Trips 2016 - 2017
A busy time for the Society, squeezing in six trips, Lyme House , Cromford Mill, Abbeydale , Stockport War Memorial, London Road Fire Station, Avro Heritage Museum, and three walks, All Saints Churchyard, Melandra & Glossop, Bugsworth Basin from September 2016 to July 2017.
How long have you lived in Stockport?
What is that building opposite the Town Hall?
Have you ever visited it?
The chances are that you have never been to the Stockport War Memorial and Art Gallery. If you haven’t, you should be ashamed of yourself as it is a gem; unique, not just in England but in the world. It is the only building, anywhere, designed and purpose-built as a combined war memorial and art gallery. There are now forty people from Marple History who can look their friends in the eye; they have been and they have learned a lot. Lynda Jenkins organised one of the most moving tours the society has sponsored.
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Read more: Visit to Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery, March 2017
Standing at the junction of London Road and Whitworth Street, the building has been largely empty since 1986, gradually deteriorating. It has been a Grade II* listed building since 1974 but that did little to save it. From this prime position it stared reproachfully at every one of the thousands arriving at Piccadilly each day. After years of inaction Manchester finally got tough with the owners. It has now been sold on to another company, Allied London, who will start development in the spring. That left a small window of opportunity for those enthusiastic nerds who wanted to see the interior of an iconic Edwardian building. Jonathan Schofield,Gathering our favourite Blue Badge Guide, leapt in to fill the gap. As well as a series of public tours over the Christmas/New Year period he agreed to put on a special tour for Marple History. Despite the short notice, Hilary Atkinson took up the challenge and assembled 40 like-minded anoraks to accompany her. It’s fortunate that they were anoraks as we were greeted with the traditional Manchester weather.
First a misapprehension. It was not just a fire station but home to a variety of civic functions. It was a police station, an ambulance station, a coroner’s court, a gas meter testing station; even a bank. And not just civic functions; there were 38 flats of varying sizes for firemen and their families, a town within a city.
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‘To boldly go where no Society has gone before’ – a noble objective but not true on this occasion. The consultation exercise with the members earlier this year had drawn the suggestion to revisit destinations of yore. So we found ourselves on the way to the Avro Heritage Museum in Woodford. Turn right at Poynton, travel past the airport relief road and enter through the old factory gates. These had given entry to the BAE factory, which closed in 2011, after almost 87 years on the Woodford aerodrome. Houses are being built to populate the site; eventually some 4,000 will materialise. A classic case of changing swords into ploughshares.
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