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Toys from our childhood and their stories ........ nu 1 the petrol tanker
An occasional series reflecting the toys we remember and the stories they offer up.Now I loved this Regent petrol tanker.Like all Dinkey toys of the 1950s and early ‘60s it was simple and sturdy,...
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Leaving the city ............ adventures and the promise of something new.
Now railway stations pretty much have it over airports. True you can’t travel as far and the duty free doesn’t exist but still they have been magical paces since the first train from Liverpool pulled...
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The gas mask and the pub sign without a pub ............ on Queens Road with...
Me roundabout the time of the gas mask adventureNow I know that we found the gas mask in a row of derelict houses on Queens Road up past the station.I always thought that the block had been the victim...
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Pomona in October ............. views across the water
Now once a long time ago Pomona was synonymous with fun.There were a set of pleasure Gardens there and in an age long before the television, the cinema and certainly You Tube this was a place to...
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Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester ..... nu 70 the disappearing house...
Now for three years I passed Major Street without even giving it a second glance, it was just one of the streets you passed on your way up Minishull Street.The Cross Keys on the corner of Major and...
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After the Raid .............. discovering the preparations for the Manchester...
Nell lane after the air raid, 1940I suppose for most people the sound of an air raid siren is one of those historic curiosities which feature as a backdrop to fictional accounts of the last war or...
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The history of Eltham in just 20 objects ........Nu 5, a royal palace and...
The challenge is to write a history of Eltham in just 20 objects which are in no particular order, and have been selected purely at random.Anyone who wants to nominate their own is free to do so, just...
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In the Piazza Monte Grappa
The Piazza Monte Grappa would not be my first choice of a place to sit and watch the world go by. It is a rather drab place surrounded by unremarkable tall buildings and dominated by a fountain with...
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Lost and forgotten streets of Salford ........... nu 36 standing on Greengate...
Now yesterday we were on Greengate in the winter of 1949 and today we have moved forward almost a full half century.Of course by now there are a bank of photographs to call on to recreate what...
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“Doing it where it won’t show” ............ having a laugh in 1930
Now I am the first to admit that humour doesn’t always travel well.I have sat through many Italian comedy shows which testify to that simple observation.Nor do I suspect do they travel much better...
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I cannot ‘Bare’ to leave this Plaice just yet” ..... seaside humour from 1935
Another in the series of seaside humour through time.I am not sure what more there is to say.It was sent to Mr and Mrs Turner if Harpurhey in the summer of 1935.The weather had been rainy but Bertha...
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Birthdays, cook books and a television series .............. watching the...
Toys I knew ........... the Dinky petrol tanker, 1956Now today is my birthday, not that there is anything particularly remarkable about that, after all they come round every year and at 67 there are...
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How we lived and what we did in 1938
I am back with that slim book which celebrated 100 years of civic achievement here in Manchester.Your City, Manchester 1838-1938 was written by "the Manchester Municipal Officer’s Guild in co-operation...
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Lost and forgotten streets of Salford ....... nu 37 Francis Street and that...
Now Francis Street which is off Great Ducie Street is hardly likely to lift the heart of the casual tourist or I suspect anyone.In the back yard off Francis Street, 1873True there is a hotel on the...
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The Feathers on Barlow Moor Road, from a pint in 1959 to a packet of salad 57...
I can’t really decide whether I mourn the loss of the old Feathers or accept that its present use as a mini supermarket was a “good thing.”Food, wine and the other convenience things, 2014Now I say...
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On St Johns Street with a story that crosses continents
Now the way a story comes to light can be as fascinating and revealing as the actual story. St John Street showing the home of the Painter family, 2008So it was when Julie picked up on a post about St...
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The history of Eltham in just 20 objects ........Nu 6, down at the Arsenal
Now there is every chance that none of these eleven women came from Eltham or even lived here, but on the other hand they might have done.The Progress Estate is testimony to the many people who came...
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What a difference three months can make ............ from August to October...
Now as ever Andy Robertson continues to be on hand to chronicle the changes to the city’s skyline.And here in just two pictures is the story of one building.Looking down from the metro stop across...
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Down at Parrs Wood Parade in 1931........... pondering on that park and the...
It is the detail in this 1930s postcard which I like. On a wet summer’s day the Corporation bus has just set down a group of passengers and above them the sign announces that the East Didsbury Station...
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By train from Chorlton into the Hope Valley in the April of 1957 for a day of...
Now it is Sunday April 7th 1957 and I am on Chorlton railway station waiting for the train from Central which left at 9.45 am and is due here just twelve minutes later.The weather according to the...
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