Flowery Field Junior School

This photo was taken at Flowery Field Junior School 
in the late 1960's.
On the back row, 3rd from right, is my brother Adrian. On the row in front of him, 2nd from right, is his pal Kevin Barker from Hallbottom Street.

Thanks to David Hamilton for sharing this photo :)

Oakfield Primary

This class photo was taken at Oakfield Primary School in 1963.
The teacher was Miss Jones, next to her, in the fourth row from
the front, is Steven Heginbotham. Third from left in that row is
myself, and at the far right of the row is Graeme Green.

Mrs Clegg was the Headmistress, she had previously been at 

St. Mary's School just up the road.

One of the most vivid memories I have of my time at Oakfield
is of the sickly smell of tobacco wafting over from Senior Service !

Sent to us by David Hamilton.

Many Thanks, David !

Local Notice !

 

 

Hi all,

You will see from the attached that I am hoping to arrange a table top sale, on the Hyde Civic Square in late June.  The poster dose not say that there are a further 8 stales available to local groups, such as Morris dancers, etc, which will be free to the organisation, in exchange for a display or similar, which could be classed as entertainment for visitors.   Any one interested in any of the 48 stalls should contact me as soon as possible.   Could you assist by letting others know?

 

Kind Regards,

 

Neil Openshaw,

Cashbox Credit Union,

Hyde Town Team,

Hyde Business Forum.

Shopping in the 1970's

The following is from a Tameside booklet from the mid 1970's

Hyde Market in the 1970's

Mechanics Arms

 

The building today

Excerpt from  "A history of The Pubs of Hyde and District" by Paul Taylor

Copies available for sale from Harrisons Newsagents, Hyde.

A Sonnet to Joshua Bradley

SONNET

Inscribed to Joshua Bradley, 

the Donor of Hyde Town Hall Clock and Bells.

HOW CAN WE THANK THEE TRUE, DEVOTED FRIEND,

FOR THIS RARE OFFERING TO THY NATIVE TOWN, BUT BY PROFOUND REGARD?

FAIR HONOURS CROWN IS THINE.

THIS NOBLE GIFT WILL EVER TEND

TO SHOW THE PROMPTINGS OF THY GENEROUS HEART,

WHICH FREELY GIVES, WITH AN UNSPARING HAND,

FROM HARD EARNED STORE.

BASE SELF CAN NEVER STAND ON FAME LIKE THINE, WHICH WILL TO THEE IMPART,

IN THY DECLINING YEARS, A JOY UNKNOWN.

SAVE TO THYSELF, WHOM WE REVERE THE MORE

FOR THIS GOOD DEED. WHO KNOWS WHAT LIES IN STORE

FOR THOSE WHO WORK AND GIVE FOR GOOD ALONE?

THIS TREASURED BOON THY MEMORY WILL ADORN,

AND RING THY PRAISE TO GENERATIONS YET UNBORN.

Postcards.

 Here is a collection of Hyde related postcards through the years.


Flowery Field Unitarian Church


Hyde Cemetery


Looking towards Hyde from St Annes Road Denton


Bennett Street Newton

Union Street Congregational Chapel

Union Street Congregational Chapel 

Founded in 1814

Built in 1822 /  rebuilt in 1843

Main church building demolished circa 1970 ?

 

The Church is still thriving as the United Church, on Union Street in Hyde.

It can be seen centre of the photo, with the library to the left.

Going Back

Here is a charming video that is on Youtube that was brought to my attention by Tom.

I hope you enjoy it.

p.s. There are a couple of pictures in there that are not of Hyde but it doesn't spoil the overall effect.

Randal Hibbert Esq

 




On the brook side behind the Bankfield Hotel and Bankfield Terrace, there stood, for about a hundred years, a Bone Mill.  This mill was erected about the end of the 18th century, by Mr. Randal Hibbert; it had a picturesque appearance, which was enhanced by the lake-like reservoir behind it; and at one time it was a very busy place. It was demolished circa 1903.  
Randal Hibbert built Boston Mills, and it was at these mills that the Ashton’s first began cotton spinning.

Modern map showing the location of the Bone Mill.

MEMORIES OF HYDE 1958 – 1962 Part 10

BY ROGER CHADWICK

The end of June 1958  saw Mum, Gran and I make the annual pilgrimage from Glen Wood to Godley Station.  We were on our way to the annual fortnight in Bournemouth. 

But that summer saw me staying in Bournemouth working on a market garden – for at that time Hyde had absolutely no work for temporary or unskilled workers. 

The pay at the market garden was low, the work boring and at times dangerous as I was shinning up ladders rolling “sylglass” between the greenhouse panes or taking new growth from the axils of tomato plants and for variety, feeding each and every cucumber plant in a vast greenhouse with one barrel-load of horse muck per day.  The summer did have its bonuses – I found very good “digs”, a smashing girlfriend whose father worked for De Havilland and I came home brown as a berry, ready for third year at Durham University.

This was the time when I realised I could not be in Hyde for much longer and still needed to work for the family income.  An enquiry at the Office of the North Western Road Car Company informed me that there was work for “temps” in the summer months.  I jumped at the chance! 

Mottram Road

I spent a fortnight in Conductor School and was then assigned to Glossop Garage and placed under the watchful eye of a senior conductor and an Inspector.  Very soon I was in charge of a vehicle and when on early shift, learnt to wake up at 0300 hrs, brew up, dress smartly in full uniform and stand under the lamp on Mottram Road(A 57) waving my billy can and hitching a lift so as to take a bus out for 0500.  Most days I got a potato lorry bound for West Yorkshire but then meant a long walk from The Gun Inn,  Hollingworth to Charles Street in Glossop.  Sometimes a newspaper van would oblige.  Occasionally one of the drivers would pick me up – sometimes in a car, sometimes on a motor bike.  Yet I never missed a shift in three years on the buses.  Thankfully most of the shifts started later and I could travel to work on the 0530 or 0600 service 125 to Glossop.  Coming home at night was sometimes difficult, The Company put on a “ghost” bus for late workers as far as Mottram Junction but you never got lifts from motorists so it was “shanks pony” for 2.5 miles home!  The shift that saw me work the Glossop Saturday Midnight Circular 190 taking all the boozers home was no fun when it was half past one in the morning before I got in!

Stalybridge, Hyde, Mossley & Dukinfield Joint Transport and Electricity Board Crest

It was a funny feeling to work on a bus route that passed my door and which I knew so well and to sit in the crew room at Glossop with North Western and SHMD guards that knew me from boyhood.  I often worked the 125 Limited Stop to Denton, Hyde and Old Glossop. It was an 8hr 31min “turn” and you worked hard with full loads to Hyde, full loads to Manchester and the same at night on return workings.  On one such trip we came into Chorlton Street, and went out immediately, fully loaded..  Late running was frowned upon.  Traffic jams were frequent around the city and you didn’t get a clear road until beyond Ardwick. 

 Belle Vue circa 1963

By Belle Vue I was dying to use the Public Conveniences. 

Going down Broomstair Brow I was desperate but I knew that there were facilities in Hyde Bus Station.  Never was I so glad to arrive at Hyde Bus Station and find relief – but then – it suddenly dawned upon me that I was in a cubicle!   There had been no urinal and I was too desperate to notice. I did now – I was in THE LADIES!!!  I really do remember breaking into a cold sweat.  Was I going to be arrested?   Someone might have already called the police for our bus was fully loaded and waiting immediately outside.  What if a lady came in?  Here goes – with head held high walked out pretending that nothing untoward had occurred, I emerged into the sunlight.  Suddenly there was a roar of laughter and cheering from the passengers and driver!   They had all seen what had happened and were going to make the most of it. It took me weeks to live that episode down.   Nowadays, such an incident would be world news!

Hyde Bus Station - The toilets were to the left behind the bus shelters.

I learn a lot about the British Public whilst on the buses and I will come to that in the next chapter.  My first driver warned me when I started that I would learn things about people’s behaviour that no college course could teach.   Bye – he was right – but they were good years with eight to ten weeks on buses, enjoying the travel, the “crack” with mates and the fun with passengers.  Of course, there was the bonus of good wages, plenty of overtime, Sunday double time, rest day working, spread-over penalty payments for split shifts.  I was to get married in 1963 with this “bus money” behind me!  My mother, instead of taking my wages for board and lodge took the money and then secretly saved it all up for when I needed it.

In some ways, these were the happiest years of my life!!

Thanks to Roger for his continuing memories of Hyde.
They are much welcomed and enjoyed ! :)

 

Love your local Market !

Its almost here - Love Your Local Market 2013....What a great celebration of markets we are going to witness over the fortnight May 15th - 29th. 652 markets in total signed up to take part this year!

Free market pitches are being offered to new traders as part of a package of special events and offers to celebrate Tameside markets.

Love Your Local Market (LYLM) fortnight, which runs from 15 May, aims to showcase all that markets have to offer as well as give new small businesses a helping hand in starting up trade.

http://www.tameside.gov.uk/pressreleases/welovemarkets

Many thanks to Hyde Market for the photos and information.

Hyde Market Facebook Site

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

MEMORIES OF GROWING UP IN HYDE 1953 – 1962 Part 9

By Roger Chadwick

The school week at William Hulme’s G.S. was six whole days, there being lesons on Wednesday and Saturday mornings and compulsory sport until 4.00.p.m. on both afternoons.  Drama and School Cadets added yet more hours to the schoolday and at busy times I would do homework in Manchester Central Library getting home around 9.30.p.m. only to be off again at 7.30.a.m. in the morning.   Half term consisted of a Friday and a Monday tacked onto a weekend but the school holidays were longer.   These factors meant that my time in and around Hyde was becoming increasingly sparse! In those days, Sunday truly was a day of rest with shops closed, bus services curtailed and nowt to do unless you were involved in a church.

Just after my 15^th birthday, with the expenses of adolescence rising, some money had to be raised.   In the summer of 1954, I started labouring at Ashton Brothers Bayleyfield Mill, hauling tubs of cotton bobbins to Italian lasses, (many of whom had already done 8 hrs in the Pan Yan Pickle factory in Glossop) in what was then called the Pirning room and then sorting boxes of cotton in the cavernous damp cellars.  Weekday work began at 7.30.a.m. and finished at 5.30.p.m with 20 minutes for breakfast and 60 minutes for lunch.  Saturdays began at the same time and work finished at 12.30.p.m.  I was not allowed in the weaving shed because that was for skilled workers and overlookers only and I was very glad not to be in that infernal noisy place: nor was I allowed in cotton waste where men worked in cotton overalls and “plimsolls”.  One spark in that department and the whole mill would have gone up like bomb!   My first wage amounted to £6.8.10d (£6.44p) – a phenomenal wage at that time for labouring when teachers and other professions were  getting much less.  It was hard work with long hours but good money and I loved the smell and atmosphere, the views of Werneth Low from five floors up, the coarse cackle and vulgarity of the women in the cop cellar, the hot juice of lunchtime meat pies and endless tea from the steel urns provided.  We have an old cotton bobbin in the kitchen which is converted to an egg timer.  It still stinks of the mills….lovely!

Redferns Rubberworks

Sadly, the days of Lancashire cotton were numbered and I had to find other work in the summers that followed.  I biked to Harden’s Engineering, North’s Atomic Clothing, Redfern’s Rubber Works, Oldham Batteries, Daniel  Adamson’s and a host of other industrial concerns but the message was always the same , “no vacancies for unskilled work…nothing part time….etc.”  1955 saw me cutting malt loaves and sorting hot white loaves and milk buns in the Bread Factory on the road from Denton to Brinnington.  The following year  I was clipping and weeding graves for six weeks in Denton cemetery.  There I was a dab hand with the weedkiller and did untold damage through ignorance rather than malice.  I started learning the art of gravedigging!  But the money was poor compared with Ashton Brothers.

Whenever I see pictures of St Stephen’s Church,  Floweryfield, I am reminded of an intensely sad time.

Coming home from holiday work in July 1956, I was told of the sudden death of a school friend, David Oldham.  He had died of an unsuspected brain tumour.  His father was the Organist of St Stephen’s and the family were closely connected with that church.  It was my first experience of death and along with Pete Broughton and Barry Broadhurst(the son of George Broadhurst the painter and decorator),  we bore David into church for the funeral service.   His parents were much comforted by what we did but I am sure it was a case of “put a brave face on…”.  David was an only one, like most of us in those years.

Some three weeks after this sad event I came home from work and found the family gathered in the back room.  Straightaway I knew there was something up. “Where’s mi father….” I asked… only to be told that he had died on the 125 bus coming home from work.   I had to attend Platt Lane Police Station in  Manchester that night so we were glad of evening buses!   My father had to be identified and my mother couldn’t do it.  “Are you Roger Chadwick, the son of Harry Chadwick?....is this your Father?   Having answered the questions, the paperwork had to be done and I could not say that the police sergeant was sympathetic.  But then, he had to do his job and cards and sympathy and teddy bears were light years away.  This was the first time I had seen a dead body.   But my Vicar was brilliant and gave my atheist father a wonderful funeral!  

“These things happen”….is a truism even if it doesn’t help much.  The fact of the matter was that my mother had to go to work and had to manage to keep us on her wages and the £4 widow’s pension.   It was now even more important that I get work to support the family.  But this was not going to be easy as it was the time of a mini recession and temporary work became even more difficult to find from 1956 onwards! 

I would like to thank Roger once again for sharing his wonderful memories with us !
They are a pleasure to read. :)

More Old Adverts from 1968

Below are a selection of adverts taken from the

1968 edition of the Green Guide,

which was a local Yellow Pages type publication.

The good old Kingston Stink !

Rosemount Primitive Methodist Chapel

The following was taken from 

the Annals of Hyde and District. 

 

The church was founded in 1875.
The Chapel was demolished and the congregation moved into the adjacent former school (also merging with Trinity Methodists) in 1977.

I was christened at Rosemount and took part in a few pantomimes there in the late 1960's. I would love to see any photos of these.

I'm glad to report that the church is still going strong.
Rosemount Church

 Thanks to A M Berrell  for the photos.

NOTICE

A letter to Dorethy/Maloney (and all the other cowardly aliases you use). 

We know that all the nasty, spiteful and sometimes racist comments you send are from the same person as it shows up on the computer as having the same location.

Do yourself a favour and save yourself some time by stopping sending them as they are deleted immediately.

Why you have to be nasty about something that you dont even have to read is beyond us.

ps If you want to use continue using aliases make sure you spell them right .

Also, using other posters names to post a comment is despicable....

Christmas Party Photo

The following was sent to us by David Hamilton.

Over to David....

!I wonder if this Christmas party photo is of interest to you.

As well as my mother, brother, myself and Dorothy Edwards, there are four of my cousins on the photo.
It is worth noting that the six children named are all 2nd cousins of Tom.
I would say that the picture was taken in 1960, and has Proctor's stamp on the reverse, but I have no idea where it was taken, other than somewhere in Hyde. 
It may have been in a central location, as we were from Newton, the Wigleys were from Dowson Road, and the Ovens's lived in Kingston Gardens".

 In the 1960's Dorothy Edwards had a shop on Victoria Street, more or less opposite Sawyer Brow. Later on she had a flower shop at the top of Bennett Street, just a few doors down from the Cheshire Cheese. 

Dorothy Edwards

Hilda (my late mother)

Adrian (my younger brother)

Myself

Katherine Ovens

Dorothy Ovens

Alan Wigley

Michael Wigley

Many Thanks, David ! :)

Newspaper Item 1967

Whilst looking through some old family photos and newspaper cuttings I came upon this...

 Then I found this one....

The unfortunate youth was my dearly departed cousin, Ian.

I'm sure the person who reported him meant well but it caused a lot of trouble at the time.

 

How times ( and attitudes) have changed.

We have had a few issues with the photos not appearing correctly (or not at all). This is due to the popularity of the site.

Whilst I am not complaining about that, rest assured all will be back to normal as soon as possible !!

Thank you.

:)