Memories Of My Hometown

A Memory of Patricroft.

My family owned the Chinese laundry at the corner of Cannon St. and Liverpool Rd. The laundry was named the Soo Wing Laundry, after my grandfather. I was born in August 1941 and, as a baby, I remember being wrapped in blankets and carried to the air raid shelter while the German bombers flew overhead. The old laundry is now a shop that sells party goods.

I began school at Christ Church in 1946, and Mrs. Cameron was the headmistress for the younger children who occupied the ground floor. The older children were taught on the upper floor and the headmaster, Mr. Edgar Percy Dale was a tyrant whom everybody was scared to death of. For the slightest infraction he would cane a child. He owned an orange coloured suit, and when he wore it we knew he was out for blood. He was a soldier in Palestine and was wounded in the head. It was common knowledge that he had a steel plate in his skull because of injuries in this conflict and this was thought to be the reason for his unpredictable behavior.

Before I left to attend Salford Technical High School I remember being taught by Mr. Taylor, Mrs. Titterrington. Mr. Challener, and Miss Bleakly. At one period the school was overcrowded and some of the older children attended classes in the Congregational Church on Shakespear Crescent. Later, they went to Ellesmere Park School. Once a week we elder boys used to go with Mr. Challener to the Patricroft Recreational Park for football practice. The girls wood play netball in the school playground. Behind the school wall was the Green Lane police station.

For a time, we had woodworking classes in a shed adjacent to the playground. Another similar shed was used to store gym equipment. At the time I attended Christ Church an area adjacent to the school was an air raid shelter. We children would go down the steps and see a very large dark room where people would go when the bombers were overhead. However, it was dark and scary down there and few children would go into the dark room below. Before I left the school at the age of thirteen, the air raid shelter was covered with sand, but it's still there.

I remember, also Eccles Recreational Park. It used to have a very active bowling green where the older people would enjoy lawn bowling. The last time I visited Eccles, I think the place was no longer operating. In the late 40's (?) there was a large paddling pool on site. It was made of concrete and I remember people wading in water about 12 inches deep. It was not for swimming. However, this was later filled with soil and it is now covered with grass. One day some archeologist will rediscover it and wonder what it was for.

My family enjoyed living in Patricroft. We were they only Chinese in the area, but there was another family in Peel Green, who also ran a laundry. We were sometimes teased because of our heritage but, by and large, we were liked and respected by the community. We had many local friends and felt at home in area.

I also remember the Tommy Cocker shop. He would delight in teasing the kids who passed by, which is why I and my siblings would never cross Liverpool Rd at the Nelson St crossing since we would have to pass by his shop. We used to walk all the way down Liverpool Rd. till we reached the other end of Shakespear Crescent. We would then go into the little sweet shop owned by Charlie Herron. He would take us by the hand and cross us over the road to where our laundry was. After several years the sweet shop became a betting shop owned by the Bambers, as I recall.

I often went to Barton bridge to see the aqueduct in action. In the 60's there was still shipping entering the port of Manchester. I would stand at one end of the aqueduct and take photos as the aqueduct and Barton Bridge turned through 90 degrees to let the ships pass. There was always a terrible stench as the ships churned up the canal bottom.

I remember well the open air market near Eccles Cross as well as the indoor market nearby. The Broadway cinema operated for a long time but fell on hard times and switched to bingo?.

Since 1967 I have lived in the United States, mainly in the New York area. I still have family in Manchester, Liverpool, and Leeds. I enjoy returning to England and always try to visit Patricroft and Eccles. Liverpool Rd. between Cannon Street and Patricroft Bridge is now run down and not as busy as it used to be. I feel a sadness about this whenever I walk along this road. My earliest memories revolve around this town and it is hard to see it as a shadow of its past vitality. But I will always return.