Mail Box for 1999

Your Letters

NOTE:

When I started this web site I made it a practice to post all the letters about the site that came my way. For a period of five years from 2002 to 2007 I had no time to work on the site so that practice came to a halt. Recently I have begun work on updating and revising my various Manchester web sites so where appropriate I will add your letters again. Please keep in mind that some of the letters added here were sent nearly 10 years ago and in that period I have emigrated, changed address three times and computers twice. I unfortunately no longer have contact information for people who are listed here so it unlikely that I will be able to help you get in touch with them.

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Hello David

I'm writing this letter really for my Family as I was only 6 when we moved from Longsight. I came across your website by chance & read the letters from the other people who had written, Even though I was very young I spotted a name I remember (Phillip Drinkwater was a friend of my Dad's when growing up) as my dad often speaks of the Longsight days. We lived at 25 Portland Road Longsight my family had lived there from the 50's My grandparents Lived at 24 Portland Road Until the 80's. Then they moved to Stockport & we shortly followed. Would love to hear from anyone who remembers us.

Grandparents: David & Elza Whittall (Passed Away)

Our Family:

Mum & Dad: John (Age 61) & Jenny Whittall (Passed Away)
Children: Stephen Whittall (43) David Whittall(38) Priscilla Whittall (33)

Thanks It was really nice to read the letters from people who remember a place as it was in the good old days

Priscilla

priscilla@whittall718.fsnet.co.uk

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Some time ago I visited your Longsight site and enjoyed it immensely, but now when I try to return I get a 404 message. I was brought up in Bowdler St which then became an extension of Hemmons Rd. At the top of the block was Matthews Lane - the border with Levenshulme (!). I was
born in 1941 and went to Gorton Mount Primary, then Burnage Grammar, after which I went off to university and then to teach English in France for 6 years, and for the last 30 here in Spain. My links with Longsight are more or less nil now as I brought my mother over here to live with
us 3 years ago. In recent years Longsight seems to have really gone to the dogs (shootings, muggings, police helicopters flying over at night etc), but it was nice to read your pages. So where are they? and if I can help in any way, let me know.
Have a nice Christmas.
Yours,
Eddie Lawton.

Thanks for your prompt reply David. It must as you say have been the ISP as now I am able to get in without any trouble. Over the holidays I'll have a
look through all my old photos and stuff and see if there's anything worth sending you.
Cheers - Eddie

May I firstly congratulate you on your web site which has re-kindled many memories.

I was born in April 1948 and lived in Callender Street, later Cavanagh Street and now rebuilt as Devonshire Street (North or South ) off Stockport Road,facing the Devonshire Pub , now MacDonalds.

Although not a Lonsight lad I spent much of my early years in the area which is only a few hundred yards away.

Both my elder brother by 18 months Graham and I attended Plymouth Grove school as my mother Annie thought this school to be far superior to the other schools in the Chorlton on Medlock or Ardwick areas, and I must agree.

One of the teachers in the primary school was Miss Parkergee whom I have not seen mention in your pages. She was a strict disiplinarian and ruled with an iron rod, or any other thing which came to hand.

Another much gentler teacher who taught me when I was 5 (1953) , was Miss Ravensdale and I was madly in love with her !

My relocations of other pupils names have disappeared and I would be delighted to hear from past pupils.

On moving up to the junior school I two have fond Memories of both Mr Thomas ,my form teacher, and 'Pop' Walker.

I am ever grateful to Mr Walker who spent many extra hours of tuition with me and others and without his help, dedication and enjoyable homework I would not have passed my 11 plus.

I chose Manchester Central Grammar School and although the new School had been built on Kirkmanshulme Lane, first year students in 1959 went to the Old school in Whitworth Street and transferred the 2nd year leaving the old school to the girls.

I now live in Reddish, Stockport but would be glad to hear from any of past school-friends or neighbours.
I can be contacted on 0161 431 7667 or e-mail trevor@booth.netlineuk.net <mailto:trevor@booth.netlineuk.net>

Thanks again. Trevor Booth

Ps I also worked at Belle Vue (1962/4) but that's another story!

Wow I have just found this website and I tell you,you invoked some great memories of games we played, Belle Vue, I was a mobile patrol officer at
Longsight St Josephs, driving TR4s, Jags and Norton bikes, and that photo you showed looks like me. I am at the moment writing a portrayal of my youth and up to the present day for my son, it's called a Fathers legacy. Half the stuff I put in there you repeat in your Longsight memories. I was born feb
1939 and went Birchfields Secondry Modern, Know it? One of my school friends father owned the skating rink you mention, boy what a small world. Thanks for these memories, do you happen to know Aiden O'Rourke, he works with the Manchester on-line, and his pictorials of Manchester are quite brilliant.
Keep up the good work.

Thank you David for your prompt reply. I also went to the ABC Minors on a Sat and to the Hippodrome with my Dad on Sat night. My family lived at 25A
Addison Street. two doors from the Co-op store, where Mr. Paulden was the manager. I now live in Santa Cruz, California, USA and have lived in the USA
since my family emigrated to here in the early 50's. I love your website and have found many very interesting links, the one on the High Street Public
baths was great. My class (when I was about 13 years old) and at St. Paul's Church School, on Brunswick Street, C-in-M (the Rev Mr. Chrichelow, spelling
uncertain and Miss Margaret Smith the Headmistress) used to be taken to the baths on Fridays for a weekly swimming lesson. Somehow though I don't
remember the baths being located in C-on-M because we used to take a bus, it seemed as though they were nearer an area called Birch Fields and a roller
skating rink (my best friend went to BirchFields School). I used to attend St. Saviors Church Sunday School on Sundays, often I might add under duress!
The houses where we lived (two up and two down) was located is all gone now and a new school is on part of the property. I have visited the area but
no-one who lived there when I did is still living there, and friendly lady told me that everyone had been relocated. I will keep logging on to your
site and thank you all you hard work.

David,
I was pleased to read your epitaph of longsight police station, it was well founded and interesting, do you have any more information regarding gmp ?

Hi David,

Sorry I have not been in touch during the summer. I am still regularly reading Longsight Memories! There are some great stories. I enjoyed reading the story from the Carroll's. The site is getting bigger and better. You have given so much joy to a lot of people including my family and myself, for this we thank you.

We have had a very busy Summer caused through YOU stirring up memories! It included tracing and having a re-union bar-b-que for 63 cousins and their families, it was a huge success, we had good fun playing "Who are you?" It's a good job I have a large garden and house!

Winter is on the way, we are battening down the hatches and pulling up the draw bridge, we are going into hibernation.

Best wishes to you and your family.
Viv. (Wainwright)

I've been checking up on your site over the last few months but after seeing the picture of St Josephs Primary School I felt obliged to write.

I was born in Ancoats Hospital( 07.09.1963) & spent my first 2 years in Ardwick before my parents moved to Longford Place. I went to St Josephs
Infants & Junior School and then passed my 11+ and went to St Augustines Grammar up near Sharston Baths. After St Augustines I went to Loreto VI Form
College in Moss Side and , after passing my `A' Levels was unemployed for a year before going back to Loretto to get further qualifications which got me
into Southampton University. I never came back & have lived in a town called Totton (near Southampton) for the last 8 years.

I have mixed feelings about Longsight. When I go to see my parents I am caught up in the nostalgia but I can't get away from the fact that Longsight
isn't a particularly good place to live nowadays. Stockport Road gets wider every time I came up to visit and over the last few years it has been a great shame to see the Waggon & Horses disappear as well as the old BBC studio at the top of Plymouth Grove. I spent many evenings at both the old Longsight Library (opposite the Ducie Arms) as well as the `new' library on Stockport Road. I remember Belle Vue Zoo ( I seem to recall it always looked fairly shabby & the animals always looked moth-eaten! - the stock-cars always felt more exciting)

I think it is vitally important that local history is recorded & documented & I was so chuffed to encounter your site one evening as I was sat here in
Totton getting sentimental!- i will continue to visit your site every couple of weeks. My 2 brothers live in Moss Side & Levenshulme and my parents
(Mother has lived in Longsight all her life - Maureen Wilson nee Jones - father John Wilson - born Ardwick 1940)

Can I suggest that you dedicate a part of your site to modern Longsight and include items of relevance to modern day Longsight as I feel that it is important to
link the past to the present.

I just spent a lovely half hour visiting your site. I have to log off now to get my grandchildren's lunch but will be back as soon as I can. My Father
and Father in Law both died in Crumpsall Hospital so it has memories for me. At one time I was a nurse there.

I have started my own page about Middleton. As I now live in Canada the memories of this area are very dear to me. Could I ask you to put a link to
my site and I will of course put one to yours.

I came across the Longsight Info on the Net quite by accident to-day. It brought back many memories. In 1938, my Mother took me to England (from
Canada) and left me there to go to school (Heaton Moor College, long since knocked down). During school holidays, I stayed with my Grandparents at 2 Ingoldsby Avenue, off Richmond Grove at the High Street end. I stayed in Enmgland until 1943 when I joined the Air Force. I have often wondered whether all the old houses in that area are still there or whether they have all been knocked down.

If you have a moment, I'd appreciate any info you could send me by e-mail about that particular area.

Hi David,

Oh boy I have just been through the website and had all the memories of Earl St Longsight come flowing back.We lived on the corner of Grey St and Earl St.
The Carroll family left there in 49 and came to Australia.
The first job I ever had was delivering papers around Plymouth Grove area, to the police station and to my old teacher Miss White.
I went to school at St Aloysius, Ardwick and played football on Grey St Park. At the top end of Earl St was an old church which had been turned into a boxing gymnasium and it was here I took up profesional boxing. I remember a fight I had at Ardwick Stadium which at the time was full of locals and all the support I got. My manager was Charlie Hirst and trainer was Billie Tansey. All that is past now but the memories are still there. I will never forget my daily run around Belle Vue as part of my training half of it running backwards. I think one of the incidents that the family still talk about occurred at the end of the war when the air-raid shelters were being demolished, this was done by a crane swinging a large steel ball on the boom against the brickwork of the shelters. On this occassion after a number of mighty swings, instead of the shelter being demolished, the house next door to us collapsed into a heap of rubble. I often wonder what became of the Flemings, Pollits, O'Sullivans and the Davies's.
Thanks again for a nice trip down memory lane.
Kind regards
Bernard Carroll, NSW Australia.

I would just like to say Thank You very much for your web page. I can't tell you how I felt when I found your page. My Gran and parents lived on Pimlott St numbers 15 and 47 and our next door neighbors were the Shemult or Schmilt (?) I also remember the Ogley family, I believe their son Albert emigrated to Australia in the late 50s' early 60s' I was born in the air raid shelter in front of my Grans' house. My mother's sister still lives in Stockpot . It was wonderful to think back and remember the streets and places I had forgotten,

I have been enjoying your Longsite web site of and on for a while. I have never visited there but I am very curious about the place. My grandfather, Frank Crossley, was born in Longsite in 1891. He was the son of a chemist, Frederick Dodson Crossley and Celia Hannah Mingay. My grandfather immigrated to Canada in 1909 and became a member of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police and then the RCMP when it formed out of the RNMP in 1920. He died in 1962. I have a great deal of geneological information about my family and I have some wonderful photos too. I wonder if you would be interested in having a picture of my ancestors' family home in Longsite. Unfortunately, I do not know the address or if it is extant. Perhaps someone will recognize it. Let me know if you would like it and I will scan it and e-mail it to you.

I found your website on Belle Vue this evening and it brought back so many memories. My grandfather, Sid Lane, was the commercial artist who worked there for about 18 years, until his death. The model village (not mentioned) was his "baby", when he died his ashes were scattered on the model village's cemetery. Grandad painted all the posters, signs, fairground scenes and inside the studio, also those including the zoo. I don't know if any of this is of interest to you, but you have dear memories of the place, as I have. It must be close to 30 years since he died, but I remember his taking me on the helter skelter, on the water chute and so much more.
Thank you for your website, it is very enjoyable.
Regards
Mrs Janice Watts (nee Lane).

I must congratulate you on this site - I will certainly be visiting it regularly.

I think your Longsight web site is just great. You have some very interesting pictures and history. You might be interested in the
Historical side of my web site - Birchfields News. If you want to use any of the photos please feel free to do so.

I was very interested in the photo of the Birch Skating Ring. I will add a link to your site next time I update mine.

Hi David,
Just want to tell you that your website is a treat. I grew up on Mount Road, Gorton, but now live in Ottawa. It's always great
seeing local Manchester stuff. I will bookmark your sight and check it regularly. Les Cotton has been a great help to me. I have lots of family pictures, but none of the Gorton area. Les took his camera to Gorton when he visited his Dad on East Road and actually took some photos of my house and different views of Mount Road. I went to Gorton Mount Primary and Spurley Hey High School and he got views of both of them as well. It felt like Christmas morning when he sent them!! I agree with you - Mancunians are the best bunch of folks! I miss Manchester and it's people terribly some times, yet Canada is my home now and I couldn't leave. I have a family of my own here and I love it. I'll tell my kids to visit your site - it's good for them to see where Mom is from. I spent many a time on Crowcroft park too. Please keep adding to your site - I only wish I had stuff to help you with.

hi read article on internet about longsight great stuff ,the mitchel
family refered to are my relations in u.k whom iwill be visiting next
month iwill show them the article and get back to you thanks a reply
would be great brian

David, so many memories!! Excellent job already, very nice layout, loads
quickly even over here in UK.

I was born in '58, so remember some of the stuff described. I remember the
KINGS, but not the QUEENS. I also remember my Gran collecting the weekly
"club" money from loads of people around where she lived in MacFarren
Street which runs at the side of the railway bridge across Stockport
Road,(This still stands today, I will send a pic very soon..) This club was
connected to a shop on Stockport Road (Ena's??) near the bridge. I think
she sold curtains and household goods. Do you remember the "shop up the
steps"? It aws between the bridge and Woolies, I think. It was a Newsagent
when I was a kid.

My dad still lives on East Road, opposite the middle Crowcroft Park gates.
I went to Crowcroft Park Primary school (not on your list!), then both
Lower and Upper Central High Schools. The Upper school has just been
demolished, in the last two months. The Lower School is now a centre of
athletics excellence for Greater Manchester, and has had lots of
(lottery??) cash spent on it. Again, watch for pics soon, as there's no
stopping me and my Digital camera once I get started!

The website is looking great - I'm going to do an introduction and link
which I'll flag up on the Newsletter page, and on the Recommended page.

A I D A N O ' R O U R K E
freelance photographer, journalist and web designer
publisher of EYEWITNESS IN MANCHESTER www.aidan.co.uk/ewm
part of MANCHESTER ONLINE www.manchesteronline.co.uk
phone 0161 225 4264 mobile 0956 934112

In terms of the actual web site itself, it is nicely formed and is well
balanced for the current amount of information it holds. If you wish, I will
provide a link to your site from mine. Anyway, I wish you all the best with
the site and I hope it provides you with a great deal of pleasure as it
expands.

Regards,

Euan.

Thanks for the early view....how appropriate that it should arrive around
Oscar time.!

I think you have made great progress albeit I suspect that as time passes
the data will build up gradually.

Thanks again for the peep of the web site...well done. I'll try and
contribute more in due time

Hello David,
My name is Vivian Wainwright, I live in Sandbach, Cheshire. So many memories came flooding back when I read your page on Longsight. I lived in Ross Place, Ardwick. We moved to Knutsford in 1959. I went to Ross Place School during the 50s. Our family name is Saxon. We used to play in the Sand Park. 'Sam the Parky' often used to chase us off the bowling green. I remember the Kings & Queens but wasn't there also the Shaftsbury? We went to Sunday school at Hallsbury (I think that was how it was spelt?) Street Baptist Mission. Remember the Vinegar Works on/off Grey Street? I remember catching tiddlers & newts with nets at the 'pond' on the sidings at Longsight station. Lots of kids used to meet there. Some of the games we used to play were; Please Mr Fisherman, Kick-can, Ticky-it, Statues, Letters-in-your-Name, Hide & Seek.I hope these few lines will be of help & look forward to reading more on your site, I will keep racking my brains.
Best Wishes.
Viv.

congratulations on producing an outstanding site. I grew up in Clayton during the 50's and 60's and played pretty much the same games they did in Longsight. Loved to play Kick the Can and a variation called Rally'O where there were two teams instead of one person being it. I attended St Willibroads RC primary and then St Gregory'd RC Technical High School at Ardwick Green. Due to overcrowding we spent a couple of years at the Hazel Grove school, it was known as the Annex.

I knew Belle Vue inside and out. I used to work summers at the bingo stall opposite the Caterpiler near the Bob's. I would spend my breaks over in the zoo and agree with you characterization of the cramped conditions the animals lived in. Did you ever eat at the staff
cafeteria?

We had bogy's too and used to ride them down "Pop Brew", which some people called "Berry Brow". Lack of brakes made it a somewhat dangerous proposition but, what the hell.

I moved to the US in 1968 when I was fifteen and now live in NJ. Very flat here in South Jersey but not as built up as the northern part of the state.

From: "H Stemp" <hstemp@portables1.ngfl.gov.uk>
To: <david.boardman@accglobal.net>
Subject: Response to letter
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 1999 23:46:55 +0100

Dear David,
I've just received your letter and dipped into your Longsight web site and found it fascinating.
This is just to let you know that I would be happy to contribute information about Crowcroft Park Primary School and news about the area.
I've been headteacher at Crowcroft Park since September, 1983 and taught at the school for a couple of years in the early seventies.Also, I was deputy head and headteacher at Armitage Primary School for seven or eight years, so I have had a long association with this part of Manchester.
My school, and a few of the others in the area, are part of a government initiative called the National Grid for Learning. This is providing us with new computers with internet facilities. I can envisage your website being an invaluable resource for both children and staff,and parents too, perhaps.
I will send you more information as soon as I have some spare time!
Best wishes,
Heather Stemp

Hello David & Family,

Thank you for your e-mail with updates of your site. The "What's New" link is super! It makes the reading so much easier instead of trawling through pages I have read.(I don't mean 'trawl' in a mean way) It's 'funny' you should have included Whit Walk photo's as I have been searching my photo's recently and found quite a few, thinking I would ask you if they were of use to you.

You have really started something this side of the pond! My mum, for whom I print your pages off for, started going through all the old photo's she has. Some were very dilapidated. I now have the job of scanning 150 of them into my computer and editing them to bring them up to 'scratch'. The whole family are "Walking Down Memory Lane." The conversations in our households usually start with "Do you remember." .......Thanks David!

Hope you have a good weekend.
Best Wishes.
Vivian Wainwright.

My name is Vivian Wainwright, I live in Sandbach, Cheshire. So many memories came flooding back when I read your page on Longsight. I lived in Ross Place, Ardwick. We moved to Knutsford in 1959. I went to Ross Place School during the 50s. Our family name is Saxon. We used to play in the Sand Park. 'Sam the Parky' often used to chase us off the bowling green. I remember the Kings & Queens but wasn't there also the Shaftsbury? We went to Sunday school at Hallsbury (I think that was how it was spelt?) Street Baptist Mission. Remember the Vinegar Works on/off Grey Street? I remember catching tiddlers & newts with nets at the 'pond' on the sidings at Longsight station. Lots of kids used to meet there. Some of the games we used to play were; Please Mr Fisherman, Kick-can, Ticky-it, Statues, Letters-in-your-Name, Hide & Seek.I hope these few lines will be of help & look forward to reading more on your site, I will keep racking my brains.
Best Wishes.
Viv.

Longsight is once again a happy cheery place thanks to you starting this web page. My mam and dad mentioned in there local pub that I was looking for Pictures and stories for your web page of Longsight 50s, 60s, The chat all night long was about Longsight. They are going In the pub tonight to get pictures and stories from a few characters. They said the atmosphere in the pub was brilliant, I suppose a few happy memories were brought back to these people. This can only be a good thing.