Stockport

Vernon Park

I remember going to Vernon Park so well. We would walk down from Bredbury Bar. There was a large slippery stone at the top of the steps and Mum would lift me to the top and I would slide down. I thought that stone was magic. There was a large bird cage in the park but I think its gone now. The museum was a favorite and when I was about 13 I used to find fossils in Castleton near the Blue John Mines and take them to the Museum to ask the man to identify them. I must haave driven him mad. Gran lived in Mellor Street Portwood and after the park we would go there for tea. Dolly's sweet shop was on the way and we would get a twist of lollies in a paper. The co-op was on the way as well and there was another co-op on Portwood where my uncle Syd worked. We used to get taken to Beetle Drives at the Portwood School... Read more

Whistlehollow in The 1940s.

About a mile from Dialstone Lane School was a favourite play spot called Whistlehollow. It was a deep depression in the middle of fields and in the summer we used to try to dam the little brook that ran through the hollow. We used to collect pussy willow and catkins, we used to gather twigs to take home to make little twigs with glitterwax red and blue flowers stuck on. in the winter it was a great place to sledge in, a lot of different runs were made, with a lot of twists and turns. The field next to Whistlehollow was a long steep hill which always had a lot of tobogganers and a few skiers on it. I suppose it's now long gone, probably all developed, but I have great memorys of Whistlehollow.

Stockport carnival on Bamford Fields. Carnival parade up Wellington Road, with the carnival queen. Robinsons Brewery always had a beer cart with Shire horses looking magnificent. Many colourful floats. There was a dancing girl competition on the Bamford field fairground, and they all danced in their turn to the tune 'Blaze Away', it used to go on for hours. The fair was great, the noise, the steam organ music, screams of the girls on the waltzer. The lads' favourite were the swing cages. A couple of you used to start swinging until you reached the top and then over you went and you could keep it going round. The games where you had a little wooden slide you aimed and dropped a penny down, at the round table with the man in the middle, there were always a couple of 10 bob notes on a few of the squares. If you landed on a line, bad luck - your penny had to be in the square. Whatever it landed on... Read more

My Stockport Memories

Hello, my name is Jeane Moorhouse, nee Huxley, I started life on Band St, Hollywood area, in 1952, then moved to Hilton St. My only memories from here are the wash house and Hollywood Park where the fair would arrive and the carnivals. We then moved to Hesketh St in Heaton Norris, our back yard was shared with Bob Hillingworth who lived at the end house, I remember sitting on our back step shelling peas with Bill, my gran's partner, we had a budgie who could say "Naughty girl Kenneth" and " Naughty boy Jean", yes, wrong way round!! I attended All Saints Junior School and remember playing with David Booth who had a sister called Susan, Katherine Cross, who lived at the off licence on the corner of Old Rd and Manchester Rd, and Margaret MacDonald, who lived on Old Rd, her communal yard was accessed by going through the entry on Hesketh St, Schocroft's shop was on the corner, right opposite our front window and my gran would... Read more