Bury, Market Place c.1955

Photo ref: B257019

My great grand parents were in service at walshaw hall, my great grandma Annie Armstrong married the gardener Jack Slater. My mum has fond memories of living at walshaw hall.

During World War Two I was evacuated from London to various locations three times, the last of these was Bury, in Lancashire. My older brother and I stayed with two families sharing a house at 16 Swallow Drive in what was referred to as 'the Dickie Bird Estate.' All the street names were named after birds. There was some consternation at the school because we were 'Church of England' and ...see more

We used to own Walshaw chippy, it was a garage made of asbestos. I had loads of friends who used to turn up hungry, Fri and Sat night after the pubs shut. My dad used to have a back room full of people eating fish and playing cards. (I even called my dog Chippy as it was chip coloured.) He used to pile food on to families who were skint at the time. He had a second job; he was a school dinner driver so I had 2 school ...see more

My great grandparents met whilst working at Walshaw Hall. Margaret Eve was Welsh and had worked in a big house on Washway Road in Sale before coming to Walshaw Hall around 1911. There she became housekeeper and met Henry Hillier who was coachman. They got married in Wrexham in 1912.