Clik here to view.
So what is the story behind the tram on Well Hall Road, one sunny spring day?
Now there is a fine line between nostalgia and remembering the past.The first pretty much takes you nowhere and often distorts the past by making it seem somehow better than it was.On the other hand...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Rediscovering the Savoy cinema on Manchester Road in Chorlton
Now Andy sent me this picture after one of those very heavy rainy days which left vast lakes across Chorlton and made most of us feel thorughly miserable at what was supposed to be high summer.But what...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Down in Lewisham with an old telephone kiosk, Lewisham Micro Library and...
Now I like the way you start a story and it takes off in a direction all of its own.We were talking about those old iconic red telephone kiosks and what would we do with one of those that are up for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Wishing you were here ........... Eltham in the past nu 3 the old vicarage 1833
The caption says "The Old Vicarage as seen from what is now Sherrard Road. In the distance the Church. On the right the old Chequers Inn. Date 1833. The shops on the immediate right are still in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The ghost sign in Northwich which I lost and Ron found
Now I know we are in Witton Street in Northwich not far from the impressive Penny Black which was the town’s Post Office and is now a Weatherspoons.I have to say that the company has managed to save...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The story of one family in Chorlton ........... Jim and Annie McLoughlin
This is young Annie Magee aged fifteen in 1923 outside her home on what is now Ivy Green Road.Miss Annie Magee in 1923It comes from a wonderful collection of photographs belonging to Peter McLoughlin...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Down on New Cross Road with a ghost sign
Now what surprises me more than anything about ghosts signs is that so many of them have survived for so long.For those who don’t know they are adverts for businesses and products which have long ago...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Exploring Hirst's Yard in Leeds ........ discovering a future ghost sign and...
Hirst's Yard 2014Now I would like to know more about Hirst's Yard in Leeds.It is a small alley between Call Lane and Lower Briggate and I guess if you weren’t in the know it’s somewhere you are never...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Memories of Chorlton from the 1960s
Wilbraham Road in 1985Now somewhere between these two pictures of those shops on Wilbraham Road comes this delightful set of memories from Marion Jackson. What makes them all the more important is that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lost scenes of Well Hall
Now this will be the last for a while of pictures of Eltham trams taken from that wonderful book on Eltham and Woolwich Tramways.*But that said given that there are equally fascinating pictures of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Changing Chorlton ............... down at McFadyen’s Memorial Congregational...
Now one of the popular posts recently has been a series on McFadyen’s Memorial Congregational Church by Tong Goulding.It is a familiar landmark which has just undergone a big renovation and I have...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Walking again in Nunhead Cemetery
Now we are entering that time of year when more than 55 year ago I wandered into the cemetery in search of conkers.It’s a story I have told before and it is a moment shrouded in shame.So I shall say no...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Bazley Brothers leave their mark in Ancoats
Now as Ron said here is “a different kind of 'ghost sign' of a more substantial nature. It was taken in the June of this year on East Pollard Street. Manchester and knowing your 'nose' for bygone...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Calling in at the parish church on a spring day in 1851 at the start of our...
The Old Vicarage from Well Hall Lane, 1833Now I had planned on starting our walk up the High Street in the spring of 1851 at Sherad House which was roughly on the site now occupied by the Nat West...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A shopping list, a coal receipt and a little bit of how we lived in the...
Now in an age of online shopping I still like the idea of making a list and going down to the shops but I have grown lazy and have reverted to that simple practice of the man with the van.And today...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Painting Well Hall and Eltham ....... Nu 4 our house on Well Hall Road
An occasional series featuring buildings and places I like and painted by Peter Topping.Now there had to come a time when I decided my bit of Well Hall Road should be recorded.It came out of a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
In Eltham with the Reverend John Kenward Shaw Brooke and some revealing records
John Kenward Shaw Brooke from an engraving in the churchI am sitting looking at a picture of the Reverend John Kenward Shaw Brooke and have been reflecting on what started as a simple piece of research...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Painting Peckham ............. baking a bun, and losing a pub The Bun House
Now there should be a competition for what to do with a redundant bakery in Peckham.If this was 1896 the obvious answer would be to turn it into a pub and call it the Bun House, and when in the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Down at the Savoy Cinema in 1937 on Manchester Road watching Road to Glory
Now back in the summer of 1937 I could have had three cinemas to choose from here in Chorlton and of these the most impressive was the Savoy on Manchester Road which had opened in 1920 as the Picture...
View ArticleClik here to view.
On Hardy Lane on June 7 1977
Hardy Lane, June 7 1977Now I can be absolutely certain of the date because this was one of the many street parties held to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of the present Queen.Back in Ashton where I had...
View Article