History & Interest

Wednesday 1pm - 3pm

Held at Crumpsall Community Hall, Cleveland Road, Crumpsall.

PROGRAMME FOR APR - JUL 2024

10 Apr Welcome Back

17 Apr Edgar Wood

Talk by Mr & Mrs G Grimes

24 Apr Songs & Stories

Talk by Mr M Gittins

1 May Bosnia

Talk by Miss D Dawson

8 May TBA

15 May India & Bhutan

Talk by Mr R Cowley

22 May Round the Horn

Talk by Mr & Mrs H Lisle

29 May Holiday

5 Jun Quiz Week

12 Jun TBA

19 Jun Chile

Talk by Miss D Dawson

26 Jun Surnames

Talk by Mr P Watson

3 Jul Crumpsall Concert Band

Talk by Mr R Fullen

10 Jul Trip to Capetown

Talk by Mr J Forster

17 Jul TBA

24 Jul Lunch Out

Annual Reports 2018 & 2019

Thanks to Barbara, our leader, we have had a very varied year, visiting Andalusia, India and Borneo 'from the comfort of our own meeting room!' All were illustrated with beautiful slides.

Nearer to home, Daphne Dawson told us about a walk around Manchester, showing us beautiful pictures of plants and places, including autumn leaves, trees in full blossom, stunning views from high up and strange buildings from low down. We learned about an Archimedes Screw on the River Goyt; The clock that strikes 13 in Worsley and the war memorial on Werneth Low.

When Les Leggett visited us he 'walked us' up Cheetham Hill, starting at the area known as the Green Quarter and ending up at Halfway House. This included information about the Methodist Church, deceased, and its graveyard, now under Tesco's car park.

Another topic was the Salford plane crash in 1944. All 7 crewmen and 2 people on the ground were killed when a damaged, bomb-laden Lancaster crashed into the bank of the River Irwell (Regatta Street) in Pendlebury, Salford on Sunday 30th July 1944. We also heard about Victorian crimes and cons (including an attempt to sell Buckingham Palace!) Harry Belafonte (with music during tea-break) and quarrying at Buxton.

I wonder what next year will bring? Come join us and find out! Tricia Neal - November 2019

Our grateful thanks go to Barbara for continuing to provide a variety of entertaining speakers for our group. Most educate us on history topics, but when the history well dries up, she moves on to diverse subjects such as ‘Curiosities of Australia’ and ‘Christ in Art’.

Over the year we have been told that:

Blackley Deer park once stretched over Crumpsall, Moston, Heaton Park and Alkrington and had a circumference of 7 miles.
Bells from the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields today hang in the Swan Tower, built for the Milennium in Perth, Australia.
In 1555 the care of roads was devolved to the parishes as statute labour under the Highways Act. Every adult inhabitant of the parish was obliged to work four consecutive days a year on the roads, providing their own tools, carts and horses.
Colonel Sir William Coates, founder of Broughton House Veterans Home, lived to be 102, and once received a tea-cosy from Florence Nightingale.
Liberty bodices were so named because they set women free from the restrictions of the stays. Americans called them Emancipation bodices. Servants were often made to wear them as they could work harder if not constrained by corsets.
If you drank at John Shaw’s Club in Sinclair’s Oyster Bar and didn’t go home when he called time at 8 o’clock, he’d get his servant Molly to mop the floor, carelessly, so that your boots filled with water. Today Molly’s image is on the sign.
And finally – giraffes drink water by splaying their very long legs wide and lowering their very long neck, which means they can’t easily run away if a hungry animal decides they look good enough to eat.

If these snippets make you want to join our group, please form an orderly queue…..

P.S. The refreshments are pretty good too! Tricia Neal - November 2018