Xmas Long Ago

Christmas back in 1946 was in an austere age. There was rationing, make do and mend classes carried on as in the war years, and adverts for Government Surplus made "American Wadded Bed Covers" available for 29 shilling and 6 pence (a sum just shy of £1.50 in today's money). The covers came in one colour and that was khaki. The Barlow Moor Mixed Guild did manage to celebrate their 15th birthday with a "splendid tea" for 60 members. Dancing to music from the piano was the entertainment. Whilst Ladybarn Co-operative Hall which had been occupied by the Americans was released from Government service back in October 1946.

CP Meeting for Evacuation 1939

Picking up research again after a few months break.......it reveals a Communist Party public meeting at Hardy Lane Co-Op Rooms. It was back in April 1939. The Manchester Guardian gives a report of well-attended meeting on April 23rd. 'Miss May Ainley, the principle speaker, condemned the present evacuation proposals of the National Government as a scheme "still up in the air"..'. It was printed in a small column on page 5. There was concern as to where the children of Chorlton would be sent to in the event of a war. Five months later the evacuation did take place.

This is a departure from the usual hire of the hall to an organisation that wasn't a co-operative auxillery group or the Labour Party. No further details of anymore meetings of the Communist Party, or which branch, as yet.

Garden Corner

For a few years this century there was a landscape garden that replaced the scrubby croft, and the smaller billboards. All replaced by a car park. Well you can't operate retail without spaces for customers to place their vehicle. Photo taken from Google Streetview which is useful now, but is going to be a great archive. It already is.

Russian Map View

Before Google got mapping the planet, the Soviet Union produced their own set of maps of the world from 1950 onwards. These are copyright free, unlike Ordnance Survey maps which you've paid for out of taxes and then have to buy back if you want to use even for non commercial applications. Here is the corner of Hardy Lane and Barlow Moor Road. Note the the little road or passage coming off south of Hardy Lane that is not shown on any Ordnance Survey maps. Memory fails me but there might have been a thin narrow passage here but was it wide enough for a car or a tank.

Map copied from Old-Maps.co.uk , which when I first started this weblog just had the 1848 OS maps but now has lots, lots more. Top tip get the post code for searching and be patient. For the mapping legends that the Soviet military used see here.

A store in every district

Below is a list of branches from the M&SE Co-op in south Manchester back in 1951 (source Kelly's Street Directory but was probably compiled in 1950). It shows a network of small branches, though it isn't a network for the consumer. People used to shop local without the use of the car. Shop more often for a smaller basket, and had a lot less choice. Another point is how the districts they are in have changed in the last 50 years. Didsbury is no considered a much bigger area, as it improves the value of your house.

• Burnage                       Kingsway
• Brooks's Bar               23-35 Moss Lane West
• Chorlton-cum-Hardy   442-444 Barlow Moor Road (Hardy Lane store)
                                     66 Beech Road
                                     35 Stockton Road ( next to 66 Beech Road)
                                     90-92 Warwick Road South (in Stretford / Trafford)
                                     349-351 Barlow Moor Road (centre of Chorlton)
• Didsbury                     220-222 Fog Lane
                                     106-116 Wilmslow Road
• East Didsbury              476-480 Burnage Lane
                                     179 School Lane
                                     61-63 Ladybarn Lane
• West Didsbury            129 Burton Road
                                     36-38 Merseybank Avenue (Merseybank Estate)
• Whalley Range            14 Milton Grove
                                     98 Withington Road
• Withington                   164-166 Parrs Wood Road
                                     87 Wilmslow Road
                                     86-90 Mauldeth Road West

Football Field

"The early years of 20th Century saw the appearance of several football clubs in the suburb, some short-lived. Chorlton Albion (1925), whose home pitch was on the corner of Hardy Lane and Barlow Moor Road, near where the Co-op is now".
from Looking Back series in the South Manchester Reporter 19th August 2010 - Amateurs Had It All by Graham Phythian, a notable football historian.

Details about defunct football clubs at this level are patchy at best. It throws up questions of where there any changing facilities, what fixtures did they play and it what colours?

Also opened in 1929 #4

This was the Co-op store at Green End in Burnage. One of the seven opened in 1929, along with Hardy Lane. There is a photograph taken in 1929 in the Manchester Libraries image collection - here. The store is on the left of a large parade of shops. Now the parade faces a small roundabout but back then there were just tram tracks running along Burnage Lane.

Again there is a access to flat roof at the back of the shop. The address given is 476, 478 & 480 Burnage Lane in the Kelly's Street Directory for 1951.

Also opened in 1929 #3

Old Co-op Building Burnage
Originally uploaded by lorenzo23

There were seven new M&SE Co-ops opened in 1929. Only Hardy Lane has survived as a Co-op. The list of the seven and eventually I got around to Burnage to spot some of them. Now a small independant grocery store and newsagents - at least it is not boarded up and derelict. It's at the corner of Parrs Wood Road and Heyscroft Road.

It has the roof at the back you can walk out onto, as did Hardy Lane. It also has two satellite dishes. Click the picture for the bigger view.

Also Opened in 1929 # 2 - Warwick Road South