Author Topic: Cheetham/Hill 1950s/60s?  (Read 752755 times)

cheethamgirl

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Re: Cheetham/Hill 1950s/60s?
« Reply #1500 on: 07:52:24, 14/06/18 »
I've saved the image on Pinterest but this site won't let me upload the image from there or from my computer.
Author:  'Odd Man Out - A Motiveless Murder?' & 'The Cheetham Hill Murder'

lozflan

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Re: Cheetham/Hill 1950s/60s?
« Reply #1501 on: 10:16:38, 14/06/18 »
If the dentist was there in the 50s,opposite Queens Rd.for some reason,maybe a check up, I paid a first ever visit. [ had good teeth and wanted to keep them]
Well he pulled out two good ones,put me off dentists for years.
My pal lived in the big corner house opposite the Temple.
Politicians and nappies must be changed often,and for the same reason

cheethamgirl

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Re: Cheetham/Hill 1950s/60s?
« Reply #1502 on: 11:42:38, 14/06/18 »

Hi Lozflan, Different dentist, the one near Queen's road. I went to him, too, and had a tooth pulled. Scary man. Looked like Boris Karloff!


The dentist I mean was much further up Cheetham Hill Rd, just past the top of Heywood St., on opposite side from Esmond Rd and the Greenhill cinema. The house I'm interested in, the 'murder house', was demolished and there's now a smaller building in its place, which houses a travel agent, immigration lawyer and beauty salon etc. 
Author:  'Odd Man Out - A Motiveless Murder?' & 'The Cheetham Hill Murder'

Grahalle

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Re: Cheetham/Hill 1950s/60s?
« Reply #1503 on: 17:47:06, 14/06/18 »
Hi, This ,I think was the first dentist that I visited mid 50s. Was he called Mr Green ?

ozhazo

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Re: Cheetham/Hill 1950s/60s?
« Reply #1504 on: 02:55:42, 18/06/18 »

Came across the site when doing a search for my old primary school Temple. Amazed that I've never noticed the blog before. Spent hours of reading from the start to finish. What struck me was although I lived in Cheetham Hill for almost twenty five years I really know little about parts of it.


I lived in Alms Hill Road and probably spent the majority of my time on the Smedley side of Cheetham Hill Road. I had family who lived in Wythburn Avenue (near junction of Smedley and Queens roads). It had been the family home for ages and my mother grew up there. It was a small cul-de-sac that terminated at the Victoria to Bury railway line.
There was a petrol station on Queens Road between Smedley Road and Cheetham Hill Road that for a while was owned by Alan Ball Jr. He'd sometimes be there on Sunday mornings. I also remember Barneys tip that has been mentioned.


Spent a lot of time in Smedley Playing Fields playing football or watching the games on a Sunday morning. Temple Primary played their home games on the kids pitch near the changing rooms at the Smedley Lane entrance. I recall the sand pit mentioned in one of the posts. There was a walkway that went along the outside of the playing fields, over a footbridge and emerged at Woodlands Road. Think there was a small factory the other side of the path on Cardinal Street.


Though not Cheetham Hill I spent time in Queens Park while my uncle necked a pint or two at the pub on the corner at the Park View entrance. Can't remember what it was called. Do remember that at the entrance to the park there was a meteorite. I believe it got moved. Does anyone know if it's still around? Always thought it was a pretty special thing to have in a local park. There was also a gallery there that was quite grand. At least it seemed so to a young lad! Does anyone remember the River Irk? Must have seen it all colours of the rainbow at various times.


Not sure when I started at Temple but left for secondary school in 1969. Some of the contributors must have been classmates at Temple. MalcolmCooper, SmedleyLad, Reptile & MikePich and maybe also CityLad.


I remember the clinic on Smedley Street where we had to go for check ups. There was also a dentist. Gas was the anaesthetic of the day. Most unpleasant. Thankfully dentistry has evolved significantly since!


The father of Karen Royle was the licensee of the Temple pub.




ALMS HILL ROAD


Smedley Garage was at the start of Alms Hill Road on the even numbered side. Holts store at the corner of Daimler Street and Alms Hill Road but on the other side of Alms Hill. There was also a laundrette pretty much opposite Daimler Street.


There was a back lane between the two leading up to Manswood Drive, which was a cul-de-sac, ending at the grounds of Northern Hospital. There was a common where Manswood Drive doglegged that people would use as a short cut to Cheetham Hill Road. There was always a bonfire there on November 5. The common forked into two worn paths emerging at each end of it on Cheetham Hill Road. Spent time playing in the overgrown areas. Opposite it on CHR was a display area for a tombstone company. Langer's?


There was a store on corner of AHR and CHR where we used to get veggies and drinks returning empties for refunds. Might have been called Davidson's. There were a few other shops with a fish & chippy at the end pretty much opposite Brideoak Street. Always popular on Friday evening. Think you had to go up a few steps to the entrance.


Someone mentioned Orbro Cash & Carry. Before that it was called Blacklock's, a printing company. I remember many times sneaking into the yard entrance on Cardinal Street to check for discarded football magazines that were binned for recycling. The entrance to the upstairs offices was on Alms Hill Road. My mum worked there a few nights a week cleaning. The janitor lived on the corner of Alms Hill Road & Manswood Drive.


People I remember on Alms Hill Road were the Verbers (#22), an eastern European family who had a daughter called Nadia (#25), Olivers (#27) and, I think, Hartleys (#29) and in one of the row of five or six terraces next to #29 the Thomsons. In Humber Street lived the Peters.


St Chads Lad

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Re: Cheetham/Hill 1950s/60s?
« Reply #1505 on: 08:36:07, 18/06/18 »
Wow, that was quite a lot of memories, as you see I went to Chads, I remember Playing football on Smedley and the paperworks, used to go there for drawing paper,  and the clinic, I had a verucca cut out there  once they were bloody butchers  ;D  anyway welcome to the forum  :)

ozhazo

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Re: Cheetham/Hill 1950s/60s?
« Reply #1506 on: 22:40:10, 21/06/18 »

ST LUKE'S


My mum took me along Sunday mornings for a couple of years. Wasn't that keen on ths Sunday school but after listening to the sermon a few times, it dragged on for twenty to thirty minutes which was tortuously long for a young 'un, it became an attractive proposition! I think the reverend's name was Powell. He was a very serious person. His residence was in one of the houses on Smedley Lane between Cheetham Hill Road & Cardinal Street. Very possibly explained the side entrance to the church on Smedley Lane which was across from the residence. They later also got a verger who was younger and related to kids much better. Possible surname Howard.


One day we went on a trip to the peak district. We were all coming down a hill when it we realised something was wrong with one of the kids. We assumed he'd fallen but it turned out he'd had a fit. Don't think any of us had seen someone having a fit before so it was quite unnerving. The verger knew what to do though and handled the situation brilliantly. Put a dampener on the rest of the trip though. Anyone else out there who was on that outing?


I remember being told the composer Felix Mendelssohn played the organ there. Does anyone know if this is correct?


Is there any reason why the land wasn't sold off and redeveloped? It must be well over thirty years now since it operated as a church and it was left in a run down state for a long time.


Did St Luke's feature in one of the Prime Suspect stories? There was one set in Manchester and a distance shot of a church in it that resembled the derelict St Luke's. Was filmed in dim light so couldn't get a handle on any surrounding landmarks.


cheethamgirl

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Re: Cheetham/Hill 1950s/60s?
« Reply #1507 on: 07:45:44, 22/06/18 »

An interesting article appeared in the Manchester Courier in June 1901 and it described St Luke's and its history.


The foundation stone for the church was laid in 1839, a year before Queen Victoria's coronation, and the church is described as having been the largest around and visible for many miles around, so that it gained the name 'the church on the hill'. In the 1830s there were many wealthy residents in the area, and grand houses such as Broughton Hall, Crumpsall Hall, etc, and the parishioners included many relatives of William Gladstone, as well as wealthy Manchester merchants. Alms Hill was open farm land then and the rectory was built on some of that land and was grand enough to accommodate visiting bishops.


The church organ was a hugely expensive and magnificent one, built in London in 1840, and the church held monthly organ voluntaries which were high class musical performances attended by the local wealthy residents. On April 21st 1847, the then renowned Hamburg musician Felix Mendlessohn did indeed play the organ at St Luke's for an audience of local dignitaries and parishioners and to great acclaim. His visit was sponsored by local wealthy resident Mr C, Souchay (possibly another Jewish convert to Christianity?). Almost every other place he played now has a blue plaque. His appearance there clearly had a big effect on the town and a firm of piano and organ sellers in Strangeways named their premises Mendelssohn House. Even today, the restaurant at one of Manchester' Airports hotels is named Mendelssohn's.


I don't know whether St Luke's was ever listed - it should have been - though it would have made little difference to its fate, since the sumptuous library in Cheetham village, paid for by public subscription, is listed yet was sold off to a consortium who are allowing it to fall into decay so they can apply to demolish it and  build commercial premises on the site. Doubtless that is what will also happen to St Luke's, given the attitudes of those in local government to Manchester's fine history and architecture.


As for Mendelssohn, he too suffered a fate above and beyond his early death, in being reviled as a Jew (he was of that race but of the Christian faith) during the anti-Semitic times of the late 19th to mid 20th century in Germany, and his works fell out of favour and, indeed, were banned under the Nazis. When ever I listen to Mendelssohn's The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave), inspired by his trip to Scotland during that 1840s tour of Europe which also took in Manchester, I wonder how such genius could ever have been derided, and indeed how could St Luke's, Manchester's most magnificent and historic church, have been so slighted.    :(
Author:  'Odd Man Out - A Motiveless Murder?' & 'The Cheetham Hill Murder'

lozflan

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Re: Cheetham/Hill 1950s/60s?
« Reply #1508 on: 17:22:45, 25/06/18 »
Hi Ch.G. many a time ,standing by the side of Wallworks,looking at the Irk disappearing into aTunnel never thinking it was going underground.To make its way to the Irwell.
Politicians and nappies must be changed often,and for the same reason

cheethamgirl

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Re: Cheetham/Hill 1950s/60s?
« Reply #1509 on: 18:08:12, 01/07/18 »
Never was a river more aptly named, either, Lozflan. Irk!  Some days it ran blue, other days khaki or yellow, depending on what was going on at the dyeworks. And I can recall how it smelled. Very strong chemical smell.  :o
Author:  'Odd Man Out - A Motiveless Murder?' & 'The Cheetham Hill Murder'

ozhazo

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Re: Cheetham/Hill 1950s/60s?
« Reply #1510 on: 01:57:03, 09/07/18 »
Where was the dye works? I always thought a lot of the pollution was put into the Irk by ICI who were at the other end of Hazelbottom Road (though I think it's name changed somewhere around Crescent Road).

cheethamgirl

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Re: Cheetham/Hill 1950s/60s?
« Reply #1511 on: 19:00:26, 09/07/18 »

Not sure, Ozhazo. I didn't know where it went in. Just too aware of where it ended up!
 >:(
Author:  'Odd Man Out - A Motiveless Murder?' & 'The Cheetham Hill Murder'

St Chads Lad

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Re: Cheetham/Hill 1950s/60s?
« Reply #1512 on: 19:34:36, 09/07/18 »
After Crescent road Hazelbottom road runs into Waterloo st., the Irk passes under it just before Factory lane.

Peter L

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Re: Cheetham/Hill 1950s/60s?
« Reply #1513 on: 19:59:47, 09/07/18 »
Just saw this particular forum after visiting the one specifically for Manchester Central Grammar School


Born October 1945 in Crumpsall Hospital and lived for 12 or so years on Shirley Road, opposite the clubhouse.   Went to Cheetham Collegiate School before MCGS.  Spent my formative years with my cousin Elaine Harrison and friend Adrian Hope foraging around the Cheetham Hill area, from Heaton Park, Crumpsall Park to the Elizabeth St. Playground and everywhere in between.   Read some of the earlier blogs - lots of names and places sound familiar but all a little fuzzy now.  Currently live in a small country town in Virginia, USA, about as far apart in many ways from Cheetham Hill as you can get!




St Chads Lad

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Re: Cheetham/Hill 1950s/60s?
« Reply #1514 on: 20:13:13, 09/07/18 »
Was it the clubhouse at the bottom end of Shirley rd? I lived in the area from 1963 - 1978, when we were kids we played in the old club, it was derelict at the time. Great times :)