"Gracie comes whoam" : souvenir of the visit of Miss Gracie Fields to her native town : Rochdale, Lancashire, 26 to 31 January 1931 : The Espanade
In January 1931 the then 'superstar' Gracie Fields visited her 'native town' of Rochdale where she had been born in 1899. After an early career as a winder in a cotton mill, a job common to many Lancastrian children of the day, she came to the stage by way of local talent shows and then travelling as a member of a juvenile troupe. By the 1930s she was arguably Britain's most famous female star appearing on stage, screen and radio as a singer and actor.
The booklet was issued to record the visit and her various official activities, mostly around charitable works for which she was well known. So, the local hospitals and institutions saw her visit and, on her final day, she kicked-off the rugby league football match between Rochdale Hornets and Wakefield. The booklet contains many pages of information on Gracie's life and career and is full of adverts for local companies, etc., that were supporting the events.
There is an odd family link to this; my late father's family always told the tale of how my Pa was 'tickled under the chin' by Gracie Fields just after he was born in Birch Hill Hospital - and she did visit the Maternity Ward as part of this tour so perhaps there was some truth in it!
This image, looking east, sees the soon to be abandoned first generation electric trams outside the Town Hall - they were to be withdrawn and replaced by motor buses in 1932 having survived 'one generation' from 1902. As well as the Town Hall of 1871 the relatively new Post Office of 1922 is centre stage with the Cenotaph by Sir Edwin Lutyens, one of only seven by the architect of the nation's main war memorial on Whitehall, and that was unveiled in 1922. One early possible plan was for a memorial bridge across the River Roch that, at this point, runs under the extensive pavement seen on the left. This was instead bridged by an extension of the lengthy covering of the River that at one point earned it the 'title' of the "widest bridge in the world"!
"Gracie comes whoam" : souvenir of the visit of Miss Gracie Fields to her native town : Rochdale, Lancashire, 26 to 31 January 1931 : The Espanade
In January 1931 the then 'superstar' Gracie Fields visited her 'native town' of Rochdale where she had been born in 1899. After an early career as a winder in a cotton mill, a job common to many Lancastrian children of the day, she came to the stage by way of local talent shows and then travelling as a member of a juvenile troupe. By the 1930s she was arguably Britain's most famous female star appearing on stage, screen and radio as a singer and actor.
The booklet was issued to record the visit and her various official activities, mostly around charitable works for which she was well known. So, the local hospitals and institutions saw her visit and, on her final day, she kicked-off the rugby league football match between Rochdale Hornets and Wakefield. The booklet contains many pages of information on Gracie's life and career and is full of adverts for local companies, etc., that were supporting the events.
There is an odd family link to this; my late father's family always told the tale of how my Pa was 'tickled under the chin' by Gracie Fields just after he was born in Birch Hill Hospital - and she did visit the Maternity Ward as part of this tour so perhaps there was some truth in it!
This image, looking east, sees the soon to be abandoned first generation electric trams outside the Town Hall - they were to be withdrawn and replaced by motor buses in 1932 having survived 'one generation' from 1902. As well as the Town Hall of 1871 the relatively new Post Office of 1922 is centre stage with the Cenotaph by Sir Edwin Lutyens, one of only seven by the architect of the nation's main war memorial on Whitehall, and that was unveiled in 1922. One early possible plan was for a memorial bridge across the River Roch that, at this point, runs under the extensive pavement seen on the left. This was instead bridged by an extension of the lengthy covering of the River that at one point earned it the 'title' of the "widest bridge in the world"!