My mother, Frances Makin Frain, was raised at 218 Upper Conran. She met my dad at Tommy Ducks in 1943. One thing led to another, slowly, and in about ten years, they'd married and I came along.
I spent almost a year there in 1956-7, and went to Moston Lane School. My sister was born at Crumpsall Hospital in January 1957 and baptised, I believe, at Christ Church, Harpurhey. We were there Palm Sunday, but Father Mike couldn't easily access records from that far back. We met a lovely bunch of people there, but no one could remember back that far. Most of the congregation hadn't yet been born when we were there before.
We went to the Moston Lane School and looked through the fence. Nothing looked familiar. We went to a pub called, I believe, The Plowman's Arms. Susie, the owner, said she'd ask some of her older customers if they might have known my relatives, but we haven't heard in a month. We may not. It's been a long tim since there were Makins on Upper Conran.
My grandfather was Thomas Makin, and in addition to my mother, had children named Tommy, Hilda, and Agnes. Agnes also married a Yank & moved to the States. Tommy & Hilda remained in the Manchester area for the rest of their lives. Tommy had two sons, Thomas and Michael. Michael died young in a fire at work. Hilda married Shawn O'Neal, and they had several children. I'm not sure I ever met them all, but there was a Shawn, a Dierdre, a Patricia, and there may have been others. For whatever reasons, our family wasn't close.
If you know or know of any Makins from Harpurhey, I'd like to hear from you.