St Malachys Primary School 1951 To 1956

A Memory of Collyhurst.

I was born in Manchester in 1945, and moved with my family to Kingsly Crescent Collyhurst flats. My father died in 1948, and my mother, brother Joe and I moved to Elizabeth-Ann Street, Collyhurst, where we lived until 1954, then moved to Mills Platting. But it was back to Collyhurst in 1958 when my mother passed away, and I went to live with my cousins the Coopers who lived in Richardson Street, directly across from St James's Church. There we stayed until 1961 when the last of the slums were being demolished. My mother used to work at Smarts's Knitting Mills in Ryder Street, Collyhurst during the years 1945 to 1955. I can remember having to get the lint out of her eyes with a twisted cigarette paper. A few elderly ladies from Elizabeth-Ann Street always wore the clogs. That I remember, and I used to sit on St James's wall waiting for my mum to finish work. I actually learned to tell the time by St James's clock as I sat there waiting for the minutes to pass, until the bell rang out five times. I also remember watching my mum working. The women used to take turns standing in this huge sack that was slowly being filled with cotton, and their job was to stamp the cotton down as it filled. There were a couple of fires in the early 1950s in which a couple of women actually burned to death as I recall, doing the very job that I've just described. (Talk about slave labour.)
I attended St Malachy's at the age of 5 years about Feb 1951 (Class One) and I've been trying for years to find out if anyone who attended the same class actually has a class photo of that particular year. Also Class Two 1952, and Class Three 1953...Ages 5, 6 and 7 years. Unfortunately I can't remember any of the other children's names. Anyway. I left for Australia in late 1962. But I have very fond memories of our beautiful Collyhurst. As bad and as good as it was, and though it's all gone now, we still have our memories, and a few old photographs to remind us of just how it was in the good old 1950s.