Kay Gardens c1955, Bury
Kay Gardens c1955, Bury Ref: B257011
Memories of Kay Gardens c1955, Bury
A Focal Point
Kay Gardens was the terminus for all bus services from surrounding districts and towns. On this photograph, the large building at the back of the picture was the Co-op, which was at that time a department store, but also housed a restaurant on the first floor, widely used by office workers at lunch times, and of course for funeral parties. At the far right of the picture is the dome for the old indoor market. Kay Gardens was a popular place for local workers to sit at lunchtime to eat packed lunches.
Bury & local memories
Read and share memories of Bury and Lancashire inspired by Frith photos.
I960's Mods And Northern Soul In Crowd in Bury
In the late 1960's I was a schoolgirl at the Derby School. When I began to be independent and join a tribe I chose the Northern Soul gang and sometimes I used to go to All Nighters, with my boyfriend and friends at the Twisted Wheel in Manchester. We took the last train from Bury to Victoria Station and walked up to Piccadilly Station where the gang met. My Mum made some really cool dresses for me. In Bury, in the evening, we used to hang out around the doorway of Dorothy Kershaw's fab shop opposite Kay Gardens. The Wimpy bar was open then in the evening and we often used to stay in there holding a glass coffee cup and saucer all evening. Occasionally we'd have a Wimpy. We also used to hang out at the Y Bar (YMCA) off the Rock. You could leave school at 15 then and many people I knew were working full time so could afford to dress in the Mod 60's style. We... Read more
Bury Cemetery
My grandfather, Peter Heywood was head gardener and sexton at the cemetery till his later retirement. If anybody knows of any of the men there during the 50s' onwards, please let me know. He lived at Springwater Cottage in the valley below Lily Hill Street.
After School Job,
I used to work on the market on Saturday morning when I was not playing football for the school team (St Gabriels. I used to go around the stalls with jugs of tea and sandwiches for the stallholders. I remember the black pudding man was a great tipper, he always said thanks and gave me a tanner (sixpence) and it was well received. and the black puddings were great as well. I also had a job on Wednesday evenings loading a van with overcoats for a Jewish man who was a trader, I cannot remember his name but he used to give me five shillings.
Choir
I was a choir boy at St John's church in 1948.
I couldn't sing but it was one way of getting out on Thurs for choir practice and Sunday
for service.
Architect
My great-grandfather, David Arthur Hardman, was the architect for the Textile Hall in Bury. His son, my grandfather, William Percy Hardman, was also an architect, who emigrated to Boston, then New York in 1911.
Education And Health
By the 1940s the Grammar School had been rebuilt in Tenterden Street. The building in the photograph became The Wylde Clinic which was the centre for mothers and babies and of course housed the 'dreaded' school dentist. My younger brother went to the Wylde Clinic for 'sunray treatment' where all the children had to wear goggles to protect their eyes.
The Wylde Clinic was still operating in the 1960s for mothers and babies, ante-natal care and school health referrals.
The Rock in The 1950s
The awnings on the left of this picture show the location of Woolworths, whilst Marks and Spencers was a little further up on the right hand side. The building immediately before Woolworths was a bank and over the top was Joseph, Thompson and Marsdens Acountants.
Childhood
Walmersley Road Recreation ground was later renamed Clarence Park. This is the bandstand where on summer Sunday afternoons there would be a band concert and deck chairs (strictly for the older generation of course). The house in the distance was the park keeper's residence, and woe betide any child who was caught walking on the flower beds. There was a large rock near the park entrance which carried a metal plaque. The plaque said that the rock had been carried down by glaciers from the ice age. Was that true? As children, we used the rock as a miniature slide. The park was our playground throughout the 1940s and 50s.
The Best Market in Lancashire
Bury market was famous and its modern version, though not as interesting, still is. We used to go to the market and buy one of Thompson's black puddings, piping hot in a grease-proof paper, The man would split it and put plenty of mustard on. There was the roast potato man, vegetable stalls, fish stalls and the famous Cheap Jack. He used to gather crowds round his stall with his patter and his household goods at 'knockdown prices'. He must have done well - he retired to St. Annes on Sea - a sure mark of success. In the late sixties a fire destroyed the old market hall and the market was relocated. Everyone agreed that the atmosphere was never the same, but the new market today still brings people in from miles around.
Stan McManus
Can anyone recall the footballer named Stan McManus who use to play for Bury F.C? And Alvin Williams, he also played for Bury in the late 1950s?
BuryCafe Bars
I remember, Colsons and Jopson Cafe bars were all the teenagers used to get together. Also Cafe Roma in Bond Street, another teenage haunt.
