In the Archives

A hectic Wednesday but managed to make my appointment to look at the archived minute books of the M&SE Co-op Society. It is more an arrangement. They are in Central Reference library, Manchester but not held on site. So you have set a date when you want them available at the desk to peruse. Then it's handed over one item at a time.

Managed to find a few nuggets in between reading about the price of eggs, literally the monthly price of eggs in 1930 as the market was competitive with falling prices.

Found information about the stables at the back which cost £1,000 to build along with a yard. However not completed until after February 1930 after they had to complain to the builder to finish the work. By which time they had advertised internally for a charge-hand to run milk & egg deliveries. A weekly wage of 70/- (that's £3.50).

Now I know what they look like - ledgers with ink pen writing, and if you're very lucky typed sheets - I can find the answers to the questions. The problem with history is that answers only beget more questions.

Hidden Stream

Chorlton has lots of hidden streams running through it. They didn't fill them in they just got a culvert over the top. A lot of these were built around 1905-1910 by the City Engineers and later they built roads and houses over the the culverts. This is one that runs from Barlow Hall then through Barlow Wood, Chorlton Golf Club, back of the old Hardy Farm site and eventually to the River Mersey.

The other Friday, my old mate Andrew who does all this old history milarky like myself did some exploring on the Meadows and stumbled across it. It's even got a bridge over it with an overgrown path that leads to a fence surrounding the golf greens. Perhaps in the past it might have been used by farms carts. But you have to ask the question. Why cart all these bricks down here to build something that nobody now has a use for? It must have been of some significance at the time to cross the stream without getting wet wheels or feet.

After that we went to Cafe Ark at the Mersey Valley Visitors Centre for coffee and Eccles cake - photo. It's great when you live in the urban but you can dip into the countryside with just a short walk.