Union Street Congregational Church Foundation Stones

Nancy recently did a post on Union St Congregational Church which showed the laying of the foundation stones, Dave very kindly went out and took the pictures below to show how they look now. 

Whilst doing this post I had a thought about these foundation stones and realised there must be many knocking about in Hyde. I thought it would be a good idea to collect pictures of any that are out there. I
f you know of any or have pictures of them , please let us know. 

Childhood Hero's

This is a poem by Barry Lewis which he wrote some years ago and reflects on his childhood days in Hyde.

Barry writes: "Imagine me as a kid in the mid 1950s on a council estate in Newton, we watched our kids TV shows and believed in them implicitly.  After the show we would go outside to the local fields and play cowboys and indians with our friends, cowboy hats on, shooting plastic guns and riding imaginary horses.  This poem reflects those happy days. 

Childhood hero's

As I sit here on my neddy with my guns strapped to my hips,
eyes in half closed concentration and a sneer upon my lips,
I'm the toughest dude in Hyde with a draw thats oh so slick, A sherrifs star and black hat which says "Blackpool - kiss me quick".

I know how to win the west, I know that I'm 'the man',
I have skin thats tough as rawhide, cos my hero's Desperate Dan,
I like Cisco Kid and Pancho, Kit Carson and his kin,

Roy Rogers and horse trigger, and good old Rin-tin-tin.

The Lone Ranger and Tonto, Cheyenne Bodie, Texas Jack,
The Rifleman and Maverick, Hopalong Cassidy dressed in black,
These guys are all my hero's but none of them compare,
to the toughest dude in Hyde with the short red curly hair,

He spies a lone red injun, chicken feathers on his head,
Wrapped around his shoulders is a blanket from his bed,
Our hero shouts out "Yippee" and kicks Neddy in the guts,
Head down he slaps his horses rump and heels him in the nuts,

He builds up speed towards his foe, hair flowing in the breeze,
His horsemanship outstanding, controlling with his knees,
The sneaky injun draws a gun and pulls off a deadly round,
Our hero holds his tummy and falls towards the ground,

Hold on, thinks he, there’s girls in sight I must make this look grand,
He completes a stylish somersault and prepares himself to land,
Whilst trying to impress the girls with fetes of daring do,
He fails to spot the water and the dollops of dog poo,

Head first into this mire he falls, his Knightly visage stained,
With water dripping from his hat and his badge in poo - ordained,
His battle for the west is gone, he has no chance of winning,
His Mums now on the warpath and all those girls are grinning,

He flys into the sunset as his little legs propel,
His Mum keeps him at arms length just to minimise the smell,
Our hero now has done his dash, a hiding place to seek,
But Mum says "Righto Desperate Dan - no T.V for a week".

Lifes hard being a hero, it aint all that much fun,
My sisters laughing her head off and my Brother stole my gun,
I think cowboys are all stupid, chasing injuns aint much good,
Tomorrow I'll be someone else, Oh, I know...Robin Hood ! 

Ha! Well done, Barry... I played the same games in the 60s... it really took me back this. If you have other poems send them in... If anyone else has poetry with a link to Hyde please send it in too.

Union Street 1914

A charabanc outing from Union Street Congregational Church circa 1914.
The Technical school is in the background. This is now part of Hyde Library.

Thanks to Steven and Winifred Pickford for the photograph!

Hyde Carnival

I have only heard the odd bit about Hyde Carnival and seen even less pictures , such as this... if you know more and have pictures, please let us know.  
What a shame traditions such as this died out.

The riding of the "Black Knight" or "Blake Lad" was originally an Ashton custom, but was from time to time observed in Hyde.  On Easter Mondays either someone dressed up or a rag stuffed guy would ride around the streets on horseback parodying the infamous Black Knight of Ashton Under Lyne.

Part of the Hyde Carnival procession August 1923

First Prise Winner.. Cinderella Hyde Carnival 1920

Above pictures and information from Paul Taylor

People of Hyde

 The following article was in Cheshire LIfe magazine in June 1982

Manchester Road view

We were going to use this picture for the Whit Walks thread the other day but decided it deserved a thread of its own.
It shows the Manchester Road/ Water Street junction looking towards Manchester in the 1970's . pictured is the Wheatsheaf pub, now sadly gone. Kwik fit has managed to survive the times ,I'm happy to say.
The building to the left was demolished to make way for a car park for B&Q,Poundstretcher and Aldi. This was originally the site of Green Croft Cotton Mill.




Tithe map from 1836-51 .


Aerial view from the 1970's showing the Wheatsheaf's approximate location and Green Croft Mill before it's demolition. Kwik-fit is the white building to the left of the red star

Thanks to Eric Downs for the photo - very much appreciated !

Greenfield Street Archery Club

These budding Robin Hoods from the late 1960's are shown here in the school playground.. the building behind the target was the metalwork room. The teacher is Mr Wainwright, the tall lad in the middle is my older brother John Wigley, and the lad next to him with the school badge is Steve Downhill . I can not put a name to the others.

This is my first post since I was taken ill 3 weeks ago.. I suffered a heart attack and I'm now on the mend and doing as well as can be. Thank you all for your concern and words of kindness. I hope to be back posting regular very soon... thanks go to Nancy, Paul and Dave for keep the site running.. what a team.
Tom 

George Wain Update

So nice to be able to bring you a result from the previous newspaper article about George Wain. Nice to see that some of his former pupils got their work back !

Thanks to Tom Uprichard for sending us the clip.
Very much appreciated!

Pub Photographs

Since writing the book on the history of the pubs of Hyde over 25 years ago (how time flies), I have still had an interest in finding out further information and old photographs about the pubs. The last few years has seen the closing down of many of Hyde's oldest pubs and many throughout the country have seen the same fate. It was very sad to see some of my old haunts, like the George & the Crown, shutting their doors for the last time. The reasons are many and varied and can be argued about long into the night. Let's hope this this situation doesn't carry on into 2012, or there won't be many left. It is to this end I would like to make a plea to all followers of this site. There have been a number of pubs both long since gone and some still with open doors that I have been unable to obtain old photographs of. If anyone has any photographs or any information for that matter on the following pubs, please let me or the site know.
Thanking you in anticipation:-

Astley Arms 53 Old Road
Blue Bell 76-78 Talbot Rd
Bridge Inn 14 Cheapside
Brown Cow 18 Platt Street
Butchers Arms 53-55 Manchester Rd
Dog & Partridge 171 George St West
Farmers Arms 2-4 Brook St
Foresters Arms 46 Hoviley Brow
Friendship Newman St, Newton
Gardeners Arms 26 Bennett St
Golden Fleece 35-37 Ridling Lane
Nags Head 31 Water St
Norfolk Arms 6 Market St
Old Red Cock 1 Raglan St
Royal Hotel 20 Edward St
Shakespeare 1-3 Mottram Rd
Shepherd's Call Market St
Volunteer 95 Market St

Hyde Chapel - Rose Queen 1959

The lovely photos below were sent to us by Ann Bacon nee Stafford.
They show her time as Rose Queen at Hyde Chapel in 1959.

How beautiful she looks !
I should imagine most girls wanted to be crowned Rose Queen.


Mrs Kitchen crowning Ann Stafford ,with Kathleen Baddely the retiring Queen.


Ann Stafford, Hyde Chapel's Rose Queen, with her Retinue.
Were you one of these girls?

Many Thanks, Ann, for sharing these photos with us!

Hyde Cricket Club Postcard

The postcard below was very kindly sent to us by Ann Bacon and shows her father, Arthur Stafford (Front row,far left). He was opening bat for Hyde Cricket Club when this photo was taken in 1928.
He was just 15 years old !



Thanks very much Ann.
Your photographs are very much appreciated.

Union Street Congregational Sunday School

Laying of the foundation stones of the Sunday school on 4th July 1914..









There were three foundation stones laid, but you can only see two of them clearly in these pictures. You can just see part of the third one (or first one to be exact, reading from left to right) in the last picture. You can just see the 'E' of Elijah Roebuck, JP, the other two being laid by A Milne Fletcher, JP and Thomas Brownson, BA. The Union Street Congregational Church has now been demolished, but the Sunday school survives in the form of The United Church adjacent to the library on Union Street.

Thanks to Dave for the excellent (as always) information supplied.

Grateful thanks to Steven and Winifred Pickford for the above photos.

Whit Walks 1912-14

These photos are of a Whit walk procession circa 1912-1914.

The rather splendid men at the front wearing top hats are (from left to right)
The Rev Theobald from Union Street Congregational Church ,The Rev Henry Enfield Dowson from Hyde Chapel and The Rev Burgess from Flowery Field United Church. The man just behind them, walking next to the man with the umbrella is George Brownson Esq.

Rev. Henry Enfield Dowson had Dowson Road and Enfield Street named in his honour..
So respected was he that after spending over 58 years as the minister there now lies buried INSIDE Hyde Chapel and not in the Graveyard outside.
More about The Rev. Enfield Dowson at a later date.


A Whitsuntide parade down an, as yet, unidentified Street.
UPDATE
We believe them to be walking past an early Shepherds Call Pub on Market Street!


The children during the parade down another unidentified Hyde Street circa 1912-1914.

UPDATE
Now believed to be Thomas Street

I'd love to know where they are walking. If anyone knows or has any ideas, let us know !

Zion Christmas Nativity review.

Here is a review from North Cheshire Herald of the Nativity play that was performed in the Zion Church in 1969.
My sister Jane and I were two of the "little angels".... nothing changes ;)



I even remember part of the verse despite being one of the younger children...

"When the Christmas Angels
Came flying down to earth.
They flew to fields in Bethlehem
and spoke of Jesus' birth.

But one of them was smaller
and couldn't fly so fast
Her little wings were not so strong
and so she got there last "

I remember being very proud doing the poem as both my Nanna's were on the front row watching us! The Christingle service afterwards was magical and something that will stay with me forever!


The Zion Sunday School on Peel Street circa 1990's

St Georges Boathouse

We were recently sent in a photo by Jenny Ward. It's of a fabulous painting that was done by her father ,Fred Keating (1918-1966) who was a reporter on the Hyde Reporter and North Cheshire Herald in the 1950s.


St Georges Boathouse by Fred Keating


This is a photo of the boathouse which stood by Captain Clarkes Bridge on the Canal.(Also known as Wood End Canal Bridge)

Woolworths (Disappeared shops)

These photo's need no explanation.



Woolworths closed its doors to the public for the last time somewhere between 27th December 2008 and 6th January 2009.

Sadly missed (well the pick 'n' mix counter is anyway )!



Woolworths opened in Hyde in what was formerly Brownsons store.

Charabanc outing from the Red Lion.

This small snippet was in the newspaper last week.
It's funny how words go out of existence with the generations.




For those who are young enough NOT to remember a Charabanc (yay , me included) , here is a photo of a Charabanc outing from the Red Lion, which was situated on Manchester Road.


"Charabancs were a kind of early convertible bus, with a top covering which could be used in inclement weather".



"The address of the Red Lion was originally Rochfort Street , which is now Clark Way crossing the motorway. It started life around 1857 as a beerhouse and got a full licence in the 1930's.
The landlord in 1910 was George Webb who ran many charabanc outings.
The Red Lion was almost demolished for the new Hyde by-pass , but was reprieved, closing for a long period to reopen as the Hyde-away. This closed in 1981 after a few years but again the pub reopened, with its original name of the Red Lion.
Sadly ,it has now shut for good".

Thanks to Paul Taylor for the information.

Hewitt Street (was Cooper Street)

Hewitt Street was situated on the right hand side of Manchester Road, just after the canal. The original name of the street was Cooper Street, this existed until sometime around the 1940's when for some unknown reason it was changed to Hewitt Street. At the bottom left hand side of the street was the Kingston Hat Works, further down leading to Wilson Brook.
The first photo shows the left hand side of Hewitt Street in 1958, with the hat works to the right and the terraced houses on Manchester Road to the left, a nice old advert for Smith's Crisps on the end wall. The second photo shows the right hand side of Hewitt Street again around 1958. The corner shop had been a chippy but had recently closed down, next door was "Home Fittings" and then "Northern Plastics Limited", a company which is still in existence today.
Hewitt Street, after demolition of all the properties shown on these photo's became the entrance to the newly built Automasters Ltd.
A description of Automasters from a 1970's booklet is reproduced below:-

AUTO-MASTERS LIMITED


Auto-masters Ltd (engineers) were first established at Denton in 1947, and moved to Hyde in 1952, when they purchased premises off Manchester Road. By 1960 the old buildings had been replaced by a new bay on the same site, and this , together with adjacent works premises, since purchased , now total over 5000 square feet of floor area, standing on a five acre site.
Further development is planned for the future, and a start to the proposed frontage on to Manchester Road was made in 1964, when the original sites of demolished houses and shops were laid out with low walling, planted with semi-mature trees, and a large neon sign located over Hewitt Street to mark the main entrance.
The company is equipped with the latest machine tools and fabrication equipment, and a headroom of 25 feet, with travelling cranes up to 100 tons capacity, provide adequate facilities for most engineering requirements.











The area around Cooper Street (Hewitt St) in 1897


Last stages of construction of the new Auto-masters premises around 1970

Whit walks up Manchester Road.

This great photo was sent to us by Elayne Farmer who also sent us this message with it.

"This photo shows Nellie Ashworth (worked in Arthur Dane's) & her sister Cissy Leigh (who worked in the Co-op) on a wet whit walk. Unfortunately we do not know from which year". I remember showing off your new clothes to the rellies and getting 3d bits or a 6d if you were really lucky. How much would that cost today? - at least a fiver i suspect!)


Walking past the Wheatsheaf pub. Notice the distinctive windows of the shop next to Barry Hett's shop ,top right, which enabled me to identify where they were walking !


The Wheatsheaf

Hyde Schools and Services information.

 An information article about Hyde Schools and Services I found on the back of a map dated between January 1970 and February 1971.



*We had Nine Sub-post Offices.
*We only had two Market Days.
*We had a Maternity Home.
*We had a Registrar.
*We had Five Secondary Schools
*We had three different public convenience sites.

But....
*We had half day closing on a Tuesday
*Most shops closed on Sunday
*We had stricter licensing laws.

Oh,  for the good old days ! ;)

Adverts in the Reporter. 1977

Whitby return for only £3.05! It would be about £30 now.


Two scary films for the price of one !
July 1977

The Savage Bees
In this horror-drama the festive fun of the annual Mardi Gras celebration is brought to a halt when a swarm of African killer bees escape from a foreign freighter.

The Incredible Melting Man
An astronaut is transformed into a murderous gelatinous mass after returning from an ill-fated space voyage.

Sound really scary !! ha ha !


The shop is still there but I believe the owner has now retired.