Issue No 12 December 2002 - July 2003

The magazine of Salford Museums & Heritage Service

FREE

LifeTimesLink

Sharing Salford’s Fantastic Story

Useful contacts Phone

Heritage Services Manager Nicola Power

0161 736 2649

Heritage Development Officer

Julie Allsop0161 872 0251

Outreach Office Ann Monaghan

0161 736 1594

Research Officer Ken Craven

0161 736 1594

Asst Exhibition & Events Officer

Jo Clarke 0161 736 2649

Asst Audience Development Officer

Nicola Lynch 0161 736 2649

Collections Manager Peter Ogilvie

0161 736 2649

Librarian, Local History Library

Tim Ashworth 0161 736 2649

Librarian, Working Class Movement Library

Alain Kahan 0161 736 3601

Useful contacts Websites

www.salfordmuseum.org to find out about what’s

happening at SMAG

www.ordsallhall.org to discover the history

of the hall

www.lifetimes.org.uk featuring the background to the Lifetimes project, audio

interviews and a bulletin board

www.wcml.org.uk to sign up to the mailing list or have

a look through the material they have

www.oninsalford.com to find out about heritage

walks, talks and family events in Salford

Adding a LINK to our chainIf you would like to send in an article or contribute to LifeTimes Link then send it in to: The Editor, LifeTimes Link, 51 The Crescent, Salford, M5 4WX. Email: info@lifetimes.org.uk. Tel/Fax: 0161 736 1594

The deadline for the next issue is 1 April 2003. We must add that we cannot accept any responsibility for the loss or damage to contributor’s material - so if you want us to copy original photographs, please phone us first. We cannot guarantee publication of your material and reserve the right to edit any contributions we do use.

Editorial

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By the time you read this we will have held our first ever LifeTimes Local History Day at Salford Museum and Art Gallery on Sunday 24 November 2002. The day was planned as a great opportunity to showcase the work of groups in and around Salford involved in local and family history. It was publicised in advance through local press and venues and on BBC GMR but our apologies if you missed it. Hopefully we can build on this and make it an annual event with earlier publicity next year.

Festive preparations are underway at Ordsall Hall with a Family Funday on 1 December and the Festive Music and Christmas Fayre on Sunday 8 December.

LifeTimes Link is distributed through libraries, schools, information centres, galleries and museums as well as by post to readers who joined the mailing list, some as far back as the winter of 1999. Our list urgently needs updating - if you are on our list and would like us to continue sending your copy please fill in the Mailing List Renewal Form enclosed with this issue and return it to us at the address below.

Drop us a line to tell us what you think or if you have any stories of Salford you would like to share. We hope you enjoy LifeTimes Link and best wishes for the festive season!

The Editor

Welcome!

Our new image has certainly met with your approval! Thanks to those who have contacted us with their comments (all complimentary!) - we’ve included a few on the Letters Page. This issue includes a selection of festive Salford stories and details of exhibitions and events with a heritage flavour happening across the city.

Editorial 2Contributions 2Useful contacts 2Movers & Shakers 3

Mystery Pics! 4-5Links Around the World 5News from the Friends of Salford Museums’ Assocation 5

John Petty - Firework Maker 6-7by Val Evans

A Magical Christmas 8by Sue Wilkes

Book Reviews 9

Poetry 10Salford Civic Anthemby EJ Frank

On the Street Where 10 You Lived by Leslie Holmes

Museum Fever 3 11by Katy McCall

Family Friendly Diary Dates 12

From Time to Time 12-13

December Morning - 14-15Middle Gate Salford Docks,the Hungry Thirties by David Attenborough

The Bengal Lancers 15 in Ordsall by Edward Hulmes

My Tribute to Uncle Bill - 16-17the Lancashire Boxing Machine by Jean Jackson

You Write 18-19

The Tale of Grindrett’s 20-21Ghost by Ann Monaghan

Poetry 22Regent Road Schoolby Ken Phoenix

Local History Round Up 23

Poetry 24Salford Fantasyasticby Roy Bullock

Contents

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Movers and Shakers

Over the summer there’s been some comings and goings at Salford Museums and Heritage Service. Everyone below has some sort of link with the development of LifeTimes.

Julie Allsop joined the team in July as Heritage Development Officer. She’s come from the opposite side of the country - and was Principal Keeper for the Usher Gallery in Lincoln. She is very interested in finding links between collections and people.

Peter Turner began working with the team in September, he can be found working with the Collections Manager and the LifeTimes team in his new role as Project Assistant.

Judith Sandling formerly the Lowry Collections Officer has now retired. The gallery team welcomes Judith back every week when she returns as a volunteer to continue to undertake collections work.

Exhibitions Officer Mark Wisbey, who came to SMAG in 2001, has gone on to undertake further study.

Photo right: The Cope Children dressed for Whit Week c1951 (courtesy of Mr & Mrs Bell).

Front cover: Busy participants at a Photography Workshop at Salford Museum & Art Gallery.

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1. The car, registration ENF 292, appears to be on a weigh- bridge. The man in the white overalls has the word CAPASCO on his back. We believe the photo was taken between 1937 and 1940.

2. Mayor Goulden is seen here addressing a crowd - could it be at Chaseley Fields? We believe the date to be circa 1955 and this photo came along with some Salford Grammar School photos.

3. Swinton area circa 1970. The van in the foreground is registered with a ‘J’ suffix letter and the van to the left is a Scottish & Newcastle brewery vehicle. But what is the name of the street?

New Book

Following a very successful exhibition of Victorian photos of Salford and Manchester at The Lowry, the Friends recently purchased from Elsie Mullineux a set of glass slides by Samuel L Coulthurst and, thanks to an ‘Awards For All’ Lottery grant, they will be publishing a book of these photographs.

Articles written by local historians Chris Makepeace and Elsie Mullineux, professional photographer Mark Watson, and Pat Prestwich, a descendant of Coulthurst, will accompany the images. Copies of the book will be donated to all Salford’s schools as well as several day centres and homes for the elderly.The book is in preparation as we go to press (Nov 2002) but will be on sale in the near future priced £4.95.

Friends Events

The Friends traditional Carol Concert will be held in the Victorian Gallery at Salford Museum and Art Gallery on Wednesday 18 December 2002 when the Salford Choral Society will provide the musical entertainment. Tickets are £4 for members and children, and £6 for non-members - available from the secretary.

Each month, from April to July 2003, there will be visits to other museums including Smithhills Hall and Stockport Air Raid Shelters. Full details from Simon Donnelly - Secretary, Friends of Salford Museums’ Association, 1 Saint John Street, Pendlebury, Salford M27 8XF.

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Photo above: Coulthurst’s photo of an ice cream vendor

News from the Friends of Salford Museums’ Association

Mystery Pics!Salford Local History Library has over 50,000 photos in their collection - and from time to time we can’t identify some donations. Can you help?

Where were these photos taken, what date, and what event? Drop us a line, or pop into the Local History Library if you have any information about any of these images.

Thanks to all those who told us that the school photo featured in our LifeTimes Link 11 was Claremont ‘Open Air’ School with Headmaster W S Brown (see letters page for more on this photo). The other two featured photos remain a mystery.

Links Around the World

The article, A Miner’s Son by Ted Brooks, which featured in our last issue brought a phone call from Mrs Rose Horrocks in Broughton. She’d known the Brooks family back in the 1930s and had lost contact by 1950 when they emigrated. Happily, we were able to supply her with details for Ted in Victoria, Australia and his sister Lily, living in Worsley.Mrs Horrocks’ grandparents lived next door to the Brooks family in Walkden and one of Ted’s sisters, Doris, was in the same class as her at St John’s. There were ten Brooks children and Rose recalled how the younger ones would be given a piece of bread after their bath, each child having their own favourite topping - jam, syrup, or treacle.Ted and Rose have been corresponding, swapping tales and exchanging photographs of their childhood. If LifeTimes Link has helped you renew old friendships please tell us your story.

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(1839-1911) by Val Evans

As a child growing up in Winton in the fifties, the highlight of my week was our Sunday visit to my grandmother’s farm on Barton Moss.

I never knew my Grandfather Gleave who died before I was born, but well remember the tales of a man whose ‘hedges were the best clipped on the Moss’ and had a temper which was reputed to be like a whirlwind. In contrast Granny Gleave was of the sweetest temperament and no-one had a bad tale to tell of her. Sadly she too died when I was very young or maybe I would have discovered earlier that her father John Petty, my great grandfather, was the Firework Maker of Barton Moss.

However it was to be 50 years before I was to discover that my great grandfather manufactured fireworks and by that time it was too late, as most of us who delve into our families’ past discover, to ask the questions as there’s sadly no-one left to answer them. Instead I’ve spent the past two years putting together the pieces of the Petty jigsaw with the help of Salford Local History Library and, more recently, Irlam and Cadishead Local History Society.

John Petty was born just a few days after the great hurricane that hit the North West in January 1839. He was the only child of James Petty a cutler and his wife Elizabeth. James was a Yorkshireman but Elizabeth came from a tiny village called Corringham in Lincolnshire. Their home, however, was at Furnace Hill, a tiny community at the Sheffield end of the Snake Pass in Derbyshire. Within two years this rural lifestyle was swapped for the big city and the Pettys set up home in Gravel Lane, Salford, just a stone’s throw from the Flat Iron Market.

When John was 12 the family moved to Liverpool Road opposite the famous station to a shop which sold cutlery and furniture. In 1862 John married Betsy at Manchester Cathedral and moved to Deansgate by the side of the lock opposite Knott Mill Station, the other end of the row from The Crown Inn, which is still there today, although it’s recently been transformed to an Irish Bar.

It was there where my grandmother was born, as were eight of her nine brothers and sisters.

Around this time the annual Manchester Fair was still being held on Liverpool Road every Easter, causing the road to be blocked for a week with diversions around Deansgate, and as their house was next door to the Boathouse Inn life must have been pretty lively there. Maybe that’s the reason that early in the 1880s the family upped sticks and moved to Barton Moss.

Even today the Moss is a lonely and isolated part of Salford but in the 1880s it must surely have been a sharp contrast for the family moving from the heart of a bustling city.

The site John chose to build his wooden house on was up Barton Moss Road passed the station and the Liverpool Manchester Railway. It was from here that he set up what was to become his firework factory and the name he chose to give his new home was the Rocket House. Whether or not the house was named after the fireworks or Stephenson’s famous engine we’ll probably never know but within a few years Petty’s Fireworks were famous for miles around.

The factory consisted of several buildings close by the Rocket House. Two were brick storerooms, one with a copper magazine where the gunpowder was kept and the other for storing the completed fireworks. In one ‘shop’ paper balloons for sending fireworks aloft were made. The ‘coloured fire shop’ was where the pellets for the coloured balls were inserted in Roman Candles and rockets and the fuses were put on the fireworks. From here came fireworks which entertained people all over the country for Petty’s Fireworks supplied firms nationwide - as well as Eccles shopkeepers.

John Petty - Firework Maker

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John was an expert at set tableaux and staged demonstrations at White City as well as at the homes of the landed gentry of Lancashire and Yorkshire. His specialities were the ‘bombshells’ as big as small footballs, which were pushed into tubes sunk into the ground and were connected by quick-match fuses.

The firework business at the Rocket House must at this time have been very successful as the 1891 census shows that six of John’s grown up children were employed as firework maker’s assistants. It was also reported that every year on the two days before bonfire night local children would walk the four miles passed the cemetery, up Big Dick’s Walk and along Barton Moss Road to the Rocket House where, for these two days only, fireworks were sold from the house. Tales tell of ‘two or three hundred children, some with no shoes and socks on making their way up the Moss to buy fireworks’.

In 1911 there was a particularly hot summer and the heat made headlines in all the national papers. It was during the afternoon of 12 July, while John was charging some explosive shells for a garden party at Whitby, that there was a massive explosion.

Two sides of the shed were blown down and the roof fell in. Both John and his son Harry were badly burned in the explosion, the former being dragged from the shed by James Moulder a neighbouring farmer who, at great risk to his own life, entered the blazing building to make the rescue despite fireworks exploding all around.

Father and son were taken to Eccles and Patricroft Hospital but were not admitted, then to Salford Royal where, once again, they were refused admission and finally to Manchester Royal Infirmary, where sadly John died next day, the same day as the Prince of Wales Investiture at Caernarvon Castle, which shared the headlines in the local evening paper.

Harry survived his injuries although scarred, and I remember my Great Uncle Harry from my childhood as quite a character though I never dreamt that he once worked in the firework business on Barton Moss or indeed that on his wedding day he described himself as ‘Firework Artist’.

The coroner at the inquest into my great grandfather’s death heard that the sun was shining very brightly through the two small windows of the shed in which he was working and this may have caused the explosion.

John alone was allowed to mix the powder for the fireworks, and it was thought that while mixing this the explosion occurred. The coroner, however, decided it was difficult to determine what caused the explosion and the jury decided that John ‘died of burns as a result of explosion, but what caused the explosion there was no evidence to show’.

James Moulder, the farmer who had rescued John from the burning building, received the Albert Medal for his bravery. For some years after the accident John’s sons worked the factory but then shortly after the First World War it was sold and firework making on Barton Moss came to end. Today the Rocket House is no more although last year, just a few days before he died, a cousin of mine took me to the spot where the Petty family lived at the end of the nineteenth century and just a few weeks ago a copy of a photo of the Rocket House was given to me by John Heap of Irlam and Cadishead Local History Society.

So the journey continues - who knows what other secrets are left to discover in my search for family history.

Photo above: The Rocket House, Barton Moss (Courtesy of Irlam & Cadishead Local History Society)

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A Magical Christmasby Sue Wilkes

Is Christmas becoming too commercialised? Was the most magical Christmas you ever had the year Father Christmas brought you a doll, or a new bike? Or was every Christmas special?

All my childhood Christmases are blurred into a festive pudding full of golden memories: tinsel, brightly-lit shop windows and thick, soft snow. When I was little, we lived behind my Dad’s shop in Salford, on Eccles New Road. Many of the old terraced houses I remember were demolished years ago, their creamily donkey-stoned doorsteps and community spirit gone for good.

Winter mornings were colder then - Jack Frost left his calling card on every window. Thick, spidery fingers of frost so thick it was difficult to see outside. If you breathed on the film of ice, it made a tiny peephole onto a white world where icicles dangled from the trees, and snow really was deep and crisp and even. A good old-fashioned snowman with coal-black eyes and a carrot nose would smile for days, instead of vanishing overnight as in today’s globally warmed mild winters.

But few of us would want to return to the days before central heating. Remember watching Mum rake and sweep out the fire grate in the chilly dawn? And yet, a real fire had a magic of its own. Strange

shadows and ancient legends flickered in its glowing heart. A little brother of the fire twinkled in the lantern huddled next to the cistern in the outside loo, to stop the pipes freezing. Going out in the dark and cold was a real inconvenience - no en-suite bathrooms and bidets then. No, that’s an aspect of childhood winters I don’t miss!

The countdown to Christmas always began when my sister and I wrote out our present list for Father Christmas. We had a fire-grate in our bedroom, and Dad would post our list up the chimney - after waiting until the fire was out, of course. The first winter we had a gas fire fitted, I remember lying awake worrying because Father Christmas wouldn’t be able to come down the chimney. There was relief on Christmas morning when I found he’d made it after all!

Every Christmas followed the same pattern. We had a pillowcase each for a stocking, which we hung on the end of our beds. Early Christmas morning, we’d wake before it was light, then try to guess what each exciting lump and bump was before tipping our pillowcases onto the bed. After gloating over our goodies, we’d go and show Mum and Dad, and ask if we could go and see if Father Christmas had left anything under the Christmas tree. Then it was a race downstairs, elbowing each other to get there first and tear off the wrappings in an orgy of ripping and paper tags.

It’s funny how many of the toys we had are still popular today. Dolls and prams, toy cookers, but most of all books - especially Enid Blyton. I read as many as I could get my hands on - the ‘Five Find-Outers’ stories were my favourites.

But the most magical Christmas present I ever had wasn’t a toy or a book. One particular Christmas morning, my sister and I woke as usual, and ran into our parents’ room to show them our pillowcases full of presents - but Mum and Dad weren’t there. So we ran downstairs - and got a big surprise. Somehow Mum’s bed had moved down there. Dad stood by the bed, grinning, proud as Punch. And Mum was propped up on some pillows, with a baby in her arms. Father Christmas had brought us a new baby brother!

The best Christmas present ever - and one you still can’t buy in the shops!

Photo above: Eccles New Road

Sept 1972.The shop near the

3-wheeled car is Noone’s, and Allan’s

Motorcycle Shop is next door, to the right.

(Courtesy A S Frankland and Salford Local

History Library).

The Rocket - An Accountby the Driver of the Famous Locomotive

This booklet, based on an article from an American publication, The Royal Magazine, first appeared in July 1909 where the story was told by Edward Entwhistle.

Entwhistle was born in Lancashire in 1815. He worked on the railway from the age of 15 then became a main engineer in a boathouse on the Bridgewater Canal. He emigrated in 1840 and at the time of his interview was a 94 year old living in Iowa. The compiler of this book has been unable to prove or disprove that Entwhistle was driving the Rocket when the Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened on 15 September 1830. Nevertheless the account is a fascinating read:

‘One day Stephenson came into the shop in Manchester where I was working. He was on a very strange errand, and that was to find a man to drive the Rocket, which was to take part in the first run between Manchester and Liverpool at the opening of the line, and which was being put through trial trips, so to speak, although she had proved her worth.

‘Now there were not many men who had the same faith in the locomotive that the inventor had; and although he spoke in the shop for a long time, he could not persuade anybody to volunteer. There were plenty of men ready to jeer and jibe, but not one who was keen enough to take on the job. They did not relish the terrible risks of tearing along a set of iron rails at a dozen or fifteen miles an hour!’

32pp softback illustrated. Published by The House of Heroes, 280 Liverpool Road, Eccles, Manchester M30 0RZ. Price: £3. ISBN 0 9524014 7 9

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Book Reviews

Salford By The Sea by W R Wilkinson

Four years of research and writing has resulted in this fascinating 268 page book (including 16 pages of photographs) charting the history of the Salford Children’s Camp at Prestatyn.

The first few chapters paint the social and economic background of Salford and its citizens in the early 1920s which led, in 1926, to Mayor Samuel Delves proposing ‘the possibility of establishing for Salford an open-air camp for poor children.’ The rest, as they say, is history.

Affectionately known as the Jam Buttie Camp by many of the thousands of children who, over the years, have benefited from the camp, the personal recollections of Edward Rowbottom explain why. Eleven year old Eddie and his younger brother Stan attended Wood Street Mission and being regular recipients of charitable handouts were deemed fitted to stay at the camp in the 1930s.

Eddie remembered a naughty little rhyme that the older boys, who perhaps had been to the camp previously, taught to the younger more impressionable children. It went, ‘Jam, jam, jam. Bread and jam, bread and jam. Jam until you s**t jam rolls.’

The book is bang up to date with comments from staff of Marlborough Road School in Broughton who attended in 2001. ‘It was just like everyone had hoped it would be, the sun was shining, we were at the seaside on holiday.’ And the book ends with a note from the city’s Director of Education and Leisure, Jill Baker. ‘I am delighted to be the Hon Secretary of Salford Children’s Holiday Camp. It has been a much valued resource for the children of the city for many yeas and I am keen that it should continue as such.’

Published by the author, the book is available from Salford Museum and selected libraries, priced £9.95. A percentage of the profits go to Salford Children’s Holiday Camp fund.

Photo right: The author, Bill Wilkinson (right), with a former attendee of the camp, Eddie Rowbottom, at the BBC GMR History Fair where the book was launched on 29 September 2002.

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On The Street Where You Lived by Leslie Holmes

‘Painting the Ordsall Triangle’ was chosen as one of only three events in the North West to receive funding from the Arts Council of England and the Commission for the Built Environment to celebrate Architecture Week in June 2002. While a great deal of attention was given to the new Imperial War Museum North and the URBIS centre in Manchester our project proved that buildings like Salford Lads’ Club are as important to the future as the shiny new attractions.

In all more than 1000 people visited Salford Lads’ Club during Architecture Week and the Heritage Open Days in September. 650 people took part by adding their names and old Ordsall addresses to the giant painted map we made on the gym floor.

With all the publicity we received, people started to write in from all parts of the North West, the Midlands and even Canada to give us their old street addresses. Visitors came from London, Birmingham, and North Yorkshire. You may be aware that the main entrance to Salford Lads’ Club is famous as the backdrop for The Smith’s Album cover and we had fans from Belgium, Germany and Mexico.

I also worked with members of the United Reformed Church to produce a leaflet about the Central Mission building on Broadway and many of the visitors to the Lads’ Club came over to look around the historic building.

The project also involved all the three Ordsall primary schools. They marked out some of the original streets on their school playing fields and children listened to stories by older residents about life on the estate 50 years ago.

I was the organiser and lead artist for the project and was assisted by Year 10 pupils from Buile Hill and Hope High Schools who helped create the painted map at the Lads’ Club and a brightly coloured artwork on the top floor of the Mission. It was a remarkable experience, a great example of intergenerational work, and a privilege to be involved in this community project, which was an eye-opener to people who think that ‘heritage’ is grey and dusty.

Postcards of ‘The Ordsall Triangle’ and ‘Salford Lads’ Club’ are available from the Tourist Information Centre on Salford Quays.

Photos: Painting The Ordsall Triangle, (Courtesy of Jonathon Purcell)

Salford Civic Anthem

by E J Frank

Far beyond the terraced housesFar beyond the dirty streets

Far beyond the closed down buildingsHere the heart of Salford beats

Don’t believe the lies they tell youIn the press and on TV

There’s the pride that fills our cityFrom Worsley to Langworthy

We’ll no longer hide in shadowWe emerge into the light

Manchester will never swallowSalford’s glory burning bright

Home of theatre, art and musicCulture shines behind the grey

Soon the new regenerationWill replace the old decay

Next time that you come to SalfordDon’t just look to criticise

Where once was an urban wastelandFrom the ashes now we rise

Salford’s people stand defiant“Do not put our city down”

We’ll stand strong to build our futureBring respect to our home town.

Apology

In our last issue (No11) there was an error in verse two of Miss Frank’s poem

‘Salford Civic Anthem’. We apologise for this and reproduce the whole poem

here, as it should have appeared.

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Photo top and aboveMembers of Museum Fever visit Clifton Country Park

Museum Fever 3 by Katy McCall, Project Co-ordinator

In August 2000, the DfEE funded a pilot project - the first Museum Fever - to encourage young people from Salford Foyer to get involved in their local museum and gallery.

The project was incredibly successful, and received national recognition for its groundbreaking work and successful partnerships. Museum Fever is being used as an example of good practice and similar projects are now being undertaken across the country.

Two years later and Museum Fever is into its third phase - Museum Fever 3. We’re continuing to offer young people the opportunities to develop skills in areas including photography, filmmaking, cooking and possibly radio broadcasting.

We’re also keen to involve the community - and to promote the amenities in Salford. To do this, Museum Fever is planning to visit centres and record interviews, film, photography and radio reports.

In conjunction with the community research in Salford, the group will visit various museums and galleries. We hope to introduce the group to the behind the scenes workings of museums, meet the people involved, and interview them and their visitors. We hope these visits will give us some insight into how to make museums and galleries more appealing to 16-25 year olds, whilst giving the Museum Fever group the chance to gain skills which might help them to work in the Museum and Heritage sector.

The results of our research will be an exhibition in the LifeTimes Gallery that could include:

• an installation, which will be an environment that the group has designed - throughout the project the group will be analysing what makes a place feel welcoming and interesting and the installation will be a reflection of this• a film promoting the places the group has visited throughout the project• a radio broadcast with the recorded interviews from the visits

The group has already been on a trip to various bars and cafes and discussed how the interiors differed and how the places made them feel; explored Salford Museum and Art Gallery and discussed the collection from the modern paintings of Petra MacCarthy to the more traditional collection in the Victorian gallery; visited Clifton Country Park and learnt about the history of the Clifton mines.

In the future there’s also plans to visit the Science and Industry Museum, URBIS and Manchester Museum - to meet the staff and compare the ins and outs of what makes those places so good to visit.

Museum Fever is growing and evolving as the young people involved are taking control of their project and discovering more about their community.

The project was incredibly successful, and received national recognition for its groundbreaking work and successful partnerships. Museum Fever is being used as an example of good practice and similar projects are now being undertaken across the country.

Family Friendly Diary Dates

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Festive Family Fun DayOrdsall Hall MuseumAll the usual amusement of a family fun day at Ordsall Hall - but with a warm Christmas glow. Step back in time four hundred years and re-create the frenzy of activity as the household prepares for a spectacular Elizabethan Christmas!

Sunday 1 December, 1.00-4.00pmPrice: free

Festive Music and FayreOrdsall Hall MuseumCome for an afternoon of festive music and Christmas Fayre in the splendid setting of the Great Hall, decked with boughs of holly in anticipation of the big day!

Sunday 8 December, 1.00-4.00pmPrice: free

Christmas SMART Show and Tell - Salford Museum & Art Gallery SMART, Salford Museum’s junior club, is having a Christmas party! Find out what SMART members get up to and try out some of their activities and games, with special guest: Father Christmas

Sunday 22 December, 1.30-3.30pmPrice: free

Festive Sunday FundaySalford Museum & Art GalleryThe usual fun in LifeTimes and Lark Hill place with a special festive twist!

Sunday 22 December, 1.00-4.00pmPrice: free

February Half Term ActivitiesSalford Museum & Art Gallery and Ordsall Hall MuseumGrab a ‘Backpack’ from reception and explore the museums and galleries in style.

Monday 17 to Sunday 23 February Price: free, but a refundable deposit is required

Easter ActivitiesSalford Museum & Art Gallery, and Ordsall Hall MuseumFor an EGGciting Easter, get involved in workshops and activities over the holidays! Something to suit the whole family and it’s all free!!A leaflet detailing all activities will be available from February 2003

Monday 14 to Sunday 27 AprilPrice: free

Museums and Galleries MonthSalford Museum & Art Gallery and Ordsall Hall MuseumA range of activities and events throughout May to highlight Museums and Galleries Month. The theme is ‘Culture - then and now’.

From Thursday 1 May Price: free

(For museums’ phone numbers, websites, etc please see Contact Details inside front cover)

There was no time to spare this summer for visitors who took part in Salford Museums’ activity programme ‘From Time to Time’.

Salford Museum and Art Gallery and Ordsall Hall held six weeks of workshops with a focus on fun for all the family. Visitors could choose from a variety of activities including photography, video, storytelling, pottery, archery, basket making, or even make their own Tudor musical instrument! Almost 800 people attended the events throughout summer and visitor figures for August were at their highest since 1999, making this one of the most successful summers yet!

Mary Wheeler, whose family attended the Snap Happy! photography workshop, led by Andrew Robinson, commented: ‘I didn’t want to put the camera down. We all had a wonderful morning and are now full of ideas. We thought the pictures looked fantastic. Andrew was brilliant! Can’t wait for next week.’

Dale, aged 10, took part in archery with Paul Smith at Ordsall Hall and said, ‘It was brilliant! I want to buy one’, and Daniel aged 10 thought the Tudor Tunes Workshop, led by Windbags, was ‘Very loud, like me!’

Some of the work produced over the summer went on display in the LifeTimes gallery at Salford Museum and Art Gallery.

If you missed out this summer, don’t despair! Call Salford Museum and Art Gallery on 0161 736 2649 for details of forthcoming events and workshops, or to join our events mailing list.

From Time To TimeSummer Activities at Salford Museums 2002

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From Time To TimeHere are two reports on the summer activities from Caroline and Jennifer Wray, members of our junior museum club, SMART (Salford Museums Are Really Terrific):

‘On the 21st July Jo Harrison came and

helped us to decorate CD cases. Jo gave us many ideas. We opened the CD cases and made a picture inside using paint, glue, coloured glass, card, sawdust. Once we were happy with our picture we closed the case and Sellotaped it shut. (We used the Sellotape because the CD cases kept springing open.) It was a very messy activity and we all got covered in paint. We had great fun. We were even allowed to take one CD case home. The rest of the CD cases will be displayed in the museum. See if you can find mine. It’s the one with a big pink face, yellow card for hair, big blue eyes and a huge smile.’ Jennifer Wray - age 9

‘Andrew took us into one of the galleries to look at pictures of people. We discussed why the picture was taken; what makes them all look different; whether it was natural, formal or relaxed pose; where they were taken and what the backgrounds told us. Each family was given a digital camera and we went around the museum taking photographs of each other. Some of us got dressed up in Victorian clothes. At 12.15 we looked at each other’s pictures. Everyone laughed at me next to the ‘Funeral Directors’ sign pretending to be an old lady looking as if I was about to die. We were all then given a disposable camera for each family to take home. We have decided to take photographs of people who work in Salford. Next week we are going to give each picture a heading.’ Caroline

Wray - age 10

Summer Activities at Salford Museums 2002

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Daylight was trying hard to pierce the curtain of rain and the smoke from the chimneys of the rows of houses which circled the Docks. The gas lamps had not yet been extinguished and threw pale circles of light on the wet pavement occupied by a small knot of men, huddled together in the small shelter of the Dock wall.

Some of the lucky ones were taking solace from Lady Nicotine in the cylindrical shape of cigarettes, the glow from which resembled that given off by fireflies. To the men who were standing there such poetic similes hadn’t occurred. Then, as if by some arranged sign, they shuffled forward, making a tight group as if for protection from some hidden foe.

Constable Casey looked at them from the snug confines of his cabin. He had seen so many times that slight flicker of hope in their faces as if they knew in their heart of hearts it was a false hope - just whistling in the dark as they continued on their way across the rows of railway lines, silent of engines and wagons.

They approached Six Shed, Seven Dock, where foreman Alf Horton was standing, finally coming to a

halt before the waiting figure. Alf had a little good news, a morsel. Four men were needed to make up a delivery gang. The foreman strode up and down surveying the eager faces, each hoping they would be one of the chosen ones. Deliberately he made his choice and then, ‘That’s all lads,’ and turning he walked back into the shelter of the shed followed by the chosen.

There was little comment as the remainder made their way back across the metals and out through the Dock Gates. Just for a minute or two they stayed as a close knit group only to break up and make their way, some home to the terraced house, out of the drizzle, whilst some, mostly single men, to a café if one could call it that grandiose name, in reality an eating house with steaming containers of potato pies kept warm over a steam boiler. But this was morning, that was yet to come.

It was the large urn, complete with tap, heated by gas jets, a ready supply of hot water for mashing tea in the giant sized teapots that occupied pride of place on the long counter which separated the customers from the ample frame of Mrs Jones, the proprietor of this

December Morning - Middle Gate Salford Docks, the Hungry Thirties

By David Attenborough

Mr Attenborough worked in the offices

of Manchester Liners on Salford Docks from leaving school in 1921

until retirement age - and beyond. Latterly

he edited the house magazine Manchester

Liners’ News, and at the tender age of 95 he still

has plenty of fascinating stories to tell.

The cinema, or the pictures as we all called them, was undoubtedly the greatest joy of our lives. It was probably the greatest boom to sanity the depression-hit masses were ever offered.

I’d barely turned five, if that, when I became a fan of the silver screen. My granny would don her favourite woollen shawl and off we set up Robert Hall Street. Granny was a tiny person. With the woollen shawl about her head and shoulders, a long black skirt down to her ankles, she must have presented a perfect Lowry. In the skirt was a pocket, which, when we went to the pictures, always contained a halfpenny bag of her favourite toffees. Sat among the front rows of the Empire Cinema on Trafford Road, snuggled into granny and her shawl, I would share with her the contents of the little three cornered paper bag, as we both lived in a celluloid world beyond our knowledge.

One of my favourite actors was George Arliss. I never forgot him in his portrayals of the great heroes of British history. Through him I first learned of Wellington and Disraeli. Through Ronald Colman, still my all time favourite, I went to India with Clive and survived the Black Hole of Calcutta. Only last month (July 2002), after all these years, there was a rerun of Arliss’ old films and watching them brought back memories of those old bug huts where I saw him perform.

The Bengal Lancers in Ordsall

by Edward Hulmes

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establishment. She welcomed customers with a cheery greeting, ‘Morning, lads. The usual?’ The ‘usual’ being a mug of tea and to those with another penny to spare a slice of toasted bread liberally coated with a layer of margarine. There was no time limit in the Ocean Dining Room. Custom was slow and so no demand for the chairs occupied by those less profitable customers, for truth to tell there were few of the other kind.

At night, after closing down, Kate Jones would retire to her quarters above and tot up the takings, meagre in the extreme, and ponder on how long she could survive on nothing but hope. The picture had been known to change, howbeit pitifully, on the arrival of two or three ships which brought work for a few eager hands ready and willing to grasp the smallest crumbs.

The married men who had returned home - what had they to face? Wives, whose pinched faces denoted the sacrifices they had daily made so that their children could be fed, were thankful that they at least would have a warm meal at school, provided free of charge. That was charity and it hurt - but they were all in the same boat.

Photo opposite, left: Unloading Oranges at Manchester Docks December 1934 (Courtesy of Manchester Guardian and Salford Local History Library)

It was 1935 and I was eight years of age. Imagine the thrill and excitement when, going to the front door one day, I beheld before my very eyes, not more than a pavement width away, a real live, honest to goodness, Bengal Lancer. Be-turbaned, reins in gauntleted hand, lance butted into his stirrup, complete with black thigh boots, he rode a white horse along the gutter. Even to my young eyes the horse looked tired and far from fit. Nevertheless nothing could take away the glory of this astounding spectacle that had presented itself. Breathlessly, I about turned and dashed back up the lobby to shout the earth shattering news. By the time I got back to the front door the lancer had disappeared around some corner and I was too excited by my own imagination to go and seek him.

The picture to be screened the very next week was, of course, that immortal classic, ‘Lives of the Bengal Lancers’, starring Gary Cooper, Franshot Tone and Richard Cromwell as the young officer betrayed by a beautiful Mata Hari into the hands of the cruel Rajah. How I contained myself through to the next week I have no idea and where I managed to scrounge the two penny entrance fee I can’t recall. Eventually the day did come at last when, ensconced once more in those front row seats beloved of all small boys, I could be part of every sight and sound in the ‘Lives of the Bengal Lancers’.

Photo: The Empire Cinema (Courtesy of Tony Flynn and Neil Richardson)

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William Bryon was born on 12 September 1901. He was the eighth child out of twelve and was originally from 29 Hill Top, Walkden. He attended Kellet’s School, now North Walkden Primary. When his sister, my mother, was born, being the eleventh baby in the household everyone was a bit indifferent to the new arrival, however Uncle Bill’s soft heart inclined him to taking responsibility and he was the one to rock her, feed her and similar duties even though he was only at the tender age of six. So deep was his attachment that he was given the privilege of choosing her name. He wanted her to be called Phyllis after his little girlfriend at school.

There are now three other Phyllis’s in the family - my sister Phyllis June, cousin Phyllis in America, and her daughter Phyllis Jane.

The Bryon family lived in a large double fronted shop on Hill Top Road, Walkden. It had an arched doorway and once through it there was a long corridor. To the left was a Beer Parlour with cane furniture reminiscent of the French bistro style. On the right hand side of the corridor was the mixed drapery and grocery shop, which had a strong smell of Malteasers, which I loved as a child. Now, in later life, I realise this was probably from malt beer.

There was a large cellar underneath the shop with a slope, down which the barrels of beer were rolled. Part of the cellar became Uncle Bill’s gymnasium and he would skip and train for hours without disturbance. The twelfth child, Sam, in later years shared the boxing interest.

Grandma was a very busy person with so many children, the shop, and the Beer Parlour, despite the fact that one of her neighbours took in her washing. To help out, the older children had to take their part in helping in the shop and cleaning.

Granddad Bryon was disabled with epilepsy and spent many hours with his music. He played the cornet for Walkden Prize Band. He also had a concertina and a piano. As a child I would yearn to play this beautiful instrument but the lid was always locked and I was told the key had been lost. He was very popular with the families who lived in the cottages on the moss as he used to stroll over on a Sunday morning carrying his concertina and would hold a little service, playing their favourite hymns for them.

The life and career of Bill Bryon will

feature in the LifeTimes Gallery

at Salford Museum from November 2002

to March 2003. He fought over a hundred

professional fights, hence the nickname.

Here his niece tells us more about the

personal side of this professional boxer:

My Tribute to Uncle Bill - the Lancashire Boxing Machine

by Jean Jackson

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Uncle Bill used to play football outside the shop, which quite annoyed his older sister, Jane, when she had to serve on the counter. So annoyed was she one day with the number of boys playing outside that she went upstairs, took the empty chamber pot from under the bed, filled it with water, opened the window and threw the liquid on the unsuspecting players below. Screams of horror filled the air when they misinterpreted her action, not realising that it wasn’t quite what it seemed. However, it kept the shop front clear for quite a while afterwards!

Bill attended Kellet’s School, which belonged to a chapel. At the age of three pupils were expected to start at five o’ clock in the morning. The headmaster’s father, old Mr Kellet, used to give each child a few dolly mixtures to encourage them to attend. At Christmas time each pupil had to take a stocking and pin it on a washing line. The stockings were filled with a present, fruit, nuts, and a shiny new penny. Uncle Bill finished school at the age of thirteen and started work at Cocker’s Joiners on Memorial Road. This was at a time when seven out of ten men in the area were unemployed, so when people tried to persuade him to leave the job and concentrate on this boxing he firmly refused.

Cocker’s were very generous with him and allowed him to finish work at lunchtime if he had a fight in the evening. He was also very lucky to have a friend in the local butcher’s who used to take him in their van to venues such as Liverpool Stadium, Belle Vue Manchester, Winter Gardens Blackpool, Morecambe, and Glasgow. This friend was a gambler and he usually returned with a much fatter wallet than he had left home with.

As a teenager Uncle Bill was quite shy and was impeccable in his behaviour. He didn’t smoke, drink, or swear and was well mannered. An old friend, Bill Walker, described him as a real gentleman and his private life was quite a contradiction to his boxing persona. He was often challenged to a fight but he would avoid confrontation whenever he could. Bill recalled one occasion when he was with Uncle Bill indulging in one of their favourite pastimes of eating fish and chips in an eat-in chip shop in Farnworth. The other diners were mainly young people and one of them jumped to his feet and announced loudly, ‘I’ll fight any man in the room.’ Uncle said to his friend, ‘Come on, Bill, we’re off.’ And even though they were only half way through

the meal they put down their knives and forks and headed for the door.

His love of fish and chips led Uncle Bill to his meeting a life-long lady friend, Dorothy Marshall, whose parents owned a take-away fish and chip shop. She wrote to me saying, ‘I met Billy when I was 17 years old when he was often a visitor at my parents’ shop in Kearsley, near the Labour Club. He was a great person. I remember him taking me down a very dark lane. I said, “I don’t like this, Billy. I’m frightened.” He said, “Don’t worry, Dorothy, I’m a boxer. If anyone touches you I’ll kill them.”’

Although they went together for several years Uncle Bill was maybe too timid to take the plunge and Dorothy moved to North Shields where she married. She is still up there and when I contacted her she recalled, ‘We’ve been good friends for many years and he never forgot my birthday. His mum and dad were a lovely couple and so kind to me. My husband and Billy became good friends and each time we came to Walkden he would meet us at the station. He was a lovely caring person and I’ve now lost my two best friends, my husband and Billy.’

Holidays for the Bryon young men and women were taken in Blackpool during Wakes Weeks. Their time during the day was spent on the sands, walking, and charabanc rides and in the evening - dancing in Blackpool Tower Ballroom.

Uncle Bill loved dogs, particularly Pomeranians, especially Danny, Minnie and Charlie, and was well known in the area when he walked them around along with any of his many nephews and nieces who were lucky enough to be asked to accompany him. I well remember him shuffling along in his peculiar boxers’ gait singing funny little ditties like:

Chips and fish, chips and fish, ee by gum what a champion dish.Ooh what smell when you buy ‘em, just get a penn’orth and try ‘em.Put some salt and vinegar on, as much as ever you wish.You can do, do, do, without supper,When you’ve had a bob’s worth of chips and fish.

All that was long ago and in his later years Uncle Bill went into a nursing home. A party was given for him on the occasion of his 90th birthday and his cake was a replica of a boxing ring. All the residents and his family were entertained by ‘The Derianaires’, a group who sing on behalf of the children’s cancer charity, Derian House. They performed all his favourite

songs and he sang along even though his memory had gone for other things such as what he’d eaten for dinner! They started with a selection of Cockney songs, ‘My Old Man Said Follow The Van’ etc, then songs from the shows. Wartime songs followed these and the choir ended with a selection from Last Night of the Proms - ‘Land Of Hope And Glory’ and ‘Jerusalem’.

Bill was now confined to a wheelchair following two strokes. The final one occurred between Christmas 1999 and the New Year so unfortunately he didn’t quite make it into the new millennium. However, we have had two new sporting champions in the family since he died. His great niece and great nephew, Elaine and Neil Pickup, have both become world champions in the field of arm wrestling.

Photo far left top: Bill with a selection of his trophiesPhoto far left bottom:Bill’s father, with concertina

ALL THANKS TO THE GALLAGHER BROTHERS!

I visited Salford Museum and Art Gallery last Saturday all the way from South Wales. I had no particular reasons to visit except that I was the driver of the vehicle that was taking my sons to see Oasis at the cricket ground and I thought I would treat myself and take a trip down memory lane. I was born Christine Angela Cliffe in Salford in 1956 and left the area aged 5. My parents remained in Salford until the 1980s and my mother is now 87 and living in South Wales also. Sadly my Dad died 10 years ago. Today I took a present to my mother from Salford - the very well produced booklet ‘Give my Regards to Broad Street.’ Despite her increasing senility, my mother was dewy-eyed remembering old times and places. This was the best three pounds I have spent in a long time. A very big thank you is due to the people who produced it. Moved by how much this meant to my Mother, I wonder if you could possibly help me to get hold of some more photographs that would show the area closer to the place where she lived as a young woman? My mother, Louisa Cliffe (nee Rice), lived in Corbett Street for most of her married life and she shopped in and around Cross Lane and, of course, the market. Pictures showing these areas and the Craven Heifer or The Paddock public house would be particularly wonderful. Both my parents worked for landlords Ernie Dale and Joe Wagner in the sixties and have fond memories of happy times behind the bar. If you cannot help me directly, I would be obliged if you could forward this letter to the Local History Library at Salford Museum.

Mrs Chris EvansNewport via email

[Editor’s note: As always, our Local History Library, which holds over 50,000 photographs, was able to oblige.]

ROAD SAFETY

In 1948 there was a competition on Road Safety held throughout all the schools in Salford. Heats were held in each school. I was nine years old and won through to the finals which were held at the Carlton Cinema on Cross Lane. I was from Seedley School and one of the things that I remember was that it rained very heavily so my mother carried my highly polished shoes in a bag. When we arrived I was whisked off to take my place on the stage where, to my horror, I was still wearing my old wellies and was told there was no time to change them.When all the contestants went on the stage there was a terrific noise as hundreds of children, teachers, and parents cheered for their school representatives. I remember one of the questions was how would I assist a blind person to cross the road. That was an easy one for me as my uncle had been born blind. He assisted in the rehabilitation of soldiers blinded in the war and used to bring different ones each Sunday for tea. Whether it was my answering that question in detail or more likely because I got 100% right on the rest I won the under elevens age group First Prize. This was £3 in book tokens presented to me by the then Chief Constable of Salford, Mr Patterson.The only part of the Salford Reporter article I can still remember was, ‘Tiny Anne Richardson had to stand on a box to reach the microphone.’ Until then I always thought I was a big girl! The pride I felt has never left me. The books I bought were ‘Black Beauty’, ‘Little Women’, and ‘Treasure Island’, which gave me a lasting love of literature.

Anne McGuire Worsley

STAN’S TALE

This letter is sent to augment one sent by my brother. I first went to Halton Bank Primary School, now part of a flatlets complex, and then to London Street, Cromwell Road, where Mrs Walker was headmistress. At Frederick Road CE School the headmaster, Frank Williams, played marches on the piano as we came into class each morning and Miss Taylor devised class plays. The Rev Talboys was the vicar and also our neighbour on Frederick Road. At Grecian Street Secondary Modern School the PE teacher was Norman Grainger and I met up with him again at the presentations by the Salford Players some years later. The various churches taking part in the Whit Week Walks on Broad Street needed a planned and approved route around their particular area which, with all the other preparations to highlight the event, took months of careful consideration. Attendance was blighted by the war and took many years of patient work to revitalise afterwards. Prize days for attendance, cycle outings, hot pot suppers, Scout events, Christmas fayres, pantomimes, Friday night dancing to Victor Sylvester records, all helped to revive the spirit.A far cry from the days when horses would drink from the great water trough outside the Woolpack and cattle and sheep could be seen herded down to the Cross Lane Market. When Dandelion and Burdock in a stone jug could be purchased from the same van which sold paraffin and lamp oil in Eades Street and Strawberry Road.

Stan Whitehead Blackley

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CHANGING FACE OF SALFORD

Congratulations on the latest magazine, it’s awesome. Special credit to Wilf’s back page poem, it was reminiscent of everyone’s life and times, the only discerning difference was in the era and circumstance, bread and dripping for sugar butties. Have seen the area on the Commonwealth Games coverage - very, very impressive, it is disquieting to see that nothing is as it was, but then there is no TB or polio etc the world moves on. Congratulations again.

Alan Cutts Sydney, Australia via email

ELLISON’S TURNSTILES

Thank you for the latest LifeTimes Link magazine. I really enjoyed reading it and was particularly interested in the article about Ellison’s Turnstiles because every time I visit Blackpool I always go on the Grand National roller coaster ride. When you pay you go through one of Ellison’s turnstiles and as I live in Irlams o’ th’ Height I always notice the big brass plate.Danielle Hirdvia email

GIVE MY REGARDS TO BROAD STREET

My elder brother, Stan, and I were deacons of the Pendleton Congregational Church, originally situated on the corner of Broad Street and Strawberry Road. He was the Superintendent of the Sunday School which was at the rear of the church and I was the Secretary. The youth of the church presented a pantomime for a week each year in the Sunday School hall. This was during the late 1940s and many of those ‘young’ people still keep in touch to this day. I met my wife there. She lived in George Street and my family lived in the Park Lodge which is still situated opposite what was the tram depot on Frederick Road. I began attending the Salford Grammar School in Leaf Square in September 1939. Soon after that we were evacuated to Lancaster for a short while but returned because no schooling was available for us there! So we endured the Blitz and came through rationing and all that entailed. The most memorable times were spent in connection with ‘The Cong’ and I feel sure that many other friends of ours, who were also connected to the church and Sunday School, would agree with me about those ‘happy years’.

Roy Whitehead Stretford

[Editor’s Note: The Broad Street exhibition can be seen at Salford Museum and Art Gallery until March 2003]

You Write...Send your letters in to: The Editor, LifeTimes Link,

51 The Crescent, Salford, M5 4WX. Email: info@lifetimes.org.uk. Tel/Fax: 0161 736 1594.

Due to space limitations we reserve the right to edit any letters that we do include.

I GOTTA HORSE!

Your correspondent from Lancaster (LifeTimes Link 11) wondered whether anyone remembers an African gentleman who she believes was a well known race course tipster. Would this be ‘Prince Monolulu’ who used to wear a traditional South African headdress and whose catchphrase, delivered in a gravely voice, was ‘I gotta horse’? I recall seeing him in the 1940s when he was staying at a lodging house for theatricals in the Trafford Road/Eccles New Road area where I lived at the time. He was probably there for the Manchester Races.

T A Thorntan Timperley

WEBSITE PRAISE

I just wanted to thank the people that started this website and are keeping it up. As a result of your Bulletin Board I have been able to get in touch with two people I went to school with at St John’s Boys’ School in the late forties. I had not heard from either one of these men since leaving Salford in June 1950. I am still hoping to get in touch with anyone who lived next to Peel Park on Oakfield Terrace or Windsor Terrace. Again, thanks for helping this connection take place.

John Buggy Milan, Michigan, USA via email

[Editor’s Note: Visit the website Bulletin Board at www.lifetimes.org.uk ]

MYSTERY PHOTOS

With regards to the photo under the heading ‘Teachers’ in LifeTimes Link 11. This photograph was taken at Claremont Open Air School, Park Lane, Irlams o’ th’ Height during the 70s. The headmaster, Mr Brown, ran the school with a rod of iron but the staff had great respect for him. I was employed at the school for 21 years, and then for another four years when some schools became amalgamated, therefore becoming Oakwood High. I am pictured third from the left on the back row. Oh happy days!

Mrs V Vaughan Salford 6

The Tale of Grindrett’s Ghost

Whilst searching Salford’s Victorian newspapers for articles about the early history ofBroad Street, I came across one of those snippets of information that make local history such a fascinatingtopic. I had found the tale of Grindrett’s Ghost.

The story, as many of these tales do, has a basis in fact. In March 1759 a Salford man named John Grindrod was tried and executed at Lancaster for the terrible crime of poisoning his wife and two children. After his execution the body was brought back to Salford and gibbeted at the top of Cross Lane, near Windsor Bridge. That is to say the body was hung in chains and left to rot, a dreadful warning to any would be wrong doers.

Now in the 1750s, the area at the top of Cross Lane was still open country, sparsely populated and known as ‘top of Pendleton Moor’, and no doubt a wild and lonely place, especially at night. Naturally tales were told and Grindrod soon became part of local folklore.

The Pendleton Reporter of 24th May 1879 relates a version of the tale, the name has altered, no doubt through years of telling, to ‘Owd Grindrett’.

Fearful stories were told by the folks at Pendleton as they sat round the cottage fires during the long winter nights, of terrible things which had been seen and heard by those who passed over the moor late at night. It was even whispered that Grindrett himself had shouted after people and asked them in dismal tones to take him down!

One man who was drinking with his companions one night at the Rose and Crown had the temerity to laugh at these stories. To show how much he disregarded them he offered to go alone to the foot of the gibbet and ask Owd Grindrett how he was getting on. The offer was accepted immediately and a quart of ale offered as a reward.

He went as promised, put his question to the corpse and a hollow voice replied, ‘Weet and cowd, wet and weary.’

by Ann Monaghan

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For more information about Grindrod, and a full version of the poem, try the Grindrod website www.grindrodlr.freeserve.co.uk/page3.htmlYou can get free access to the in-ternet at any Salford library - con-tact your local branch for more details.

The tones proceeded not from the corpse but from one of the company at the Rose and Crown who had concealed himself behind the gibbet with the intention of playing a joke on his companion. However the shock was too severe for the latter to sustain and he was carried home a corpse.

Earlier Harrison Ainsworth, perhaps better known for his historical novels such as The Lancashire Witches and Guy Fawkes, had celebrated the story in verse, although his version has a different ending. The excerpt (right) gives a flavour of the poetic style employed!

This picture (left) is from Salford Local History Library at Peel Park. It’s a type of gibbet, complete with skeleton, obviously they are not Grindrod’s bones but you get the idea!

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Old Grindrod was hung on a gibbet high,On the spot where the dark deed was done.‘Twas a desolate place, on the edge of a moorA place for the timid to shun.

All that’s now left of him is a skeleton grim.The stoutest to strike with dismay;So ghastly the sight that no urchin at nightWho can help it, will pass by that way.

All such as dared, had sadly been scared,And soon ‘twas the general talk,That the wretch in his chains, each night took the pains,To come down from the gibbet - and walk!

The story was told to a traveller boldAt an inn, near the moor, by the Host.He appeals to each guest, and its truth they attest,But the traveller laughs at the ghost.

To the gibbet I’ll go, and this I will doAs sure as I stand in my shoes;Some address I’ll devise, and if Ginny repliesMy wager, of course, I shall lose.

Though dark as could be, yet he thought he could seeThe skeleton hanging on high;The gibbet it creaked; and the rusty chains squeaked;And a screech owl flew solemnly by.

The heavy rain pattered, the hollow bones clattered,The travellers’ teeth with cold, not with fright;The wind it blew hastily, piercing, gustily;Certainly not an agreeable night!

‘Ho Grindrod, old fellow’, thus loudly did bellowThe traveller mellow, ‘how are ye, my blade?’‘I’m cold and I’m dreary; I’m wet and I’m weary;But soon I’ll be near ye!’ the skeleton said.

The grisly bones rattled, and with the chains battled;The gibbet appallingly shook;On the ground something stirred, but no more the man heard, To his heels on the instant he took.

Over moorland he dashed and through quagmire he splashed,His pace never daring to slack;Till the hostel he neared, for greatly he fearedOld Grindrod would leap on his back.

His wager he lost, and a trifle it cost;But that which annoyed him the mostWas to find out, too late, that certain as fateThe landlord had acted the ghost.

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Regent Road School by Ken Phoenix, South Australia

‘You’re now five years old,’ I hear them say‘It’s time to go on your merry wayIt’s off to school for you my boy.’They said it like it should be some joy

As I approached this monstrous placeThere’s children inside all moving with haste‘Don’t come in, it’s prison,’ one boy called outBefore I am in, I want to get outThere’s green iron bars with kids locked insideI’m not going in there, it’s my plan to hide

‘Let’s leave it for now, another dayI’m not feeling well,’ I hear myself say‘That’s not the way for a big boy to actAny more of that and I’ll give you a crack.’

So crying and screaming they drag me insideAs soon as they’re gone I’ll sneak back outsideAs all good plans they sometimes go wrongMy legs get me nowhere, this teacher’s so strongI kick and I scream, I want to go homeThe reason I must go is not just for meIt’s poor old Teddy, he’s crying for me

‘Now let’s just make one thing clear,I’m sorry for Teddy - but you’re staying here.’

Halton Bank Primary School 1937/8 (Courtesy of Mrs Barbara Harrison)

Boothstown & District Local History Group Meet at Boothstown Communtiy Centre. Tel: Ann Monaghan on 0161 736 1594Email: ann@lifetimes.org.uk Price: £1 per lecture, visitors welcome

• Wed 18 Dec, 7.45pm To be announced• Wed 15 Jan, 7.45pm Lancashire Mines Rescue Service Les Hampson (illustrated)• Wed 19 Feb, 7.45pm - Pendlebury Children’s Hospital Pamela Barnes (illustrated)• Wed 19 Mar, 7.45pm Treasures of the Record Office Vincent McKernan (GMCRO Archivist)• Wed 16 April, 7.45pm Swinton Industrial Schools John Cook (illustrated)• Wed 21 May, 7.45pm - The Victorian Painter and the Poet’s WifeKen Craven (illustrated)

Broughton & District Local History SocietyNote: Having met at Broughton Library for many years the venue has temporarily changed to the Community Room at Rialto Gardens. More details will be posted on the LifeTimes website as they are made available. Tel: Mrs P Dimond on 0161 798 6382 Price: £1

• Mon 9 Dec, 7.30pm Annual General Meeting & Social Evening

Eccles HeritageMeet at Eccles Library. Tel: Ann Humpage on 0161 789 2820 Price: £1

• Thurs 5 Dec, 2.00pm Bridges of Barton - Glen Atkinson• Thurs 6 Feb, 2.00pm The Orkneys - Harry Liptrot• Thurs 6 Mar 2.00pm Give My Regards To Broad Street - Ann Monaghan• Thurs 3 Apr, 2.00pm My Work As A Registrar - Joan Shuttleworth• Thurs 1 May, 2.00pm Swinton Industrial Schools - John Cook

Eccles & District History SocietyMeet at Eccles Library. Tel: Andrew Cross on 0161 788 7263 Price: £1

• Wed 11 Dec, 7.30pm - Buffet or dinner• Wed 12 Feb, 7.30pm The History of Chocolate - Mr M Clarke• Wed 12 Mar, 7.30pm - Secret Britain (Lancashire & Cheshire) - Mr P Robinson• Wed 9 Apr, 7.30pm - Cotton Queens - Mrs M Gilbertson• Wed 14 May, 7.30pm Annual General Meeting

Irlam, Cadishead & District Local History SocietyMeet at Irlam LibraryTel: Mr J H Heap on 0161 775 7826

• Weds 15 Jan, 7.30pm - Any Old Iron - home pieces in cast iron’ Mr Stockton• Weds 19 Feb 7.30pm ‘The History of Chocolate’ Mr Michael Clarke• Weds 19 Mar 7.30pm ‘The History of Lyme Park and the Legh Family’ Mr Nick Ralls• Weds 21 May 7.30pm ‘North Country Folklore and the Artefacts of Superstition’ with Mr Watson

Local History Round Up

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Salford Local History SocietyMeet in Salford Museum & Art GalleryTel: Roy Bullock on 0161 736 7306 Price: £1

• Weds 29 Jan, 7.30pm - James Nasmyth, the Steam Hammer Man’ - John Aldred• Weds 26 Feb, 7.30pm - Eccles - from Cakes to Wakes - Chris Carson (illustrated)• Weds 26 Mar, 7.30pm - A History of Pottery and its uses - Paul Smith• Weds 30 Apr, 7.30pm - Annual General Meeting

Swinton & Pendlebury Local History SocietyMeet at Pendlebury Methodist Church, Bolton Road, Pendlebury Tel: Ann Monaghan on 0161 736 1594 Email ann@lifetimes.org.ukPrice: 50p

• Mon 2 Dec, 10.15am - Pendlebury Childrens’ Hospital Pamela Barnes (illustrated)• Mon 16 Dec, 10.15am - Reminiscence Session• Mon 6 Jan, 10.15am - Children In The Mines - Alan Davies (illustrated)• Mon 3 Feb, 10.15am - The Mills of Swinton, Pendlebury and District - John Cook• Mon 3 Mar, 10.15am - Reminiscence Session - the local textile industry• Mon 7 Apr, 10.15am -The History of Wardley Hall and the Story of the Skull - Ann Monaghan• Mon 12 May, 10.15am - Industrial Struggles in Pendleton in the 1850s - Ruth Frow (illustrated)Note: Other reminiscence sessions will be held in 2003

Walkden Local History Group Meet at The Guild HallTel: Ann Monaghan on 0161 736 1594 Email ann@lifetimes.org.uk Price: 50p

Wed 11 Dec, 2.00pm - A Modern Magic Lantern Show - Mark Watson of Salford Photographic Society shows glass slides from the Mullinuex collection. £1 admission includes seasonal refreshments• Wed 8 Jan, 2.00pm - Joseph Evans, Boothstown Botanist - John Aldred• Wed 12 Feb, 2.00pm - Give My Regards To Broad Street - Ann Monaghan• Wed 12 Mar, 2.00pm - Swinton Industrial Schools - John Cook (illustrated)• Wed 9 Apr, 2.00pm - Collection of a Lifetime - Objects from the Past - Ann Arnold will bring along objects from her extensive collection, and bring along your own interesting or unusual object.• Wed 14 May, 2.00pm - Another Salford Slideshow - with Tony Frankland

Exhibitions

At Salford Museum and Art Gallery Open: Mon-Fri 10am-4.45pm, Sat-Sun 1pm-5pm Price: free

START in Salford - the latest work from this award winning community arts project. Until 2 January 2003

Through the Eyes of a Child - a colourful exhibition by Primary School children from around Salford30 November to 5 January 2003

Max Ayres - local scenes by a Leigh based artist. 15 December to 16 February 2003

Jerwood Prize; Textiles - eight artists explore textiles in every way, shape and form. 11 January to 2 March 2003

Princess Su Su - a textile based exhibition based on a children’s story. 17 January to 19 March 2003

At Ordsall Hall Museum Open: Mon-Fri 10am-4.45pm. Sat-Sun 1pm-5pmPrice: free

Local Places This exhibition features scenes of Salford ‘Then and Now’ 10 November to 12 January 2003

(For museums’ phone numbers, websites, etc please see Contact Details inside front cover)

This calendar of Local History/Heritage activities is based on information supplied by the individual organisations and is believed to be correct at the time of going to press. It may be advisable to confirm details in advance of attending an event.

SalfordCity of

Education & Leisure

Salford’s Fantasyastic by Roy Bullock

Salford’s better than Barcelona.We’ve got more gentlemen than Verona.

The Irwell’s longer than the Nile,Wider than the Amazon by a mile.

Russell Watson is better than Pavarotti and his two mates.Elkie Brooks sings better than the greatest of the greats.

Salford’s rugby team has never been beaten.All our schools are better than Harrow or Eton.

Our university you could not surpass,It makes Oxford and Cambridge look second class.

Salford City ‘Ammies’ are better than City or United,Come along and see - you’re all invited.

Albert Finney, Robert Powell, Ben Kingsley, Harold RileyAt what they do, are all the best.

I could go on forever throwing out my chest.You may look in awe and say, ‘Hey, that’s not bad.’

I’ll just shrug and say, ‘I know, cos I’m a Salford lad.’