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Introduction Charles
Dickens
opened "A Christmas Carol" with these words, "Marley
was dead,
to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about
that ... Old
Marley was as dead as a doornail". So let
me begin by
saying that
Belle Vue Zoological Gardens are no more. Just
like Marley they
are as dead as a doornail. I say this because I
have received a
number of requests for information about visiting Belle
Vue and on a
couple of occasions resumés from prospective zoo
keepers.
Belle Vue Zoological Gardens operated in Manchester for
145 years but
the doors closed for good in 1981. Very little
remains to suggest
that Manchester's "Showground of the World" ever
existed. My
motivation for creating this web site was a desire to
tell the history of the Belle Vue I remember fondly from
my childhood.
In the process I have learned a great deal about the
history of this
amazing place. Like Marley's ghost, a little of
the spirit of
Belle Vue clings on here for you to experience. In telling the story I have relied heavily on the generosity of others. These people have given me information and shared their photographs. Much of the material displayed on this site is shown with their consent, but it remains their property. Therefore, none of the text or images on this site should be copied in any way without first contacting me. I would not have been
able to
create this site without the
help of these people and I would like to think that I
would be as
supportive of people attempting to do the same thing.
However, I have a
responsibility to protect the intellectual property of
my contributors,
so please ASK FOR PERMISSION before taking
material from this
site.
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All the material on this web site is © David Boardman, unless otherwise stated, and may not be copied, downloaded or otherwise reproduced or retransmitted without the written permission of the webmaster. Any contravention of the copyright of others is unintentional and will be corrected immediately when brought to the attention of the webmaster. |
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