be nice to be able to walk the full length of the river bank from the Cathedral to Castlfield, but you can't. The river is still "hidden" from the city - the modifications near the Cathedral may open it up a little, but the river still isn't as prominent and attractive a feature as similar rivers in other cities. From: "tony" <tpotamus@ctaz.com> Could you oblige at your leisure, what your camera is and what type of film you use as I am delighted with the quality of your work. Have you, in the past, done anything around Chorlton-Cum-Hardy and its very pretty golf clubhouse which used to be my ancestors home. (back in the 1500's ha ha) Keep up the good work, I look forward to you weekly efforts they're GREAT. Just for your info, I was told about your site originaly by someone in the land of OZ, what goes around, comes around eh?? Tony. in Arizona
Thanks for your kind comments. I am now using both a digital camera and a film camera. The digital camera is the Agfa E-Photo 1280 - it has a 35-105mm zoom lens and various other features. The results are very good - but at higher resolutions, it's still not as good as film. My film camera is a battered old Nikon FM - recently repaired - no autofocus or autoexposure. I use 24mm, 35-105mm and 75-300mm lenses. To take good photos, you need a variety of lenses! That's why even if the digital camera was better, I'd still have to use the Nikon to get those wide angle and zoom shots. I got around this problem in the picture upper left - taken with the digital camera - by taking four photos and joining them together in Photoshop. Can you see the join? The picture upper right was taken with the Nikon FM using the 24mm wide angle lens. You'll notice one major difference between these two photos - blue skies often come out paler on negative film - so I frequently have to overlay them with a graduated deep blue fill (same effect as a blue graduated filter or polarising filter in front of the lens) to restore the true colour of the sky at the time I took the photo (at least that's what I tell people!) I'm gathering together my photographic ideas and expertise at the moment - and putting them into words and diagrams - the end result will be a book and website - I hope to have it finished fairly soon. To: 'Aidan O'Rourke' <aidan@anamaria.u-net.com> <rant on>
I've seen the revised proposals - there are certainly some advantages. At the moment, only golf club members are allowed onto the areas next to Gorton Upper Reservoir - I took this photo from the road, but couldn't proceed any further. Currently, the area is underused and inaccessible for most members of the public. However, it's always a good idea to challenge proposals, but in this case, the revised proposals look as though they might be OK. Let's have a proper debate about it, and hopefully the right decision will be reached, with the co-operation of local people. From: "The Triggersons" <triggerson@globalserve.net> You are quite right Aidan, that access is restricted to members & guests on the Fairfield Golf Course, however, the walks along King Road, Corn Hill Lane and the public foot path from King Road to Fairfield Station do afford delightful scenery for everyone to enjoy. If the K/W Development is in fact being built within the confines of the #3 Audenshaw Reservoir, why would it affect either of the two golf courses because the M60 would separate the courses from the #3 Area. No-one is describing very clearly exactly where the accesses to this Development will be. If they were to be northward toward Audenshaw Road there would be no access to the M60. If on the other hand the plan is to wipe out Denton Golf Course they would have ready access to Junction #11 of the M67 & M60 motorways. This could eliminate one more site of some historical significance, namely Nico Ditch (an ancient linear bank) in the Manchester area. (This dates back to the 13th Century). I am not a golfer, but I appreciate the manicured acres of the golf courses and our cities need green spaces. Why sacrifice a green space for development, when there is a brown space close by (i.e. the abandoned #3 Aud. Reservoir.) City budgets have been slashed everywhere in the last 10 years, and Debdale Park is nowhere near as well kept as it used to be. Brenda T. Hamilton, ON, Canada We need more information - I'll see if I can find some and put it online after I return on the 17th of August. Thanks From: "Anne Walker" <awalker@axion.net> Aidan, you mentioned Manchester 50 years ago. Well my memories go a bit further back. Tib St was near Oldham St, and was strange as remember being full of stalls selling animals - pets of some kind. In Oldham St there was a shop called C and A Modes there were three floors - a ten shilling floor, one pound and two pounds. Very useful - no danger of overspending! At Lewis's you could buy material - a pattern - and for half a crown you could have the pattern cut out for you and take it home ready to sew. Shopping was more fun in those days there wasn't much money around but things were affordable and paid for with cash, so we returned home broke but happy and no worries. Of couse I am talking of my youth, a time when the word teenager had not been invented and grown- ups owned the world - ruled the world and had no intention of moving over until they had to. Anne. Thanks, very interesting. I remember going to Lewis's as a child with my mother. The food hall was much bigger, and she used to buy fabric to make dresses. She also used to go to a shop called Bachers. Since the mid-seventies, C&A has been located inside the Arndale Centre - most people buy clothes off the peg, but I know some women who still make their own clothes - not many nowadays! Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 13:35:23 +0800 Hi Aidan. As a very long serving and regular reader of your fine pages. I thought a little local interest story may interest you. My grandmother is 100 years old on Tuesday July 27. She is Mrs Elizabeth Kellett and lives at the Holme Lea residential home in Astley Rd Stalybridge. I am paying a visit to see her for her birthday, first visit for 15 years. Grandma used to run various pubs, with my granddad. The Old White Bear on Swan St was one. Also the Foresters Arms on Phillips Park Rd in Beswick. I believe the new Commonwealth stadium will cover that area of Beswick soon.
Thanks for all the hours of pleasure you and your pages have given me and thousands of other Ex pat Mancunians. -- John Kellett cheers from the West coast of OZZ http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Field/1084/ Manchester United I believe the Foresters Arms may be just near the point where I took this photo, off to the right in fact. Soon this area will be totally transformed by the stadium and 2002 complex. A very happy birthday to your grandmother from all of us! |
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