Owen Traynor

Although we've got a couple of pictures by Owen Traynor I didn't know anything about him till I started to put this post together. He has his own website, which you can access here and below is an extract from that site telling you about Owen.

"Born in Ashton-u-Lyne in 1934, Owen has always lived in Dukinfield. Took an interest in drawing as soon as he could hold a pencil and the fascination with depicting the things he saw around him has never waned. Educated at St Mark's School, Dukinfield and the County Grammer School, Hyde. Began painting seriously in oils at the age of thirteen when many of his subjects were taken from local scenes and he also experimented with more decorative and abstract themes.

After National Service in the army where he served in the Canal Zone, Egypt, he took a teacher training course at Bretton Hall College of Education, near Wakefield. This was a specialist college for art teachers. From 1958 he taught art at West Hill Sc hool, Stalybridge as head of Art Department and many of his pupils have retained their interest in the subject, quite a few becoming professional artists.

Due to an eye infection he had to abandon oil painting for a while and during this period a colleague gave him a set of watercolour paints to try. He took to this most difficult medium at once and the oil he was working on remained unfinished. He never tried oils again. He retired from teaching in 1985 to devote the rest of his time to painting and has been busy ever since. He held his first one-man exhibition in 1968 and his work has been in demand since then. He was the winner of the first Glossop Pro Loco Competition. In 1985 he won the Manchester Council/Manchester Evening News Painting Competition.

Has been awarded prizes by the Society of British Painters and the British Watercolour Society. Commissions have been completed for people throughout Britain and for Greater Manchester Police, Hyperlast, Barclays Bank and Manchester University to mention a few. Reproductions of his work have been published by Felix Rosensteil's Widow and Sons, London and Portfolio Fine Art, Manchester. His work was selected many times for the Laing Competition and he was presented with the Yorkshire Television Award for Painting."

These are the two pictures which we have have for several years:

Trevor Grimshaw

This is a picture that we've got by Trevor Grimshaw showing St George's Church and on the back of the drawing is a sticker showing where it was drawn:

My early 1960s A-Z shows that Vulcan Street ran between Cross Street and Boardman Street and parallel to Great Norbury Street:

Vulcan Street isn't named on the 1897 map of Hyde but it does show the passageway depicted in the drawing:

Hydes Own Poet - John Critchley Prince

Below is a chapter on John Critchley Prince from Thomas Middleton's 'Annals of Hyde and District'.
  

 Critchley Prince was born on June 21st, 1808, at Wigan, in Lancashire. He was brought up amid the greatest poverty, and was never sent to school. His education was obtained solely from his mother and from the teachers of a Sunday School. The Princes eventually settled in Hyde, where the poet married in 1826, when under 19 years of age. His income at the time was very small, and when a young family appeared, it took the united efforts of both parents to procure even a bare subsistence. Misled by glowing accounts of the prospects of artisans in France, Prince at length left his family to seek his fortune abroad. Disappointment, however, met him on the Continent; the greatest distress prevailed, and unable to obtain work, he found himself a beggar in a strange country, possessing no knowledge of the language.

In the middle of the winter of 1831 Prince left Mühlhausen  to return to Hyde. He followed the romantic wanderings of the Rhine, exploring the ruined castles and visiting the principal scenes of legendary lore. Travelling through Strasbourg, Nancy, Rheims, Chalons, and most of the principal cities, he at length arrived in Calais, having subsisted on the charity of the few English residents he had met with on the way. A passage was procured for him by the British Consul at Calais, and he at length set foot again in England.

On his return Prince first applied for food and shelter at a workhouse in Kent, and was cast into a filthy garret with 12 other unfortunates, some of whom were in a high state of fever; indeed, the dawn of the next day found his bedfellow dead. From here he proceeded with bare feet to London, begging in the daytime and sleeping in the open fields at night. A portion of his clothing he sold at "Rag Fair" for 8 pence, which treasure he spent partly in allaying the dreadful cravings of hunger, and partly in the purchase of paper and writing materials. Entering a neighbouring tavern, he wrote as much of his own poetry as the paper would contain, and that task done he went round to a number of booksellers, hoping to dispose of the manuscript for a shilling or two. But disappointment again met him, and after staying in London a short time—lying on the stones of some gateway at night, he left the metropolis and set off northward. His biographer tells us that he slept in barns, vagrant offices, under hay–stacks, in the lowest of lodging–houses; one day he ground corn at Birmingham, another he sang ballads at Leicester, the cool night wind found him sleeping under the oaks of Sherwood Forest, and finally he rested his weary limbs in the " lock–up " at Bakewell. By perseverance, however, he at length reached Hyde, only to find that his wife, unable to sustain herself and children, had been obliged to apply for parish relief, and was then in the workhouse at Wigan. Prince hurried off to that town, removed his family to Manchester, where he took a bare garret, and without furniture of any sort, with a bundle of straw for a bed, the wretched family remained several months. The Princes subsequently returned to Hyde, where a fairer fortune smiled upon them than had been the case in former years.

It was not until 1841 that Prince published his first work, "Hours with the Muses." He contributed at different times to the Manchester periodicals, and to three now defunct local magazines, "Microscope," "Phoenix," and "Companion."

The publication of " Hours with the Muses " brought Prince numbers of friends, but unfortunately he became a prey to habits of intemperance. He seems to have fallen into an unsettled state, sometimes working at his old trade of reed–making, often hanging about the country, and chiefly depending for subsistence on the profits of the five successive volumes which issued from his pen. An attempt was made to secure for him a pension, which, although fruitless as far as its main effort was concerned, won for him a grant from the Royal Bounty. He died at Hyde in 1866, and was buried in St. George's Churchyard, where a head–stone commemorating his works has been erected over his grave by a few admiring friends.

 

'ERECTED BY A FEW ADMIRERS TO THE MEMORY OF JOHN CRITCHLEY PRINCE AUTHOR OF HOURS WITH THE MUSES BORN 21ST JUNE 1808 DIED 5TH MAY 1866.'   The photograph is reproduced with thanks to Dr Tony Shaw Dr Tony Shaw

St Georges early 1970's

Here are two great photos lent to us by Ruth Dawson .

St Georges Junior School Nativity Play in 1972.
Ruth is far right on the middle row.
Some other names include...

• Linda Baker, Crispin Trueman, Colleen Ellis Jones, the Titterington Twins, Gillian Taylor, Geoffrey Lloyd, Ivan Freeman, Neil Thorpe, Fiona Cook, Gaynor Green, Jackie Stewart....

  If anyone recognises anyone else please let us know !

St Georges Whit Walks . Walking up Market Street.
Ruth is far right and Susan Blackshaw is next to her .

(I used to call the jewellers shop British Rail jewellers because of the initials ) :)

Many Thanks, Ruth.
The photos brought back some familiar faces and great memories :)

Rebuilt 1909

Early last year I was walking along  Church Street past St George's Church when I saw an inscription on one of the piers on the church wall which I had not noticed before.

I've been trying since then to find out more about it, even asking one or two people at the recent Heritage Open Day, but with no success, and was going to put this photograph on the blog to see if anyone had any information about it. But I've now found a book in the reference section of Hyde Library written in 1911 by Thomas Middleton and entitled 'History of Hyde (St George's) Church and Schools' which has this to say:

"On November 12^th, 13^th and 14^th, 1908, a Bazaar was opened on the first day by Mrs. Wood, of Glossop; chairman, Dr. Eastham; on the second day, by the Rev. W.G. Bridges, M.A.; chairman Canon Symonds, M.A.; and on the third (children's) day, by Miss Doris Brogden; chairman Master Charles Heywood. The Bazaar Handbook contained a brief history of the Church and Schools, written by Mr. Tom Middleton. The Bazaar realized over £500. With the sum thus raised several improvements were carried out. The Church Tower and West front, and the Church Street School, were re-pointed. A new boundary wall was built on the Church-street side of the graveyard. The old wall, built with the church, in 1832, was a plain structure, 5ft. 6in. high, which prevented the graveyard being seen by anyone standing in the street, The new wall averages about 4 feet in height, is surmounted by stone pier caps and copings, and has handsome iron railings fixed between the piers. By this arrangement a good view of the yard is obtained. On the centre pier are the words – "Rebuilt 1909." Other improvements to the churchyard were also carried out. The better ventilation of the church was also effected. The total cost of all these improvements was £350. The parishioners are indebted to the wardens, Messrs. John Wilde and George Spencer, for the efficient manner in which the whole of the work was supervised."

I assumed that the 'handsome iron railings' had been removed during the Second World War to help build aeroplanes, tanks and ships, but I found several sites on the internet which dispute this and all say similar things to this statement on www.buildingconservation.com:

"Many church railings were removed during World War II, ostensibly to be melted down in a morale-boosting drive to help the war effort. The reality was that the iron could not be reused and more often than not it was simply dumped at sea."

You can see where the iron railings were originally fixed.

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 Church

 I think this postcard view of St Georges Church and the allotments is great!



I didn't know it was known as Church Brow Gardens though!

 

A great colour postcard courtesy of Dave !
It's better than the first postcard!

St. Georges Church Hyde. (postcard)

There seems to be plenty of postcards out there of Hyde, and certainly enough to make up a great collection.. This one is on Ebay at the moment... trouble is the prices can be quite steep at times... but you can still get bargains for £1 or £2... plus P&P. The one above is from Valentines.

Valentine & Sons Limited was started by John Valentine, an engraver, he started the company in 1825, with his son James, who became a partner five years later. Valentines became a limited company in 1896, and then a public company in 1907. Valentine used a large number of artists including Louis Wain and Mabel Lucie Attwell. Among Valentine's noted series are Disney, Bonzo, Chloë Preston and the Nipper series by Brian White. Barribal, noted glamour artist, was also published by them. Among the landscape artists contributing to the "Art Colour Series" are Brian Gerald, E.W. Haslehurst, Geo. Melvin Rennie, E.H. Thompson and E.W. Trick. This post card is one of a series from aroud Hyde and worth looking out for. If you have any post cards you would like to share with us here please do so... you can scan them and send us an email with them attached... It would be good from all Hydonians to have then in one place where they can be viewed at will..

St George's Parish Magazine

A good friend of ours ,John Hopwood, a regular contributer to this site, has lent us a magazine which I've scanned to show you a slice of Hyde life from the 1920's. Just showing the front cover today - look out for adverts and articles in the future. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did. :)


St George's Parish Church magazine Feb.1927
Note one of the church wardens lived on Swain Street - now Dowson Road!

The map above shows the Swain Street turned into an old footpath which skirted the hollow.