A Cadishead childhood - 1930s

A Cadishead childhood - 1930s

by Ann Arnold

 

It is a beautiful May afternoon as I write this and I should be doing some gardening instead of sitting indoors and watching the old house across the road being demolished. They have been at it for three days now, with hardly any breaks and I haven’t seen any of them eat at all!

 

The house across New Moss Road in Cadishead was built in 1858, of red brick and with a red tiled roof. The front door was on the right hand side of the house and didn’t face the road, so it was probably built before New Moss Road was the official road to Cadishead Moss.

 

It must have been one of the first houses to be built after the reclamation of Chat Moss. We also have Trafalgar House nearby and one or two other old houses which have been altered and modernised. Then there is my own house at the end of a block of five terraced houses known originally (shown on a plaque) as Railway Terrace due to the fact that the Liverpool to Manchester railway runs under the bridge a little further along New Moss Road.

 

I have recently seen the deeds to a property on Cadishead Moss containing a diagram showing the New Moss Road with Moss Side Road running off it, which brings me to the gist of this story - the area around Moss Side Road was my childhood playground. From the age of four I lived in Poplar Grove (built in 1912) and the playing field of the then Senior School was where I played happily and safely with my little friends every evening, weekends and school holidays.

 

Did you know that there was a Private Tennis Club in Moss Side Road? The entrance to it was opposite Kenmore Grove, and did you know there was a grocers shop (Mr Stocks) on the corner? Next door was a shop which sold camping equipment, Guide and Scout uniforms and swimming gear, etc. A gentleman called Mr Sandy owned this shop and we swore he slept under the counter!

 

Directly opposite Poplar Grove was a lovely old farmhouse owned by Mr Birchall who kept cows in the field where The Meadows bungalow complex now stands and in the field where the private bungalows along New Moss Road are now - those which back on to the railway lines and the old Cadishead Station.

 

The lines went to Altrincham and Southport etc. Mrs Birchall sold milk from her cool, old fashioned kitchen and also tomatoes grown in her own greenhouses. They tasted like tomatoes in those days! If you wanted milk you took a jug to the back door and bought some fresh from the cow.

 

We used to play in the barn, clambering over the bales of hay and messing about, as children do, and how we survived I shall never know.

 

At the corner of Poplar Grove and Moss Side Road lived Mrs Brown. We must have driven her mad because we congregated on her little garden wall, pushing each other into her privet hedge and generally making a nuisance of ourselves.

 

The fireplace in the Browns’ house was on the gable end and so on cold days and evenings we would lean against this wall to keep warm. It was like central heating on the outside.

Do you know where the Dinky Path is? Well, if you walk from the New Moss Road end and along Moss Side Road and cross over the junction of Allotment Road and Prospect Road, right opposite the school are the 1930s houses and a bit further along you come to a little entrance just before the farm house. This is the Dinky Path and it is a Right of Way. I’m afraid it is a bit of a mess these days and has been tidied up with new railings by St Mary’s Church so all the enchantment has gone.

 

The two old farmhouses (which were probably all one house originally) face St Mary’s Church (like the Birchalls did), so it is the old back of the properties that face Moss Side Road. This road was constructed long after the old farm was built. Someone told me they could remember seeing cornfields where the Junior School now stands.

 

I had a little terrier called Paddy who was well known in the district for ‘wandering from the straight and narrow’. In those days the baker used to call at the house and if you were out he would leave your bread or cakes or scones on the doorstep. Our Paddy had some very good snacks and my poor mum had to pay up. One Sunday the Salvation Army Band came to play in our road and when it came the time for prayers they put the collection bag on the big drum and like a flash, Paddy had it between his teeth and was off with his ill-gotten gains with all the band chasing after him!

There were two cinemas in Irlam, The Palace (later called The Savoy) at the top of Irlam Brow where the Catholic Club car park is now, and The Rialto (previously The Globe), which is now a Billiard Hall opposite Kings Road. They each showed one feature film on Mon, Tue and Wed and a second one on Thu, Fri and Sat (as we called the days), so you could see four different films a week if you had the necessary entrance fee. You would also see the News, a B film and a comedy, plus the Pearl and Dean adverts, and buy an ice cream from the lady who stood at the front of the stage with her tray round her neck.

 

The ice cream cost 4d (old pence, about 2p). They cost about £1 nowadays! And of course, if you went to the Rialto you had to pop into Mr Bulloughs shop next door to buy some sweets or chocolate, so that you wouldn't starve to death before the end of the film, when we all stood to attention to the strains of the National Anthem.

 

My last two years of education were spent at Stretford Commercial College for Girls (which was in the same building as Stretford Technical College for Boys) and it was here that I learned shorthand and typing, book-keeping, etc as well as the usual lessons and also how to use a telephone, because we didn't all have a phone in those days.

 

I learned to dance at St Mary’s Youth Club (the school is now some sort of factory). We danced the quickstep, waltz, foxtrot and barndance to Mr Kreibeck’s portable gramophone, or someone would play the piano, and once you had learned, the world was your oyster. You then progressed to dances at Cadishead or Irlam Conservative Clubs and the room over Higher Irlam Co-op and sometimes the Plaza in ‘town’ (as we called Manchester) or even Sale Locarno and Belle Vue.

 

I liked the slow foxtrot when the lights were turned off and we danced to the light of the silver ball which twirled round on the ceiling, casting shadows and turning the boys shirts to purple. We were all so innocent compared with the youth of today, but we were so happy and didn’t have any of today’s problems.

We went to Sunday School every Sunday, rain or shine. We donned our best clothes, got our collection money from our Mums, and made sure we didn’t forget the little stamp book which recorded our attendance by having a religious “stamp” gummed to the appropriate page.

 

If your attendance was good, you got a prize at Christmas. Being Church of England, I attended Sunday School at St Mary’s Day School and it was there that I was taught the prayers I still say every night at the age of 72. We had the usual walking days, Christmas parties, sports days etc. I’m not sure where we had the sports - possibly in the field of Heyes Hall down Heyes Road, long since demolished. Whatever the occasion, if a crowd of children were gathered together there would be meat paste sandwiches to eat!

 

I hope you will recognise a few of these little tales and if you are from our area maybe you could put pen to paper (or use the computer!) and let our Society hear your memories. If you aren't a member of the Local History Society, perhaps you would like to come to one of our meetings in St Paul’s on the third Wednesday of the month at 7.30pm . We would love to see you and I’m sure you will enjoy our speakers, who are interesting and informative as well as making us laugh!

The author was the Publicity Officer for Irlam, Cadishead and District Local History Society.

 

Also in Salford 'LifeTimesLink

Issue No 36 Winter 2014 - 15

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