Manchester Columns
Water Babe : Ethel Connor
As a child and throughout my teens I lived with my parents, brothers and my sister in a terrace house in Miles Platting.
The only lighting was from a gas mantle, one in the kitchen and one in the front room, lighting in the two bedrooms by candles.
Water supply was on tap but only one and there was no means of heating water apart from using a kettle and a couple of pans in order to get some warm water to have a stand up wash in a zinc bathtub in the scullery whenever you could get a bit of privacy, we used the same soap for personal and clothes.
Washing some small items was done by hand in a dolly tub with a rubbing board, a scrubbng brush being used to get the clothes clean, and after that they certainly were clean. The main weekly wash for heavy materials and household item like bedding was taken to the Public Washhouse. Fairy soap or Carbolic was a good agent. Powder and scented soap was never used. There was also the wash baths shere a good hot soak was available occasionally.
Along came the slum clearance scheme in 1950 and we were transfered to a house in New Moston. It had gardens - back and front - a bathroom, inside lavatory, three bedrooms and electricity, on tap hot water for all the washing was fantastic and a weekly bath made us feel really posh.
My mother bought a reconditioned Hoover but had trouble switching it on. Before my dad had checked the fuse, Mama suggested that there was a knot in the cable. Dad fixed the fuse and all systems go, Mama insisted that it was the knotted cable that caused the problem.
When I married, my husband and I with two kids lived with his parents in Newton Heath until we managed to rent a hovel in Miles Platting, a step back to cold water and gas light. Later we were re-housed in a flat with electricity and hot water, by this time our family had grown to four daughters and three sons. But I did have a washing machine and a vacuum cleaner.
When our youngest started school I got a part-time job as laundress at Winstanley Road Day Nursery in Miles Platting. I worked there for 22 years until I retired.
It seems that I have spent most of my life working in water. At the nursery, it was a combination of laundress and seamstress because a lot of sewing was required sometimes. It's lucky that I attended evening classes to learn how to use a sewing machine.
On few occasions I had to take the washing from the nursery to the public washhouse when problems with the washing machine happened. It was a reminder of my teen years when I went there to do the family wash every Tuesday evening after working all day at Holland's Mill.
Garden of Delights
MTL meets Anne Tucker:
> When was the Platt Fields Park open?
< It was officially opened in 1910.
> Where is it located?
< Along the Wilmslow Rd between Rusholme and Fallowfield in Manchester
> Are there any historic figures associated with the park? < < Yes, the land was originally part of the estate of Platt Hall, owned by the Worseley Family. One of these was the first MP ever for Manchester. A big statue to Abraham Lincoln was placed in Platt Fields to commemorate his struggle for liberty and equality. It has subsequently been moved into the city centre.
> Does Garden of Delights always take place in Platt Fields Park?
< Yes, it does.
> Any particular reason?
< We use Platt Fields Park for a number of reasons -
€ it is in inner city Manchester, has good bus links and is minutes from a concentration of cafes and Indian restaurants on Wilmslow Rd
€ it is surrounded by a very multicultural resident base
€ it is the most important park in South Manchester, surrounded by a very large concentration of people at less than a 15 minute walk
€ it has an excellent variety of landscapes, including the lakeside (with boats), wooded glades, wide flat grassy areas and pathways perfect for small installations
€ the park already has some infrastructure to support events and a very enthusiastic workforce, keen to see the park develop as an important centre for events. The park is jointly promoting the Garden with us in 2004, using some money from the cancelled Manchester Show budget. This is excellent news as it means we can access a new tranche of parks staff across the country.
> Why was the name 'Garden of Delights' chosen?
< We wanted to give a name that conjures up the magic excitement of not knowing what you will find, and also remind us of the `Victorian pleasure gardens - and some of the events that used to happen at Belle Vue in the first half of the 20th century. It’s a good name don’t you think?
> Are there books written on Platt Fields Park?
< There are some books that we have found written on parks and leisure facilities in Manchester and there are a number of wonderful photographic images in the central library collection. There may be some good things in the Sound Archive
> How will you celebrate its history?
< We want to make a special exhibition of the park past, present and future dreams, looking at how it has fared over the last 90 years. We want to help generate greater use of the park by more people more often and lead up to a surge of energy and general excitement about the centenary, helping us to lever substantial funds for the development of the park into an important space for a wide range of events.
The "Rag-bone-man" : Tom Connor
There was the "Rag-bone-man" who would gather all kinds of old rags giving Donkey stones for rags and glass bottles, to take to the yards where they were weighed in for a few shillings, but a Tatter only dealt in clean materials which he collected in exchange for toys or gold fish.
John Brennan used to be a Tatter between doing a regular job, at the age of fourteen he would hire a cart for six pence (2.5p) per day and go to the Gas works where he would buy Coke at six pence per bag; his customers would give him a shilling or two for the service he provided.
He saved up enough money to buy a pony for £20 and a cart for just £1 although it needed to be practically rebuilt to make it useable he learned all about cart making when only a youngster, he had that pony for 13 years then it got killed in an accident near the Bird in Hand pub in Miles Platting.
He worked on the night shift at Express dairies, getting home at 6am, then after a few hours sleep go out with his pony and cart and his bugle doing a bit of Tatting around the areas off Rochdale road and Bradford road for a few hours, his pony was stabled at Tommy Bulgers yard near the Osborne garages.
He weighed in his collections at Ike Silverman's yard in Thornton Street, Ike rented out ponies and Donkeys. Another dealer was Simon Sheldon who had a building near the railway sidings at Bradford road Gas works; previously he owned a yard in Vickers street where some Caravan dwellers lived.
John always got top price for his collection because he had his own pony and cart and the rags were always clean and dry, dirty damp rag-bone collections had money deducted. He had a stable in Leech's yard off Rochdale road near the Osborne House pub; Peter Leech has premises in Poland Street Ancoats.
Becoming owner of twenty animals John and his wife were connected with the traveling Fairgrounds where they had a strip of land allocated to sell rides to children for a copper, they worked with Silcocks and Collins' Fairs on Albert Croft and Hillkirk street Rec. He also rented out the Ponies and Donkeys to other Tatters. In the summer he went around selling bags of manure, a by-product of his trade. He also worked for the GPO on parcel delivery, two horses and a four wheeled Van, Payment for this service took a long time and it was usually March before a penny was seen.
John Brennan is one of the local characters still remembered by many in the community, he is not ashamed to admit that some of the ladies of the street were good friends (not in a professional way though) and a hot cupper was always welcome from them on cold days.
John now takes an interest in Pigeons.
Up North From Down South : Kaleem
From down south we set off at quarter past 12 in the night and
got up north at 2.15.
I feel half sad and half happy.
I am half sad because my mum has died.
I am half happy because I am going to live up north with my dad.
Me and Khes are not going to be living together now because we both have got different dads.
I left a lot of stuff down south.
The things I had down south I remember
My computer games. All of them.
Bucket of cars.
All of the board games
On my shelf I had
Books
Stories
Joke books
I had an alarm clock
Digital clock
To write with I had
Pencils
Pens
On the way to Manchester I fell asleep and saw my mum in a dream
In my dream I got knocked down by an Aston Martin DB7 and I died and saw my mum in heaven.
She looked like a beautiful light in her spiritual body.
The colours were so beautiful. I never seen such a thing.
She said to me what are you doing here?
I said I think I am in a dream or I really got knocked down by a DB7.
I hugged her hard and kissed her and I said when I die
in real life I will stay with you forever.
My mum was very happy to see me.
And her face looked really pretty when I saw her.
The ending of my dream was heaven was like living in a place which has got beautiful colours and packed with good stuff to play with.
Kaleem
Age 8, 2002
Manchester Evening News and the Kendals Cakes : Shahnaz Ibrahim
My dad worked for the Manchester Evening News offices on Deansgate in Manchester. He started in 1963. Kendals wasn’t far. He told us that he would go to the cakes and pastries counter at Kendals nearly every lunchtime and choose a different cake each time. Now they were expensive, especially for dad at the time because he only took home £10 a week but he had a sweet tooth and it cheered him up to eat a fancy cake before going back to work.
My dad has 6 children. We’re all quite grown up now. I used to think my dad was an ogre when I was small. I loved it when he left the house to begin a shift at the MEN offices in Deansgate. I liked his day shift best. It meant that he would not be home until 10pm every night. I liked his early shift least because it meant he was home by 2pm and he would be watching the news when we got in from school or he would be in bed and we would have to be quiet.
But he was kind too. I will never forget when he spent his lunch time traipsing through stationery shops in town looking for a plastic box of reinforcements. I had asked him if I could have a box like that. It wasn’t for me. I wanted a girl at school to like me and when she had admired my box I had said I would get her one too.
I was ashamed of him though - of his Indian accent. I was afraid too that some white lad or gang would hit him. White kids would climb all the time on our back fence and taunt us. A carrot headed girl climbed on to the back fence once looked at me with hatred and said “Paki”. My dad would bang on the window when the kids came and tell us to get inside. He was afraid for us but we didn’t know that then. All we knew was that this ogre was shouting at us and we couldn’t wait for his next shift to begin again.
When I was very little – may be 6 and my sister 5 – we were up when dad got ready for his night shift. It was night outside and the roads were slick with rain. Me and my sister were giggling and whispering – we’d watched some TV drama the night before and had learnt a new word. Our dad tucked his scarf in his coat and zipped up and then put on his cap. As he started for the door we said, “Have an accident. Can you have an accident?” He charged at us but then stopped himself and left the room muttering.. Me and my sister ducked and giggled. But we were puzzled too. We thought saying “have an accident” was an English way of saying goodbye, that’s what I thought anyway. That’s what the TV programme showed.
As I grew older, I would wait for my dad to come home at night – not because I wanted to see him – I wanted to read the newspapers he always got free. He’d bring a copy each of the Manchester Evening News, the Guardian and the Daily Mail. All folded together. Then he’d slap the papers on the head of the nearest child and dump them on the settee and we would dive on them.
I missed it when he stopped working there and I knew that he did too. But I think most of all he missed going to Kendals at lunchtime for a fancy cake.
© Shahnaz Ibrahim 2004
First published in MANCHESTER LOCAL,
Local History Month Networking Newsletter
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