15 Brereton Road Handforth

A Memory of Handforth.

The Greyhound on Wimslow Road was one of my favorite places as a child of 6-7 years of age. In 1939, I would often be lucky and as I came over the Railway Bridge from 15 Brereton Road, and after having an ice cream cone in the newsagents, to find the gypsy caravan was stopped in front of the Greyhound Inn. The men were inside having a drink; the women and children outside with the caravan. I loved visitng with the children. My mother (Ardwick, Manchester) and my father (Galway and Dublin) married in St. Aloysius Church, Ardwick, in 1924 and travelled to Seattle, Washinton. My mother and I made a few trips to England as all her seven brothers and sisters were there. One sister, my Aunt Eleanor (Hart Bushell), her husband Charlie, and their son Ted lived at 15 Brereton Road. We lived there with them on a visit 1939 - 1940. My father had been killed in Seattle and I suspect we may have stayed longer in England, but the war broke out and we had to leave for the States. I LOVED my year there; I boarded at Loreto Convent, Bowden, and got to know well all my mothers family around Greater Manchester -- Levenshulme, Wilmslow, Stockport. My mother worked in her sister's laundry in Manchester (destroyed in a bombing). A couple of visits since I've stopped at #15 Brereton Road, but have never been lucky enough to find anyone at home. I look forward to a 2009 visit and look forward to seeing all the changes.

Sister Eleanor Gilmore, San Salvador, El Salvador

---

---