An interesting and informative site. I had a good mate who I used to work with from Marple, if you're reading this Barry Taylor do you remember the good old days??

My mother was born in Marple (nee Rowbottom) and lived on Station Road almost across from the Jolly Sailor.

This site is absolutely great and has helped me learn about the area where Mom grew up (before she -&- new husband moved to Canada). Site now book-marked in favourites and I will keep coming back to check for new information.

Keep up the great work.

Would like to hear from anyone who may recognize the Rowbottom name.

Thanks

I lived in Hawk-Green for many years before moving to Poynton.
Anyone remember me from the "Willows" 1963 to 1967. Form 2B. Who remembers "Digger", "Mifflin", "Pop Mason", "Fred Slack" , Mrs. Redfern. The list goes on.

I've got some old photos which may be of interest, one especially of Hawk-Green in the early 1900`s

Don't know if anyone will remember me. I lived in Hawk Green between 1968 and 1978. I attended Doodfield County Primary School and spent a couple of terms at Marple Ridge High when at the age of 11 I was whisked off to Cornwall.

Visiting this site has certainly brought back a lot of happy childhood memories. I will be a regular visitor.

Meteorites in Stamford Park

I have just been reading the Memories page and have been laughing and crying.

I was born in Cockbrook, 60 St. James St., 1944, and Mum, Dad and I emigrated to Sth. Aust. 2 day after the Coronation on the 4th June 1953.

When I saw the words to 'We are the two Ashton Mashers', I could hear my Mum & Dad singing it. They are both gone now.

Also Doris Prince took me back to St Gabriel's school "I hated the codliver oil (yuk I can taste it now)".

I have so many memories this is just a small one! When I used to go to Stamford Park I used to start running from the main gate in the hope that I would be able to jump on top of the 'huge' balls (the meteorites) that were on the path ahead. Imagine my suprise when I finally visited there in 1992 to find that they weren't so big after all I can now sit on them!

The 60s - scooters, mods and rockers…. good times. I used to go to the coffee bars in Ashton: Sorrento Stamford St. for the mods, Green Lantern near the old Ashton baths, and good old Kontiki on Penny Meadow, Sunshine on Old street for the mods. Gardeners’ Arms Taunton road for mods and scooters- it was a great night out. The Ranch at Daisy Nook near Crime lake for bikers and rockers; Alexandra billiard hall on Wellington road and Belle Vue week ends and bank holidays Stamford Park boating lake- used to get soaked Greeny

I used to go in the Gardeners Arms on Taunton road too. The Don Quixote bar and that purple lighting! Even the ugly ones looked ok in that dark purple lighting!!

My interest is twofold. First, my Father, Leo Rocca (born in Ancoats) is going to be 93 next month and I would like him to have the book. Second, you say in the blurb for the Star of Shame book that there were untold truths which the British Goverment covered up.

I have no real memories of Ancoats myself having been born in the leafy purlieus of Gatley in WW2. (Grandpa may have had a privy in his back yard; we had an air-raid shelter). But I remember Old Trafford very well. You'll know, I'm sure, that Louis Rocca was MUFC's chief talent scout before the war and was responsible for signing Matt Busby. Go further back, to 1902, and there he is again, present at a board meeting of Newton Heath FC when the club was trying to decide what new name it should adopt. Someone suggested Manchester Central, which was rejected out of hand because it sounded like a railway station. Grandpa came up with Manchester United and the rest is history. Would that his grandson had some shares in the outfit! There was once a "Rocca's Brigade" on the terraces if my Dad's memories and old photographs serve me well. All this and ice cream too.

I can't recall what the celebration was but my parents tell me I was with them, age about 5, at some function at which he was present (probably at the club). They served ice cream for dessert and I announced to everyone: "This ice cream's lumpy!" To which he said: "Quite right, son," and gave me half a crown. Pity it wasn't a share option! Enough nostalgia. You certainly have a wonderful store of stories and photographs in your archives and I am sad to say I have none, which is why I find your site so intriguing.

Just a bit about me. I had a long career in journalism in the UK before leaving in 1982 to live in France. Then, 15 years ago, my wife and I bought a ruined farmhouse in Tuscany and spent seven years restoring it and a further seven running it as an agriturismo and producing wine (Chianti Classico, pretty highly rated). It was the story of my great-grandfather in reverse, a century on : we both set out from our homeland for the unknown, seeking a better life, not speaking the language. Only I reckon I got the better deal. I sold the business a year ago and am now spending my time travelling between Italy and France, enjoying early retirement and trying to write a book.

Again, sincere "complimenti" on your site and thank you for the pleasure it's given me.

I was born in Openshaw in 1936 and lived there until I left for good in 1960. My father was born in Stoke on Trent, my mother in Clayton, Manchester, and I have always regretted that I never learned about their early years. Their occasional comments made me understand in a very vague way that their lives had been very different from mine, but I didn’t have the interest then to ask for more information. So what this site is about is putting down details of my growing up years so that, long after I’m gone, there will be a record of them

Strange small Scottish and Irish hamlets are covered better than the Manchester Evening News what have you against adding the paper to its fullest

Hello. My gran and dad lived on gill street. Gran was Lillian Eyre, she had two children Maureen and frank. Frank was my dad but sadly he died in 1964 at his mums home in gill street, I was only 9 months old. I have no memories of my dad what so ever. Does anyone have phtos of memories of them. Thankyou

I lived at boscastle St.off Louise St.moved to cheeryble St.went to Clayton brook and wheeler St worked at g.e.c

I just had a browse through one of a series of booklets I bought on my last visit back to Manchester some years ago: More Tales of Manchester Jewry by Monty Dobkin, in which he lists from a 1927 directory, all the shops along Bury New Road. Some of them were still there in the 1960s. There was a fishmongers called Gordon's, which in 1927 was owned by one Rose Gordon, but which in my day was owned by a short, pale-faced, bald Jewish gentleman, who was not named Gordon but who had kept the name on the shop front. I do not mean to be disrespectful to the old gent, but he really did resemble some of the fish on his slab! My memory deceives me now as to which was Bury New Road and which was Bury Old Rd. As for The Temple, I have a picture of the pub & cinema taken in the 1880s which, if I could work out how, I might upload onto this site. The cinema, which kep going for 40 years, had two integral shops. On the left was a barbers (I used to go and wait for my father on a Saturday as he had his hair cut, and the kindly barber used to put some 'bay rum' on my hand). On the right was a 'high class confectioners' where we used to buy posh chocs before going into the cinema. I used to attend the Saturday matinees here, seeing awful westerns, cliffhangers and the 3 stooges

We used to go along Bury New Road (quite near Cheetham Hill Rd) on a Sunday. There were lots of shops along there, in those days belonging to Jewish people. There was a furniture shop along there
belonging to 2 brothers, real gents. I bought an oval onyx and brass occasional table which is still in
use today, had it about 34 years. Shops there were thriving.

I didn't live in Cheetham but I travelled up and down Cheetham Hill Road to and from work 5 days a week (1960 -65)

I met my then girlfriend ,who lived in Heaton Park, at work and every Wednesday night we would alternate between the Temple cinema and The Premier. This would be followed by a couple of drinks in The Temple and The Halfway House respectively before I put her on the bus.

Happy memories

Anyone care to share memories of Cheetham & Cheetham Hill in this era? Remember: Lorenzini's ice cream parlour; Herbert St wash house; Saturday matinees at The Temple Cinema; the parks at Elizabeth St, Heywood St & Waterloo Rd; taking the bus from Queens Rd garage to Grey Mare Lane Market; rag & bone men & coalmen had horse drawn carts; Saturday afternoons watching Dixon of Dock Green & Doctor Who & the Daleks (in black & white); Saint Chad's School; the buzz of the industrial sewing machines in the shirt factories and the girls in there singing "Volare"; Titanics' delicatessen (started by a survivor); being kept at home whilst the Moors murderers were snatching children off the streets; corner shops; elderly neighbour chaps who'd been gassed in the trenches of world war 1; when Cheetham got 'slum-clearance' demolition in 1969; the wonderful Jewish bakery down Waterloo Rd; the fish & chip shop in Garnet St that sold 'babies 'eads', etcetera etcetera

The Colonel
The Kendall's subway under Deansgate when it was on both sides of the street. I can still recall the smell of meat from the butchers there.

The chimney skylines in Stockport.

Mr Pools arcade.

Some great memories, Manchester in the 70's & 80's was a completely different place in many ways it's a lot better now but I liked it all the same

Lived off Trafford Rd Salford for a while as a kid and used to go to the docks to look at the ships, Manchester Liners always seem to have had their ships nearest the dock gates and trafford rd, all sounded the hooters on their funnels on New Years Eve, it was deafening

Trafford swing bridge would open quite a lot in them days and you could watch the ships from the canal banks hence the song 'the big ships sail on the alley alley oh

Victoria bus station
The bombed out hotel at the start of Deansgate (Victoria Hotel?)
Oasis boutique in the underground market
Millets on Deansgate
The mobile chippy on Victoria Bridge (pretty girls working in it)
The Auld Reekie on Market Street
Millionaire Club (1 pound a pint when it was 25p in pubs)
Watching the papers being printed in the Express building on Great Ancoats Street
The nightclub across the road from Romanofs (sp) (Rotters), you go upstairs and it was full a plastic palm trees

The Magic Village
The Twisted Wheel
Friday night at M/cr Art College
Stamford Park Boating Lake 100 yards from our house.
Chadwick Dam
Rare Records
Underground Market
Stolen from Ivors
Concerts at UMIST
Stoneground
Swingin Sporran
Yates - Piccadilly (All ins)
Satellite Youth club - Uppermill
Warren youth club - Stalybridge
Shaws pie shop - Stalybridge
Bennet Street - Stalybridge (gone now)
The Crystal - Glossop
Bamboo club - Hazel Grove
Birdcage - Ashton
Kings - Stretford
The Moon - Duckinfield
Bower Club - Stalybridge
SIDS - Stalybridge
Shakepeare pub

Walk down memory lane hahah