Waiting For The Train

Berney Arms

In The Halvergate Marshes

Berney Arms is the smallest station in England. This is remote Norfolk; the nearest road is nearly six kilometres away and it is easier to reach the hamlet by boat this being the Norfolk Broads. Resembling something out of a child's train set, the platform is long enough for just one carriage and the shelter accommodates three passengers. Not that this is a busy station for the three trains a day bring only 1000 people a year, mostly ramblers and bird watchers. There was until the late sixties, a small row called Station Cottages. One room served as booking office, waiting room and post office. 

Duncraig

By the Lochside 

Lonely  Duncraig is  a picturesque little station on the side of Loch Carron in the Scottish Highlands. It was originally a private platform serving Duncraig Castle and was not open to the public until 1949. A single platform with a unique, octagonal waiting room, the station has views across the loch. There are just four trains a day from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh and on an average day two passengers use the station. 

 The Extraordinary Station of Moreton on Lugg

The village of Moreton on Lugg lies just to the north of Hereford. Although the railway from Shrewsbury passes through the village, trains no longer stop here, the station having closed in 1958. When the railway was being constructed, a navvy made his home in a hollowed out tree. The trunk was equipped with a thatched roof, a brick chimney stack and even a door. When the railway opened in 1866, the navvy moved on but the tree which was known affectionately as "Eve" found a new purpose. The tree became a store house but when the station became part of the Great Western Railway it was converted into a ticket office. The tree, with a circumference of 19 metres was so large that on one occasion, 15 people were said to have taken tea inside.

Parsley Hey

Up In The Clouds

Parsley Hay was one of the highest stations in England with an altitude of 350 metres. In the remote hills near Buxton, it only saw three passenger trains a day and not surprisingly closed in 1954. The platforms were constructed of wood planks as were the station buildings. Until a signal box was built, the booking office served that purpose. One of the waiting rooms was furnished with pews for this was the village mission hall. The station harmonium provided the music.

The Comforts of Rural Essex

Passengers waiting for a train in the Essex countryside needed to be a hardy lot for the stations didn't always provide many comforts. Stane Street near Bishops Stortford didn't even have a proper platform whilst at Ashdon and  Henham, passengers were expected to shelter in crumbling old cariages. The original fittings had been removed and benches installed. That as Ashdon dates from 1916 and still exists although no trains have called since 1964

 Richborough Port - The train that never arrived
  
 The station at Richborough Port in Kent was built in 1925. Having been constructed, it was found that an approach bridge would not stand the weight of a train and consequently the station never opened for either passengers or goods. By the time the railway was built, the port near Ramsgate which  was also known as Sandwich Haven, was already in decline. The privately owned East Kent Railway hoped to use the port for coal traffic from the collieries that they served. The station platform hardly served a bustling community being in a bleak and remote location. Had the trains arrived, there would have only been two services a day. This was not a busy line and it was unusual for a train to carry more than one passenger, if any at all. Trains rarely ran to time and to make up their schedule, drivers often ignored stations even if there was a passenger waiting.
The line finally closed in 1951 although the section near Richborough had not seen trains for some years as part of the track was missing.

Also on this line was the strangely named Poison Cross station. Opened in  May 1925, there was for the first year a Saturday only service. The full, twice daily service only lasted two years and Poison Cross closed in October 1928. The train no longer ran to its destination at Sandwich Road.

 

From Shrewsbury's Other Station

The Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway wasn't allowed to run its trains into the principal station in Shrewsbury so it built its own terminus at Abbey Foregate.
The origins of this 20 mile line go back to 1861 when a rival route to Ireland was planned. It failed to receive its act of parliament but the scheme was revived with a proposal to build a line from the Potteries. It was completed in 1866 but only between Shrewsbury and Llanymynech. When the Board of Trade inspected the railway in 1880 they found that the track needed renewing. As the company could not afford this, they restricted the speed of trains to 25 mph. Even this move was unsatisfactory and the line ceased operations. All was left to decay until 1911 when a new company was formed. The infrastructure was repaired and second hand coaches and locomotives were obtained. A passenger service continued until 1933 although goods train continued to run until wartime when the War Department took over the line. It continued to operate until 1960.

A particular feature of the line was its quaint passenger trains. The lorry pictured above is hauling a railcar body mounted on an old tram chassis. More popular were the two old Ford buses which ran back to back on railway wheels.

A Wartime Hospital

I was born at St Mary’s Hospital yet my place of birth is recorded as Macclesfield which was where my parents lived at the time.

A little research on the internet has given me some background to the story. Faced with the possibility of air raids, the St Mary’s Hospital Board chose to close their City Centre maternity wards. Collar House in Prestbury was owned by the Moseley family who were then living in Wales and in 1939 was rented by the hospital as an annexe. This was a large house with extensive grounds. It had its own water and electricity supply as well as a laundry. It was converted to hold 45 beds and had maternity wards and nurseries as well as a theatre, dispensary and accommodation for 30 staff. Nearby Prestbury Hall and Adlington Hall were also to become hospitals. St Mary’s remained at Collar House until 1952 when the maternity wards returned to the City. During those 13 years, more than 14000 children were born at the three Prestbury hospitals. Originally a farm, Collar house dates from before 1780 and has been occupied by a number of different families.

Collar House, much extended is now occupied by Beaumont Nursing Home.

A book by Mary E. Roberts has been published on the history of Collar House and is available from Waterstones.

The pages of the Manchester Guardian add a little more to the history of this wartime annex of St Mary’s Hospital.The Guardian of 9^th December 1939 reported that Collar House had received its first maternity cases that Monday. It was described as a pleasant Cheshire mansion.  The board of St Mary’s had decided to evacuate cases from a “dangerous” to a “safe” location after some deliberation. “Suitable cases” were to be transferred to Prestbury by ambulance leaving more complex cases for treatment at Whitworth Park Hospital.

At the outbreak of war the board appointed Miss D. H. Stuart to Matron-in-Charge. Fifty staff with were initially transferred to Blackpool together with medical equipment. It was soon realised that expectant mothers were unhappy to leave their neighbourhood and the scheme was phased out.

In January 1945, The Guardian reported that the Prestbury Hall Maternity Home had been due to close in a short time. The Manchester Public Health Committee, faced with an acute demand for maternity beds had decided that St Mary’s Hospitals should continue running this home for a short time in conjunction with Collar House.

In March 1946, The Guardian reported that the Public Health Committee had recommended the purchase of Collar House for the sum of £9750. The cost of running the home was £12732 and annual income from patients £4500 leaving a deficit of £8232. The hospital had a capacity for 800 patients a year.

In December 1952 the Ministry of Health had decided to return Collar House to its owner. This would result in a loss of 40 beds. St Mary’s had 82 beds at Whitworth Street and this reduction would threaten its position as a teaching hospital.

In June 1957, a bus crashed in London’s Oxford Street, killing 7 and injuring a further 12. Among the fatalities was Miss Forbes-Graham, matron of Collar House Hospital who was on a week’s leave.  She had worked at St. Mary’s since 1929 and was involved in the evacuatio of children from Manchester in 1939.  She became Sister-in-Charge of Collar House Hospital and continued as Matron when the hospital transferred to the Macclesfield Hospital Group in 1952.

Perhaps that 1946 purchase did not proceed for the 1952 article suggests that it was still being rented, although Collar House remained as a hospital into the 1970’s as part of the Macclesfield Hospital.

I have not seen any reference to any annex of St Mary’s in North Manchester other than the Blackpool episode.  Collar House was used as a convalescent home in the 60’s. I have not as yet found any reference to any other use that Macclesfield Hospital found for the building.

There are several references to Collar House on the internet. One website states categorically that this had been the home of Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists. Not very well researched for the Moseley family of Prestbury did not even spell their name in the same way as Sir Oswald.

In Good Company - Southern Cemetery, Chorlton cum Hardy

Sir Matt Busby and Lawrence Stephen Lowry need no introduction, neither perhaps does Sir John Alcock.  These are among the famous names to be discovered on the graves of Southern Cemetery in Manchester.

In 1872 40 hectares of land were purchased by Manchester Corporation for £38340.  The City Surveyor J. G. Lynde was responsible for designing the layout and manchester architect H. J. Paull designed the chapels and other buildings. Roman Catholics, Nonconformists Jewish and Anglican denominations each had their own chapels and designated burial areas.  In 1926 a further 36 hectares was purchased making this the largest cemetery in Britain and second largest in Europe.

There are now separate areas designated for Muslim burials, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and for the Polish community. The latter includes a large memorial to Katyn massacre in 1940 when 22000 prisoners were executed by the Soviet authorities.

Sir Matt Busby was of course the famous and revered manager of Manchester United who died in 1994. He shares a grave with his wife Jean.  Nearby is his former friend and racecourse owner, Willie Satinoff who died in the Munich air disaster. Billy Meredith had played for both City and United and earned 48 caps for Wales. He died in Manchester in 1958.

L. S. Lowry died in 1976 and shares his parent's grave.  Lowry never married and left his estate to Carol Ann Lowry, a fan who had written to him because she shared his name.

Perhaps only the older generation will remember Wilfred Pickles who was buried in Chorlton in 1978.  Pickles born in 1904 spent his life in show business appearing in films, on T.V. and as a wartime newsreader. The BBC received numerous complaints about his Yorkshire accent but supported him stating that should therebe a German invasion and a take over of Broadcasting House, it would be easy for the voices of most announcers to be mimicked. No German however would be able to imitate Wilfred's voice. Once the threat of invasion receded, he was no longer needed.  He became in 1946, the presenter of the radion programme "Have a Go" together with his wife Mabel.  It was for this show which ran for 21 years that he is best known.

Sir John Alcock, born in Stretford was an R.A.F captain.  He had learned to fly in 1912 and joined the Sunbeam Car Company as a racing pilot. When war broke out, he first enlisted with the Royal Naval Air Service. Whilst stationed in the Greek island of Lemnos, he built his own aircraft the "Alcock Scout" from remnants of several different aircraft. He earned a Distinguished Service Cross in 1917 for attacking three enemy aircraft. When piloting a bomber on a raid to Constantinople, he was forced to ditch in the sea. Unable to attract a British Destroyer he swam ashore and was taken captive by the Turkish forces and not released until the Armistice.  Attracted by a £10000 prize offered by the Daily Mail, he joined Arthur Whitten Brown in an attempt to cross the Atlantic non stop. Taking off from St.John's Newfoundland in  a Vickers Vimy bomber, they struggled against bad weather as well as instrument failure and icing.  16 hours later on 15th June 1919, they landed at Clifden in County Galway, after the first  non stop flight across the Atlantic. A few days later they were received at Windsor Castle and knighted by King George V.  In December 1919, Alcock was piloting a new aircraft to the Paris Air Show when he crashed in fog near Rouen suffering a fractured scull from which he died.

The grave of a survivor of the Charge of the Heavy Brigade is to be found as well as two recipients of the Victoria Cross, Major Henry Kelly (WWI) and Colour Sergeant John Prettyjohns (Crimea).

The firm of McDougall Brothers of Manchester became the first of Britain's large flour companies opearting mills throughout the country. Established in 1864 they had pioneered self raising flour as early as 1869.  A member of the family Sir. R. McDougall is buried at Chorlton. 



The grandest memorial is to John Rylands whose widow Enriqueta's ashes are in the vault below.  Rylands was an industrialist and philanthropist and Manchester's first multi millionaire. His was the largest cotton manufacturing company in Britain. He died in 1888 at his home Longford Hall leaving hius estate of over £2.5 million to his wife. It was she who built the John Rylands Library in his memory.

Jerome Caminada was born in Deansgate in 1844 to an Italian father and Irish mother.  Deansgate at the time was a street of pubs and brothels and a hotbed of crime. Having first worked as an engineer, Jerome joined the police force in 1868. Within four years he had been promoted to sergeant and transferred to the detective department.  He was to become the first C.I.D. superintendent in Manchester.  His methods were unconventional. He often wore disguises, used handwriting recognition and keen observation. He often met with his large network of informers in St Mary's Church.  His life was threatened on a number of occasions and Caminada often carried a pistol which he used several times. His reputation for success became known nationally for he imprisoned over 1200 criminals and closed down 400 illegal drinking houses.

Anthony H. Wilson was buried at Southern Cemetery as recently as 2007.  He is known as a broadcaster, a journalist and imressario.  Wilson founded Factory records and opened the Hacienda nightclub, at the time probably the best known club in the World.  He was a manager of a number of successful bands including Happy Mondays, New Order and Joy Division. He will be remembered as one of Manchester's greatest ambassadors.

There are regular guided tours of Southern Cemetery details of which are on the internet. It would be difficult to explore this vast site alone without missing much of its' fascinating history. 

The Price of a Haircut

My father worked for a world famous department store. He was a gentlemen's hairdresser and a regular customer was the store's grocery buyer. The weekly trim was paid for with a generous portion of smoked salmon, a rare luxury in the late 50's.  The first time that Dad brought this treat home, he thought that the unfamiliar smell meant that the fish was bad.  The cat next door enjoyed this luxury for a few weeks until we ventured to try it ourselves.  I frequently took smoked salmon sandwiches to school for my lunch break, certainly the only boy with something tastier than ham or cheese.

Sir Joseph Paxton

Joseph Paxton was from a humble background. He was born in August 1803 at Milton Bryan in Bedfordshire. His father, William was a tenant farmer and Joseph was the youngest of nine children. At the age of 15, he left school to work on the farm of an elder brother. His interests however lay in gardening and within a few months he had found employment with Sir Gregory Osborne Page-Turner at Battlesden Park, Woburn.  He stayed  in this post for five years and during that time created his first lake.

In 1823 he applied for a post at Chiswick Gardens, a property leased by the Horticultural Society from the Duke of Devonshire. Still only 20, he lied about his age, claiming to have been born in 1801. Within a year, he was promoted to foreman and often met the 6th Duke, William George Spencer Cavendish who owned the nearby Chiswick House. At the age of 23, Paxton was offered the post of Head Gardener at Chatsworth, the Cavendish family seat. The gardens were considered to be one of the finest of the time and he immediately accepted. He took a coach to Derbyshire that evening, arriving at Chatsworth early next morning. By the start of the working day, he had explored the gardens, re-organised the 80 garden staff, sat down to breakfast and met Sarah Brown, neice of the housekeeper, whom he was to marry in 1827. He claimed that by 9am he had completed his first morning's work.

Paxton remained as head gardener until 1832 when he became the Estate Manager. He had a friendly relationship with the Duke and he remained at Chatsworth until William Cavendish died in 1858. During that time he was allowed to pursue his own interests and to undertake a number of private commissions. He brought about numerous changes and improvements to the estate. 

Construction of the Great Conservatory began in 1836. This structure of iron, timber and glass was 84m long and 37m wide and Paxton's design concepts were later to be employed in the Crystal Palace. He was assisted by architect Decimus Burton. This enormous building took  3 years to complete after which time it was ready to house numerous exotic plants.  Down the centre was a carriage drive and it was illuminated by 12000 lamps. The heating system was housed below ground and the eight boilers were maintained by a team of ten men. The vast quantities of coal were supplied by an underground tramway.  Coal and staff shortages in the First World War caused many of the plants to die and in 1920 the 9th Duke ordered it's demolition. It took several attempts before a charge powerful enough blew it up!

The Lily House was built in 1849 to house a single species, Victoria Regia which had been transported from the Amazon. The leaves were large enough to supportthe weight of a small child. This was housed in the heated main tank  which also contained wheels to give motion to the water. The Lily House also contained eight smaller tanks. This structure was also destroyed in 1920.

In anticipation of a visit by Tsar Nicholas I, Paxton was asked to construct the Emperor Fountain. Work started in 1843 and took  6 months. A reservoir was dug above the house to supply the water and the fountain stands at the north end of the Canal Pond also known as the Emperor Lake. The highest in the world, it seldom reaches it's full 90m due to shortage of water.

Paxton also built enormous rockeries, ponds, water features, a grotto, an arboretum, a ravine and several greenhouses.

The village of Edensor (pronounced Ensor) lies within the bounds of the Chatsworth estate. The village originally straddled the banks of the River Derwent and was in full view of the house. This displeased the 4th Duke who started to move the villlage to a new location "over the hill" where it would be out of sight. The 6th Duke completed this project by engaging the architect John Roberton of Derby who designed a number of villas and houses in a variety of different styles. The layout of Edensor was to Paxton's design. The walled and gated village surrounds a large green and St. Peter's Church stands high on a mound. Designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, this replaced an earlier, smaller church. Since the death of her husband, the 11th Duke in 2003, the Dowager Duchess now occupies part of the former viacarage.  Edensor churchyard contains the graves of most of the Dukes and their families as well as that of Joseph Paxton and Kathleen, the sister of John F. Kennedy. 

Paxton was to become wealthy, largely by astute investment in railway stocks and shares and he held directorship is both the Midland Railway and the London and North Western.  Both railways had adjacent stations in Buxton built to similar designs and Paxton was responsible for the great fan windows at the end of each, one of which may be seen today.  The village of Rowsley is only 3 miles from Chatsworth and in 1845 the Buxton, Matlock and Midland Junction Railway  of which Paxton was also a director asked him  to build their station. Five years later, he designed the company offices and some cottages nearby.  The Park in Buxton is Paxton's other great contribution to that town. He laid out a fashionable 19th century estate of villas lining a circular road. In the central open space is Buxton's cricket ground where famously "snow stopped play" in June 1975 when Derbyshire were playing Lancashire. 

It was away from Derbyshire that Paxton found his greatest fame.  In 1850 a Royal Commission was considering entries in a design competition for the Great Exhibition which was to be held in Hyde Park. Although over 200 designs were forthcoming, none were suitable. A fellow director of the Midland Railway suggested to Paxton that he might submilt a scheme although the deadline was only 9 days hence. Paxton had to attend a board meeting in Derby and was seen to be sketching throughout the proceedings. At the close of the meeting he displayed the design of his Crystal Palace. After some opposition, Paxton's scheme was accepted and construction took just 8 months. This enormous glass building was prefabrictaed in iron and glass and was based upon his work at Chatsworth. The exhibition hall was 563m long and 124m wide. The floors covered almost 72000 square metres.

"The Great Exhibition of 1851 of the works of industry of all nations" was conceived by Prince Albert whose aim was to stage the greatest exhibition of all time of inventions and art. More than 100000 xhibits were drawn from across the Empire.  Queen Victoria and Prince Albert performed the opening ceemony on 1st May 1851.  By the closing date in mid October, more than 6 million people had visited the Crystal Palace. The profits of over £200000 were used to purchase the land in Kensington where  The V & A and many of London's other museums now stand.

Queen Victoria granted Paxton his knighthood in 1851 for his achievement.

In 1852 the building was dismantled and re-erected in Sydenham in South London. It continued to be used as an exhibition hall and for concerts until 1936 when it was destroyed by fire. 

Baron Mayer de Rothschild commissioned Paxton to build Mentmore Towers in 1850. This Buckinghamshire house was one of the greatest Victorian country homes. He was next asked by a cousin, Baron James de Rothschild to build Chateau de Ferrieres near Paris, a house in the style of Mentmore but twice as large. Proposals currently stand to renovate Mentmore for conversion to a luxury hotel and the Chateau has been donated to the University of Paris. Wilhelm I of Germany said of Ferrieres "No Kings could afford this. It could only belong to a Rothschild.

A further country house was built at Battlesden near Woburn, the place of his first empoyment at age 15. The Duke of Bedford purchased this after just 30 years and demolished it as he wanted no other mansion so close to his home at Woburn Abbey.

The first municipal cemetery was in London Road, Coventry designed in 1845 by Paxton. His connection with that city continued and he was elected as the Liberal M. P. in 1854, a seat which he held for 11 years.

The most ambitious project, one which never left the drawing board, was The Great Victorian Way. Paxton adapted his design for the Crystal Palace to a structure that would encircle Central London. This was to be a great glass arcade 22m wide and 33m high. The route, 10 miles long would have linked a number of main line stations passing through Westminster, The City, Hyde Park and crossing the River Thames in three places.  The streets were congested and polluted and a fast transport system, protected from the weather was projected. A roadway down the centre would be served by buses and cabs and would be lined with houses and shops. At the second floor there was to be a railway originally planned to carry 4 tracks but later revised to 8. The trains would be driven by compressed air carried in tubes alongside the tracks. There would have been both stopping and express trains, the latter completing half of the circuit in 15 minutes. The estimated cost was £34 million and income would come from property rental and transport fares. The scheme was presented to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Metropolitan Communications in 1855 and although it initially found favour, it was rejected on grounds of cost. 

The Great Victorian Way

Paxton undertook many other projects including the design of public parks and of private houses. He was consulted on improvements to Kew Gardens and he published and edited a number of horticultural magazines and books.

On the death of the 6th Duke in 1858, Paxton retired from Chatsworth but was to continue working independently. He died in June 1865 in Sydenham and his funeral was held at Edensor. His wife Sarah continued to live at their Chatsworth home until her death in 1871.

On being ten with two shillings and sixpence to spend on an adventure

By Andrew Simpson

When you only have 2/6d [12p] pocket money where you can have an adventure away from home and still have something left for sweets is an important consideration when you are 10. 

Now I was an urban child born in south east London and my adventures were circumscribed by the sheer size of London.  Not for me the lonely walk along a country lane, or a journey through an enchanted wood hard by a babbling brook.  Apart from our back garden, trees, vast expanses of grass and water was by and large offered up by the local parks and the river.

But the Thames was a working river, which made it fascinating but dangerous and a place where great stretches were out of bounds.  Likewise the parks were where grownups had sought to curtail your fun by flower beds, and signs warning you to keep off the grass.

But that is perhaps a little harsh on the park authorities.  For some time after it was opened as Telegraph Hill Park in 1895 a small section of the lower park had been given over to a play area, including a hollowed out tree truck which became in succession the conning tower of a submarine, a tank and the gate of an old castle.

Later in the great freeze of 1962-63 the park benches became toboggans to be pulled with great difficulty up the hill only to be turned around and ridden down the same icy incline.

And there were of course still plenty of bombsites but by the 1950s most had been cleared, flattened and boarded off.  Although there was the old bombed out church around the corner whose crypt had survived and this became an assembly point for groups of children armed with candles to explore the labyrinth of passages below.

Which I suppose is the point that most of our adventures didn’t require much money and like children all over it was up to you to make the adventure from what you could find.  So David growing up in Chorlton played in the old brick works along with what was left of the clay pits and a dark and encountering the  sinister figure of Duffy who guarded the place.

He remembered “the Clay Pits” which were “situated to the immediate east of Longford Park, just the other side of the interrupted Rye Bank Road - it was a series of mounds and gulleys, the left over from previous workings of the old brick works factory with its tall chimney.

It was a forbidden play place and it was guarded by an almost mythical man named Duffy.  With another 9 year old boy, I recall daring ourselves to go into this derelict building one day and even crawling under the tunnel - through rubble to a place where I could look up inside the chimney and see the small hole of daylight at the top.

On re-emerging we continued to play until - that knowledge of being watched - made its presence felt - and we looked around to see a man who I think was called Duffy staring at us, stood on a small wall about 12 yards away. Scared witless we fled the scene, and although not chased, the memory of Duffy, the clay pits, and the old building, has played a part in several nightmares since that day!”

On the other hand London offered a huge network of buses, trains and the Underground and for 2/6d you could travel to the edges of the city and beyond.

Personally I never saw the point in sitting on the Circle Line of the Underground and constantly looping past the same 27 stations, alternating between daylight and the noisy and smelly tunnels.  Even if the game of guessing which station people got off could be fun.

No, for me it was the booking hall of Queens Road railway station on a Saturday morning and the promise of a bright new adventure.

Sometimes you struck gold and got to the end of a line, all open fields, posh houses and sunshine.  And sometimes you ended up in a drab nondescript mix of streets old timber yards and as often as not a canal which with that wonderful sense of timing of such disasters was always accompanied by rain.

Never ever believe anyone who tells you that summers were always dry sunny and hot when they were young, because they could never have paid one shilling return to travel to South Bermondsey Railway Station and try to find a bright spot in the warren of streets which snaked under the railway line.

Some childhood memories and adventures are best left in the past.

Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson & Cynthia Wigley

Read more articles by Andrew Simpson At http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk

SomeSouth London Memories

Grandparents

Throughout my childhood, a fortnightly visit to New Cross in South East London was obligatory. My grandmother lived at 105 Woodpecker Road, a house that she shared with my aunt and uncle and their children. My grandfather had died in 1944. the year of my birth. My Nan was a dour victorian woman, the sort who gained her only pleasure by constantly grumbling. Auntie Dolly was cheerful and always gave a warm welcome. Her husband Vic, was jolly too, although I always had trouble understanding his strong London accent. This was a large house in a terrace. Two reception rooms, a dining room, a kitchen and three bedrooms. The bathroom was only added in the 1960's. The small back yard had a toilet and a coalshed. Outside the back door was the meat safe; a wooden box with a mesh front to fend off the flies. The tin bath hung on the wall. It was always a gloomy home, even in  bright daylight. Come evening, the 40 watt bulbs would be grudgingly illuminated when it was almost too dark to find the light switch.

There was just one more street between Woodpecker Road and the railway sidings so the clanking of waggons and coaches being shunted was a common sound. Of a Saturday afternoon, the air would be filled with the roar of the crowd at Millwall football ground which was just across the railway.

The woman next door but one was known to be eccentric. She lived alone with Tibbles and when her feline friend failed to come home one day, she went out in search. Around the corner in Chipley Street, a tabby cat lay in the gutter. Carrying the body home, she was sure that a little warmth was all that was needed to bring about a revival.  It was only when the real Tibbles came through the door a couple of hours later, that she realised that the dead cat still roasting in the gas oven was an imposter.

The highlight of these visits was the journey across London. In the early years, we would sometimes take a tram from Victoria. This waited at its' terminus in the middle of Vauxhall Bridge Road. I think this was route 36 and took us along Old Kent Road into New Cross. As a young child, I was always thrilled to sit on the top deck of the swaying and rattling  old car. This was one of the last tram services in London, replaced by buses in 1952, the latter offering little excitement.  Another route involved an ancient relic of the Undergound. Changing trains at Whitechapel we would descend the stairs to the platforms of the East London line. The railway would soon pass under the Thames and it was clear from the moisture running down the station walls that not all was watertight. The ancient train, of only 3 or 4 coaches, had sliding doors - passenger operated. One had to heave on a shiny brass handle and remember to close it behind you. We travelled only 2 or 3 stations to Surrey Docks where we would wait for a single deck bus. I never saw a ship but sensed that masts and funnels were hidden behind the high dock walls. The bus wound it's way through the south London streets crossing the Surrey Canal where a Thames lighter  or two, laden with sawn timber,  would always be seen moored at a woodyard. The canal is now sadly filled in and turned into roadways. Nearby was Folkestone Gardens, now a small park but then a group of forbidding tenement buildings known as "mansions".

As I grew older and bored with family chatter, I would go out exploring the neighbouring streets. This was near to dockland and had suffered wartime bombing. There were a number of cleared sites where houses once stood. Some of these served as used car lots, others were occupied by pre-fabs. My aunt worked at Pecry Haberdashers in Deptford High Street. I seem to remember an open fronted shop, wooden floors and a pneumatic payment system . Each counter was connected to a system of pipes and payments would be sealed into a container which would be propelled by air pressure to the office upstairs. She was the cashier and would receive the money, prepare the receipt and send it back to the counter with any change.  On New Cross Road, the Frank Matcham designed Empire Theatre had not yet been demolished. The last curtain had fallen but the house opened again for a record attempt by a pianist. There was no entry charge but people out of curiosity were looking in to see this man who had already suffered two sleepless nights and by this time had bandaged fingers. Wandering another day, I went in the opposite direction and found that the strangely named Coldblow Lane, dived under the railway line through a narrow tunnel. The other side was an abandoned level crossing and diminutive signal box. The tracks led into what appeared to have been a wagon works. The large sheds and empty yards were open to anyone who cared to wander in. There was no vandalism, no graffiti; they stood as they had on the day that the last worker had left.

My visits to New Cross eventually became less frequent. My Grandmother died, my cousins married, Aunt and Uncle moved to Lewisham and Woodpecker Road was demolished to make way for a new estate.

David Easton

Reckless Motoring

Reckless Motoring 
 
 Summer has at last arrived and living as I do in Whaley Bridge, within half a mile of Taxal Church, in good air and good company, I ought, you would think, to be as happy as the days just now are long. Not so. Motor cars run through our pretty village to and from Buxton at the rate of from 25 to 40 miles an hour. Some - I do not say all - are careless of everybody and everything but themselves. They think they have the complete right of the road. Everyone must make way for a high powered motor car. Dogs and cats they run over, and occasionally old men. The dust they create in running at the speed they do is most injurious to pedestrians, crops, and dwellings. Should you open your bedroom windows your rooms are soon covered, and make extra work for the already hard worked maids and assistants. Shopkeepers have to shut their doors, or their goods would be spoiled. A butcher told me that on a Saturday afternoon in fine weather, after his shop had been open all day, anything sold after 4 to 5pm wanted washing before being fit to eat.
J.E.Cheetham
July 17th 1907

Sheep Rustling

In December 1850 Samuel Taylor of Hulme left 9 sheep in a field in Hodge Lane in Salford. He had left them in the charge of a young man named Richard Warren but the following day, neither man nor sheep were to be found. The loss was reported to the police at Chorlton upon Medlock who soon tracked down the culprit. Warren was found to have sold a sheep to a butcher at  Heaton Lane, Stockport, another to a butcher at Hazel Grove and a third in Whaley Bridge. 
The police caught up with Warren in a Whaley Bridge pub where he was found with the remaining 6 sheep in his possession.