St Georges Sunday School.

A postcard showing St Georges Sunday School Whit Walks banner.
If anyone can help with the date, please let us know !

Magnificent View !

Here are a couple of photo's sent to us by Karl Barlow with the description below.

"Hi Hydonians,
Here are two pictures I took of Gee Cross Mill in the early eighties. 

The view of the tower  in the distance is St Georges church and, I think, James
North's Mill...The black and white photo is of the ladder inside the tower of GX Mill known as a Jacobs Ladder.It led to the hatch that opened at the top of the tower. I climbed it a few times. There was a water tank up there if I remember and lot of pigeon muck ! What a view from the very top of the tower you could see for miles around!...."

Thumbnail for larger view.





Many Thanks Karl ! :)

The Chadwick Family

Following on from thursday post about the Chadwick Family, here is Peter Howard with some more information and great photos.... 

"Joseph Chadwick senior lived at 69 Nelson St, Joseph Edward Chadwick (my grandfather) lived at 69, and my father lived at 115.

My mother's sister, Ethel Chadwick, married John Finch. They lived on Travis St and had a sweet shop about half way down. In later years she worked at Byles".

Joseph Chadwick Senior and his second wife, Eliza Jane Sellers. Her family lived at 24 Nelson St

Chadwicks cart outside St George's Church, Hyde in 1920

The same horse outside 69 Nelson St. The house had a yard at the back where the carts and horses were kept.  The man holding the horse was Jack Braddock of Queen St.

Joseph, Rebecca and family. my mother Edith Chadwick (b.1903) is on Rebeccas knee, the other girl is Jane Chadwick, brother is Walter Chadwick (b.1890). The older girl is their niece, Fanny Pearson. Her parents died and they brought her up as their own. I remember visiting Aunty Fanny often. A very kind lady, as was Aunty Jane.

This must have been taken about 1904/5

 Joseph Edward & Cart. Joseph Edward Chadwick holding the 'horse' in Great Norbury Street. On the card is Joseph Chadwick senior, Edith (my mother) the child on the left, Jane on the right with Walter Chadwick aged about 14. 

"From what I have learned, Robert Middleton moved originally to Gee Cross - Werneth Low about 1820, then by 1840 lived at Acorn Lane, before moving to Fern Bank Farm. His son Joseph Middleton lived at Closes Farm in Godley where Rebecca (my grandmother) was born".

Once again, Peter, thanks so much for the photos and information. It's much appreciated that you took the time and trouble to send them to us !

St Georges Cub Scouts

4th Hyde Cubs football team. (St Georges)

This picture was sent in by 'Mo', who thinks it would have been taken early 80's so if anybody recognises themselves they could perhaps date it

Can you put names to the faces?

Heritage Open Day At St Georges

Muriel Nichols has contacted us to say that tomorrow 9th September is Heritage Open Day at St Georges Church, doors open  from 9--5. Once again some changes and new items from previous years. This year old framed photos of St George and St Luke's Dukinfield can be viewed. There is also a signed photo of 'William Garside Phillips Esq JP, of Ansley Hall, Nuneaton Warwickshire, formerly a scholar and secretary of St George's Sunday School and a liberal supporter of St George's for the past sixty years.' This is written on the mount. The date is 1923. Some of these items saved by Church members need better care and some restoration but it is fortunate they are saved.. Please come and photograph it and see what else has turned up like some old framed photos of St George's and St Lukes Dukinfield.

If people could bring any old picture frames they can't use, as Muriel as things for both Church and Theatre in need of them, just to stop them getting spoiled.

Muriel Nichols

The History of St Georges Church

 Here is a brief history of St Georges Church as found in the Annals of Hyde which was written by Thomas Middleton.

St Georges Junior School

Here is a photo of St Georges Junior School (circa 1948) sent to us by Roger Dyson.

 

He sent us the following accompanying email also.

"The ball point marks were put on by my sister years ago. I haven't succeeded in removing them. Will keep on trying.

 Names from memory:-

       

Beryl Barber, Gillian Broadbent, John Byles (Painter & Decorating Shop) Michael Cook ( Butcher) Me 3rd row 6 from left, David Carter, Brian Sharp, Simon Brindle 
(Doctors Son) Keith Shaw, Roger Bennett, Geoffrey Torkington John Archer, Judith Bradley or Bradbury, Gillian Ollerenshaw,

Fran Holden, Kenneth Hall, Geoffrey Pickford.Maureen Gledhill, ? Cook ( Fairground ride on the market.) Some of the First names might not be correct.

Hope the photo gets some response."

Many Thanks, Roger.  :)

The lost memorials.

We received this email from Bill yesterday. I wonder if anyone has any information about it !

Over to Bill....  

Hi Tom/Nancy, 
I took these two pictures last weekend while I was out walking. They show two small war memorials on the site of what was the old St George's boat house on the canal by the side of Captain Clarke's Bridge. One stone is in memory of Harry Hurst Warburton and the other commemorates three boat club members who were killed in WW2. These are R H Nash F Plant and Harry H Warburton One of the stones says that Harry Warburton was killed on active service in Italy, February 23rd 1946. Strange considering that the war ended in May 1945. Someone may be able to cast some light on this and tell us more about the other two people. 
Incidentally, my Dad used to be a member of the boat club and he told me that they used to row up to the bottom lock at Marple and back. 
Hope you can use it. 
Regards. Bill.

 


UPDATE  by Sean Dalton

NASH, RONALD HARRY
Rank: Sergeant Trade: Flt. Engr. Service No: 1109844
Date of Death: 31/08/1943
Age: 21
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 7 Sqdn.
Grave Reference Coll. grave 7. B. 1-4. Cemetery RHEINBERG WAR CEMETERY
Additional Information: Son of Harry and Jane Nash, of Northwich, Cheshire.

Many thanks, Sean. :)

St George's Church Tower Views

I was lucky enough to get permission last week to ascend the bell tower of St George's Church in Hyde. It was a wee bit hairy in parts , but was well worth the effort. I managed to take a number of photo's both inside and out. I have posted about 14 below, I will let the viewers guess where they are, because some of them I'm not sure myself.

St. Georges Post Card

I can't recall seeing this post card view of St. Georges before.

St Georges Lych Gate

 A  lychgate, also spelled lichgate, lycugate, or as two separate words lych gate, is a gateway covered with a roof found at the entrance to a traditional English or English style Churchyards.

The word lych survived into modern English from the Old English or Saxon word for "corpse".

Lychgates consist of a roofed porch-like structure over a gate  often built of wood. They usually consist of four or six upright wooden posts in a rectangular shape. On top of this are a number of beams to hold a pitched roof covered in thatch or wooden or clay tiles. They can have decorative carvings and in later times were erected as memorials. They sometimes have recessed seats on either side of the gate itself.

The gateway was really part of the church. It was where the clergy met the corpse and the coffin rested while part of the service was read before burial. It also served to shelter the pall-bearers while the bier was brought from the church. In some lych gates there stood large flat stones called lich-stones upon which the corpse, usually uncoffined, was laid. The most common form of lych gate is a simple shed composed of a roof with two gabled ends, covered with tiles or thatch.

This is the Lych Gate to St Georges Church.

It was built from the oak beams that were taken from Syddall Fold Farm when it was demolished in 1885.

According to Thomas Middletons's The History of Hyde , "Syddall Fold Farm stood  between Syddall Street and Church Street opposite St Georges old school."

Tithe map of 1836-51 showing Syddall (Siddall) Fold Farm .




A recent map showing the area today.

8.45pm December 22nd 1940.

Whilst reading last weeks letter pages in the Tameside Advertiser one letter in particular caught my eye... it concerned the night Hyde was the victim of a bombing. It is thought that a German Bomber had most likely missed it's drop zone and decided to drop what bombs it had left as it flew over our town.  As you will see below it is hard now to get details and facts from that time... but Ernie as been researching into that night and finding out about a family member who died as a result of the bombing.... Violet Doreen Gardner

I contacted Ernie who wrote the letter,  and offered our help...  if anyone out there as memories or heard story's about this incidence please write in or leave a comment.

   "List of Civilian Deaths Due to War Operations" copied from the archives.   It lists them:-

Doreen GARDNER, 3 Hawthorn Grove, Hyde. Hyde 22/12/40 relative Mrs. Gardner - mother - 35 Nelson St
Frank S SHARPE, 2 Green Street, Hyde. Hyde 22/12/1940. relative Mrs Sharple, 2 Green St
Ernest  H WADDINGTON, 328 Market St, Hyde. Hyde 22/12/1940/ relative Nellie Waddington, Widow, 328 Market St
John J SUDLOW, 124 Dowson Rd., Hyde. Hyde 22/12/1940. relative William J Sudlow - son - 11 Arnold Ave
Margaret A SUDLOW, 124 Dowson Rd. Hyde 22/12/1940. relative          "             "          "       "     "       "
Norman HINCHLIFFE, 56 Newton St., Hyde/ Hyde 22/12/1940. relative John M Hinchliffe - father - 56 Newton Street.

Ernie writes that:

Apparently a family story is that there was a bomb crater (confirmed by the Chief Constables report which mentions the Gas Board being called to attend to the gas leak) and that Violets father was seen in the bottom of the crater as the gas was escaping.  Not sure how true this tale is?

Below is a letter written by Albert Proctor. It describes the bombing that took place on Church Street on December 22nd 1940. Albert went to to be a very well respected photographer in Hyde.

"A short account of damage done by bomb dropped in Hyde December 22nd 1940

by Albert Proctor".

"Church Street , about 1/4 to 8 on Sunday, after the raid had been in progress 1 hour, the town of Hyde was suddenly arroused by the screaming of bombs, followed by a terrific explosion. Within half an hour I learned that it had scored a direct hit on some houses facing St Georges School and that several people had been killed. On visiting same on Christmas day was sad to see what harm the bomb had caused. The house on which the bomb had exploded was completely destroyed and both houses on either side were damaged far beyond repair. The wall round the schoolyard bears remaining evidence of the flying shrapnel in the form of large cranies and peices of stone chipped from the surface. At the time this happened,I was home in Nelson Street within 200 yds of the fatal spot. All except 2 of our windows remains. In an area of 300 yds practically all the windows were blasted out. The vibration was dreadfully terrific and at our house we thought it had only dropped a few yds from our house".

Here are 2 photos showing the marks left by that bombing raid almost 70 years ago.

Thanks to Paul all his help in this post.

Extra information on that fateful night.

War memorial to those who died located in St George's Church, Hyde, Cheshire.

 

Killed While Returning From Church

Incidents of Air-Raid in North West

While occupants of some houses which were struck by bombs during an air raid in the North-West of England during the week-end escaped uninjured, people who were returning from a church service were killed. When houses in the middle of a row received a direct hit two children named Harold Leah, aged 3 and his Brother Thomas Leah aged 5, were buried amid the debris and their bodies were not recovered till some hours afterwards. A little girl who had been in the house playing with them was uninjured

"The news item is not very informative. It mentions that people had been killed while returning from a church service, but it doesn't give their names or location, although it does give the names some children who were killed in a different unspecified location. That was all the newspaper was allowed to print. The Herald was printed a quarter mile from the scene of the tragedy. Its reporters would have known all the details, perhaps personally known those killed, but the censor did not allow them to print the information.

The censorship of the time was an attempt to deny information to the enemy, but, post-war, it makes it difficult to obtain details of air-raid casualties. Perhaps this is why only a small percentage of the civilian bombing casualties are mentioned on war memorials, in contrast to those who died on active service where a great deal of effort was made to ensure that all were recorded".  - Carl Rogerson.

The above information was found here .

 http://www.carlscam.com/hyde/georgemem.htm

Thanks to Carl Rogerson for his invaluble information.

Below are pictures From Tower Street that Dave took for this post.

Ernie writes that two little boys aged 5 and 6 years named LEAH did die that night in what appears to have been a separate bomb which fell on/or demolished  their home at 5 Tower Street, but the records show their deaths as the 23rd, as their bodies were not recovered until the next day.    Other members of the household may have been injured in some way, but they are not shown as having been so serious as to have resulted in their death.

 The burials of the deceased appear to have taken place on the 28th Dec; that of the boys was at St George's Church and was reported in The Reporter of 3rd Jan '41 in the column alongside that of Violet Doreen.

What I have found so far on Violet Doreen GARDNER, is that she was born at New Mills on 29^th March 1923, the daughter of James GARDNER¸ a native of North Lancashire and his wife Mary Catherine nee HIBBERT, formerly of Glossop, who had married at Ulverston in 1903. At the time of her death she was a Glove Maker, at Messrs R. Ollerenshaw, Hyde, and I was interested to read through the company logo/adverts on your blog but couldn’t see one for them.  The family appear to have been residing at 3 Hawthorn Grove, Hyde, although when identifying the body at the Mortuary her mother was shown as being at 35 Nelson Street, Hyde? 

I have found her grave in Hyde Cemetery – section 2-917 – but unfortunately all that remains is a large concrete cross which does not have any inscription.   Records of Tameside Burials on-line show that buried with her are both parents and an aunt.   Just too once again show what a small world we do live in, this aunt was recognised by my wife as a near neighbour of her family when she was growing up on the outskirts of Buxton during the 1950’s

All four of the team have pulled together on this posting, I hope others can add to it with there memories or stories told by parents. If anyone as memories of Violet Doreen, or any of the victims we'd like to hear from you...  

UPDATE
The following photo and information was sent to us by Vernon Handforth.

"With reference to the fatality of Violet Doreen Gardner. She was a bridesmaid at my parents wedding ie , Mr John Handforth & Miss Eva Beck on 7th December 1940. Violet was killed just a few weeks later in the bombing. She was a very good friend of my mum's who was also a glove machinist at Ollerenshaws. I attach a wedding photo which includes Violet and Raymond Armitage who was best man".

Thanks Vernon for sharing these with us. Much appreciated.

Church Brow Gardens

This postcard shows the allotments that used to be behind St Georges Church. They were known locally as Church Brow Gardens. I believe there are still a few in existence.

Up-dated with pictures 29th July 2011
 by Dave Williams 

Dave says:

Here's a couple of photos I took today. The first one's from just in front of where the church is in the picture, and I had to lift my camera up above a fence to see what was on the other side. The second photo is from near the end of Woodend Lane just before the railway bridge, and looking back towards the church. It looks pretty desolate, but there's what looks like a Vietnamese pot-bellied pig and some hens (and I seem to recall a duck or two when I've passed previously) on one of the allotments.