Guestbook

Hi, what a lovely find this is - I stumbled across your site while looking for gardens around West Didsbury I may not have known. I grew up in Didsbury Village from the 60s on, and was often taken to the Marie Louise gardens, in addition to Fletcher Moss and the river walks. Following a stroke at New Year, Mum has now come to live on Lapwing Lane, so any stories relating to Clyde Court, or suggestions for wheelchair accessible gardens / green walks would be really fantastic and hugely appreciated. Many thanks, Trish.

I attended the question time on Thursday 22nd January and on behalf of the Pace group,parents/carers and children from Ewing school.Iwould like to say a very big thank you for making the evening such a success and in such a professionl manner.Also thank you for letting me put a question to the panel.If anyone would like to support us in our campaign against the closure of the school we would all appreciate it.www.petition.co.uk save our school. Thank you once again.

I was hatched and raised in the neighbourhood. First we lived in Circular Road, and when the war started we occupied half of one of the large houses on Palatine Road because it had a cellar we used as an air raid shelter. The house (number 70) had been up for sale for a year or two and we paid all of £300 for it. It had a huge plane tree in the front and mature fruit trees in the back.

Memories:

The steam trains: At the age of 5-6 I walked to school and back, and had to cross the railway by footbridge at the Withington & West Didsbury station. My daily ambition was to be on that footbridge with a train thundering below, so as to be engulfed by the smoke from the locomotive chimney. Lots of trains, but the best were the express trains to London – they began to slow down so as to stop at the Didsbury station – the reason for that stop was said to be that a Director of the Midland Railway lived in Didsbury and had all the to-and-from London express trains stop there as a convenience.

At the NE corner of Lapwing Lane and Palataine Road (the tram terminus), Friday nights in 1938/39 were graced/disgraced by soap-box speakers from the British Union of Fascists spewing their antisemitic venom – that activity ceased when war broke out, but presumably it was local folk who broke the windows at Duwe’s cake shop on Burton Road supposedly because the Duwe’s were of German descent..

Those were the days before home refrigerators came in – Lapwing Lane had wonderful fresh vegetables ( they were all organic because there was nothing else, Smithson’s for one and Charles’s for another, not to forget Russells on the south part of Lapwing lane. They brough the stuff in from the City market at crack of dawn and all the apples were polished by hand.. And there was Mr Hall who grew fresh veg, including tomatoes on a half-acre adjacent to the railway near the station. And there were no washing machines. Everybody washed by hand and hung their stuff out to dry in the open, but there was a Chinese Laundryman working out of his home on Creswell Grove

Pam..thoughly enjoyed your booklet A Walk on the West Side ..well done.
http://www.manchester-forum.co.uk/index.php?topic=357.0

This link may shed some light on the name of Elizabeth Slinger Road for a future edition.. Heather

Pam Siddons , did you once upon a time live in Gordon Road Enfield ? If so, would be nice to here from you. If not, you all do a great job keeping your area protected.

i lived in west didsbury from the early 60's to the mid-80's and noticed its de-greening throughout those years so im glad the WDRA are trying to preserve its leafy streets as much as possible. im currently researching didsbury for a book im writing so if anyone has interesting info regarding didsbury's former times esp. info about josephine silkenstadt-marie-louise gardens, the ball brook, didsbury and fog lane park, the fcj convent site on mersey rd., the catholic childrens rescue society in parrswood....i would be forever indebted.
kindest regards
g sobers

Answer: Thanks for your message. Always good to hear from a former resident. If you go to www.marielouisegardens.org.uk , you will find a potted history of the Silchenstadt family and the Gardens.
Best wishes - and good luck with your book!
Barry Aelion

I lived in W. Didsbury.... went to school at Cavendish Road School and Fallowfield's School for girls...I lived on Lapwing lane. My mother had a confectionary shop on the same road 1930s - 1940s... shop is still there I think... as something else now? Would anyone have pictures ? help with obtaining history?

Nice to visit ! thank you !

Great news about the Marie Louise Gardens. Congratulations to all involved.

I've just found this site and as one of the earliest committee members, I'd like to say how encouraging it is to see WDRA flourishing and influencing local affairs in such a positive way!
It is a long time since I fled to Yorkshire and things have come a long way from my duplicated newsletter! Pam Siddons is the only face I remember, but if anyone wants to get in touch please drop me an email.

Richard Byrne -,

Thanks for your comments regarding our replacement double glazing on Burton Road.

For reference, Arrows Joinery replaced all of the windows in the house with hardwood replicas of the originals and restored the stained glass and encapsulated them in double glazing units. Total cost was around 20% more than a UPVC installation, but i'm sure that's a small price to pay to maintain the original character of the house. Ideally, hardwood should oulast UPVC if properly maintained.

A super developing community web site and inspiration - keep going and working to save Marie Louise Gardens too. Anne Garner, Member of Save Heaton Park Action Group

We support the WDRA protest against further house building on Marie Louise Gardens site - the location of a bench commemorating the life of Maryann Gomez, who was a director of the North West Film Archive until 2004.

Great site. We've been wanting to get involved for a while now and will be there on Saturday for the 'picnic'.

Might there be room on the site for a running commentary on work well done? This came to mind after seeing a crew install new wooden framed glazing on Burton Road - I think the company was Arrow Joinery.

I was so delighted to see something other than plastic going in that I asked them about their work, in case I ever needed them. They took an obvious pride in producing exact replicas of the original windows, but with modern insulation properties. They talked about the particular satisfaction of keeping stained glass but adding double glazing.

To my mind, both the householder - in having the taste and gumption to specify good work - and the company were doing an admirable job.

Too often the very positive impulses - to try to make sure that what is good remains good - may seem to others to be negative and fogeyish, expressed only as objections to change.

I am tempted to suggest something close to a list of companies and craftspeople who have done good work - not that WDRA itself could ever endorse them or recommend them, but that the members who have found a company or person particularly good might have a place to say so, and the rest of us might have a place to start if and when a job needs doing. Anybody got a good roofer?

I used to live up at Cresswell Grove in the early 90's. I love the place. Good to see this website. keep up guys.

Take care

Maybe a useful link for adding to the Links section? - View planning applications online @ http://www.publicaccess.manchester.gov.uk/publicaccess/dc/dc_home.aspx A: It's already there, Simon, but thanks anyway. Good to hear from you! Barry

Friend of Sheila Kelly\'s from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Interesting web-site and love your smiling faces! Good luck! A: Thank you, Marysia! Take care - and love to Sheila. Barry

Wonderful website guys. It was so nice to show my japanese friends the 1908 pictures and a real Eglish Barbeque. Thanks. A: Glad you like it, Damien. Good to hear from you. Barry.

It good to see AT LAST that Montrose Properties have cleaned up their rubbish from the houses they manage on Old Lansdowne Rd.
Its also good to see 46 Old Lansdowme Rd is now being worked upon and lets hope it will be restored to something better than the sad state it had fallen into. Is the property now in the hands of a developer, or a private individual who will turn it back into a family house?. A: It is in the hands of another developer - fortunately, one who is likely to keep it in a good state of repair. Barry

Hello,

A great site - above all easy to navigate and accessible, and should appeal to people of all ages.

I had no idea that the association had been running so long or that you had done so much. I'd like to wish you continued success for the future.
Mair
A: Thanks for your encouragement, Mair - and for your sterling support over the past year. Barry

Great new website, user friendly and I am sure it will be visited more regularly than the old website..
Cheers
Niall

A: Thanks for the positive feedback, Niall. If members send in local news items and we update regularly, we should be able to keep residents informed and hold their interest.
Regards,
Barry

Brilliant Bazza!
A: Glad you like it, Pam. Barry

Congratulations Barry. Good work done by all in keeping up and bringing a lively West Didsbury into a vibrant future.
ex pat. formerly of 31 Old Lansdowne Rd.
Sheila.

Excellent website. Just a thought couldn't the name be: westdidsburyresidents, instead of wdra, so that anyone searching would find it easily.

A: Thanks for the positive feedback, Frank.
Stuart, one of our committee members, has the domain www.westdidsbury.org.uk which, I think, is more suitable than the present one, and he has arranged to point it to our website. I will register this new URL with the various search engines shortly. Barry

Hi Barry
Well done, new web-site looks great. Good tone and informative. Looking forward to Alison's up-dates on all things wild in W Dids, excluding Ian of course! Can we add photos of our Social Secretary and his Asst to the people bit? Regards Chris

A: Glad you like it, Chris.
Unfortunately, the People page only seems to provide for four photos (I've wrestled with it for hours, but no joy)which is why I haven't asked Niall and Ian for theirs. When we meet again in September, I'll arrange for a group photo of key members. Regards, Barry

Hey Barry - this is really good - you've really given a flavour of what the WDRA are about. I'm sure Alison could add something on the wildlife side that would make interesting reading too.