HYDE CHESHIRE

Harry Rutherford's
Festival of Britain Mural




Sunday 23 October 2011

Hyde Park 1953

We are very lucky to have received some wonderful photos from Tony Downend. His father was a semi professional photographer and took many photos around Hyde.

Here are a few to begin with...

To celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953....

Coronation crown 1953


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Same view in 2010

Coronation crown 1953

The Coronation Crown outside Bayley Hall in Hyde Park 1953

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Same view 2010

Coronation Crown 1953

I haven't seen any other photos of this event so it makes it all the more special.


Thanks so much, Tony - I'm looking forward to showing off many more of your Fathers wonderful photographs on this blog!

11 comments:

Tom said...

Excellent picture Nancy, and thank you very much to Tony for letting us show case your fathers pictures.

Dave Williams said...

I've got a photo of a crown similar to this one, outside the Town Hall, presumably at the time of the coronation. I'll email it to you.

Werneth Low said...

How lovely to have the then and now pictures side by side here. Living in GX we didnt visit the park very often so I dont remember the crown there but I also have a picture of the one on the town hall front which looks almost identical to the ones in the park. I remember being taken 'down Hyde' to see it.

Has it ever struck anyone that we always went 'down Hyde' from Gee Cross when, geographically, Hyde is to the north of it? I guess it came about because it was downhill all the way!

Tom said...

I have always said 'Down Hyde' ... just seems right some how...
I suppose if I told someone I was 'going to Hyde' they'd probably ask "Why what have done now" :O)

Werneth Low said...

When we were kids my dad used to say Hyde was where the flies went in the winter - through Denton to Hyde!

Tom said...

Werneth Low.... I still hear that being said at times... ha!

Dave Williams said...

The point about going 'Down Hyde' is interesting, as it's what I always say as it is downhill from where I live. I remember having a 'discussion' with a southern-born girl with whom I worked many years ago who took me to task when I talked about 'going down to London'. 'No', she said, 'you go UP to London, because it's the Capital'. 'But we're up North, and London's down South'. 'That doesn't matter', she said, 'London's the Capital, and you go UP to the Capital'. 'In that case', I said, 'I'll go DOWN to Brighton, and call in on London on the way'.

Werneth Low said...

Also interesting, Dave, and a reminder of one of the lessons learned in my first job at Gorton Locomotive Works {Gorton Tank}, that pn this country's rail network the UP main line is always the one which travels towards London, regardless of where you are geographically. Not sure if this has anything to do with going 'down Hyde' but we also used to go 'down Manchester' which liess slightly west of Hyde!

Dave Williams said...

Petula Clark had a record in the 1960s entitled 'Downtown'. Never heard of a song, or an expression of any kind come to that, called 'Uptown'. How did the railways decide the 'up' and 'down' lines on routes which went East-West and vice-versa, like Liverpool to Leeds for instance?

Werneth Low said...

Uptown Girl - Billy Joel!

Dave Williams said...

Yes, I'd forgotten that one - presumably it's about a girl who leads a kind of 'posh' lifestyle. Even when you're 'Up' in the Capital there's an expression which alludes to the 'posh' part of London - when people going for a night out go 'Up West'.