The rain didn't dampen our spirits for the Rhodes Village Funday. Take a look at the pictures, Click Here .
Fun in the rain on Festival Day
Who´s That Girl?
This is a photo submitted by Frank Jackson shows Boardman Lane tailing off into the distance, note the cobblestones and yorkstone flags. Perhaps you could help track down the young lady in the picture, we´re not sure who she is. Read an extract from Frank's book and see some more pics of Bygone Rhodes.
Donald Ramsden's School Days
This is a photo submitted by Donald Ramsden of his schoolmates in 1933-34. Perhaps you could help track down these ex alumni or fill in the blanks. See outline below for their names.
Rhodes from Space!
Take a look at this remarkable picture of our village curtesy of Google Earth.
Follow the link below to have a look yourself, you will need to download the Google Earth browser if you don't already have it but the setup is simple and once you're up an running you can have a lot of fun zooming in on places you know. Goto Google Earth
Rhodes in Bloom 2008
Rhodes Tenants and Residents Association have come up with a great
idea to transform the village this year with a floral display from
Croft Gates to Heywood Old Rd. The aim is to brighten up the village
to make it a more attractive place to live and work, bringing together
the community in a project that will benefit the whole village. On
Saturday May 17th, villagers are invited to All Saints Church to see
a demonstration on making hanging basket displays and it is hoped that
RTRA will be able to secure some baskets and plants to give away to
villagers who will hang them at their homes (limited number available
will be given out on a first come basis). The organisers would also
like villagers and village busnesses to join in and do their bit in
their own front gardens and shop fronts, the more people do to contribute
the prettier the village will become. If anyone would like to volunteer
to help out or even just to lend your support then dont hesitate to
contact the Chair of RTRA, Elaine Richardson on 0161 653 8805.
Leaflets have now been delivered to the whole
of the village by members of RTRA, please feel free to put them in
your front window to advertise the event. The more that take part,
the better it will be. Let's make our village a place to be proud of.
Rhodes Village Midsummer Festival 2008
Make a note in your diary. 21st June 2008. Plans are now coming together
for Rhodes to have its own Village Festival this year. RT&RA
are organising the event which will take place on the school playing
fields. If you would like to get involved whether it be manning a
stall or being part of the entertainment then RT&RA would love
to hear from you. The next meeting is at All Saints Church on Monday
7th of April at 7.00pm, it's an open meeting so please feel free
to attend. There's Tea and Biscuits too!
Website News
Stuart Campbell our web designer has been hard at it developing the
website. His company WhereEgosDare is
hosting and maintaining the site free of charge and would like to invite
villagers to propose ideas and submit articles and content to create
a comprehensive resource that the people of Rhodes can benefit from.
Email him with your thoughts. webmaster@rhodesvillage.co.uk
Please bear with me at this time as I construct
the site. You may find some of the links aren't yet active. SC.
The site is now 2 months old and I just thought to let everyone know
about how things are shaping up. Firstly we are now approaching 400
hits since going live and the chart for this month shows you just how "global" news
of the village has spread. Last Month we also had hits from Germany,
The Netherlands and Canada.
Letters from Oz - Submitted by Frank Jackson
Here is an email I recieved when news of the
site reached the distant shores of Austrailia!
STUART
Great news that the village will have its own site, I was born in the
village and my brother still lives there, the site will be a great
help in a venture that I started, initially I started to put
pen to paper for the grand kids, telling them about our early life
in the village, its now turned into a major task, with the help of
a few contacts and Harold Cunliffe from the Middleton Guardian's Bygone
Days (who provide me with some interesting pictures), I can expand
a few pages into a small book, when the site gets going I would be
interested in asking for information about people we used to know when
we were growning up and the history of the village. It's amazing when
you sit down and try and recall memories how many you have both good
and bad and the people that influenced your life.
Looking forward to watching the site grow
regards, Frank Jackson
(info) born in 1942 at 54 boardman lane rhodes emigrated to
OZ in 1964
Frank has written again on the 28th March 2008, he would like to find out about some information relating to Village life that he hopes some of you may be able to help with, here's his email:
STUART
Thanks for the site it looks great.
I have a collection of photos which I will send you maybe you can use
them, when the site is fully operational there is a lot of information
that i am chasing, may be you could put some feelers out over a period
of time.
Info that I am chasing:
Rhodes Brass band (when did it exist and what happened to it)
Pictures of the old allotments if any
Pictures of the village (any will do)
Pictures of cotton workers at Schwab´s mill
Pictures of the chimney when it was being re-pointed (I can remember
the ladders up the side)
Any information on the pantomines that took place in the methadist
church in chapel st and the church hall in walker st (near west green)
Also if anybody can remember the name of the performer that
used to play roles like widow twanky at tha methadist church pamtomine
etc, he used to live in chapple st in the small house between the coop
butchers and the corner shop (I think it was a green grocers and fresh
fish shop owned by Aggie Oats)
kind regards, Frank Jackson
If you have anything that may help Frank with
his venture or just simply want to renew an aquaintence then contact
me and I'll forward your details.
fao.frank.jackson@rhodesvillage.co.uk
Rhodes Memories - A Book by Frank Jackson
Prompted by this email from Frank Jackson
STUART. Reading the website and following Les Howarth's story
prompted me to send a letter, it's a small collection of things which
are in my book so far, its to urge our older generation to put pen
to paper and recall memories of their childhood, if they want to
send anything to me I would be happy to include it in a chapter,
the book will not be for sale rather a collection of village peoples
memories for private use (and anybody else that would like a copy)
Regards, Frank Jackson.
Below is the draft described in Frank's email. I've Added some of the Pictures he sent too.
MORE MEMORIES
Looking at the village website made me think how lucky we were to have
lived in a small village, people say the good old days, I personally
think they were, having been born at home in Boardman lane in September
1942 and spent my early years in Rhodes until emigrating to Oz in
1964, there are a lot of things to remember and when passing them
on to the grandchildren there eyes open wide in amazement.
How many of the older generation can remember the Knock up man who
used to come round in the early morning and tap on the bedroom window
with a long pole to wake up the early morning shift workers so they
could start at the cotton mill on time or the Gas lamp man who used
to ride his bike with a ladder over his shoulder and service the gas
light in the street, he would prop his ladder against the bar sticking
out from the lamppost (often wondered what the bar was for well now
you know it was also good for swinging on) he would have to come round
every week and wind the seven day clock so that the light would come
on and off, and if the gas mantle was damaged he would replace it.
Its not that long ago that some houses in the village still had gas
lighting and the old Palace cinema use to have them as emergency lighting,
I know because as a young gasfitter working for the North Western Gas
Board we had to service them every Monday morning, just in time of
course to watch them run the new film for the week and check its timing.
We always seemed to have something to do we had no television until
1958 even then the programmes were terrible on the very small screen,
we would rather listen to Dan Dare a space story told on radio Luxemburg
at 6.45 every night or listen to the Goon Show with Harry Secombe etc.
In the summer time I can remember the long family walks we would take
up Boardman lane and across to Simister lane stopping at the Simister
pub for a beer for dad and soft drinks and crisp for us,before continuing
our walk finally coming out on Manchester old rd near the Three Arrows
pub.
We used to play cricket in the vicarage drive or climb the trees and
if we felt really adventurous we could go and chase the rabbits in
the fields behind West Green until the farmer would see us and chase
us off.
School was always exciting, at the bottom school we used to write with
pencils (ball point pens had not yet been invented) and when you were
good enough you progressed to pen and ink, which comprised of an ink
well in the top corner of the desk and a pen with nib in it, similar
to a fountain pen except you had to keep dipping your nib in the ink
well, and the only calculator was your ten fingers and toes.
In the winter we could go sledging on the hills behind west green or
from the top of Boardman lane, it was possible to go from the very
top of the lane near Arnolds farm right down to Walkers st when the
snow was deep enough, the only problem was the long way back to the
top, there was always an uproar when Mrs. Cosgrove from 96 Boardman
Lane would throw cinders from the fireplace onto the snow to melt it
or when the council truck came round and sprayed salt on the road to
melt the ice so traffic could once again make it to the top of the
lane.
Mrs Cosgrove's and Florrie Stott's Houses
On weekends there use to be Rugby on the sports field in Broad St (just
about where Wellens way is today), Prestwich Rugby Union Club used
to play there in all sorts of weather and if that got boring and you
could always stand on you bike seat to look over the fence and watch
all the old fellows playing lawn bowls.
One often wonders how we managed without fast food,the only fast food
we had was an oval meat pie from Lloyds shop at the bottom of Boardman
lane or the small Hovis loaves they used to bake, you could always
have fish and chips from Ethel & Billy Livingstone’s shop in Chapple
st, mind you this was not fast food,Billy would cut the chips in front
of you on the old hand chipper, then you would have to wait until they
were cooked,talk about fresh, and well worth waiting for.
If you wanted chicken the wait was a bit longer mum would make us go
up to Arnolds farm and wait for Arnold to catch a chicken and ring
its neck, it was your job then to ride home on the bike chicken wings
still flapping, once home it was plucked while still warm, mum would
extract any partly formed eggs from the chicken along with the giblets
etc, it made a wonderful Sunday lunch, although this was only for special
occasions.
I don’t think the modern generation would even consider eating some
of the things we ate then, like the roasted Cows heart (beautiful)
or Tripe and onions, Black pudding, Pigs trotters and many more. It
seems too easy to go and get takeaway. I wonder how they would go when
we only had outside toilets and no loo paper, we used to use The Radio
Times cut up into small squares, it wasn’t much fun going to the toilet
in the winter with six inches of snow on the ground, it was the same
at bath time with no bathrooms, your bath consisted of a long galvanized
slipper bath placed in front of the coal fire and filled with hot water,
if you were lucky you would be first in and every body else followed
all they got was a top up of hot water.
Early Boardman Lane Photo
In the early days the village seemed to have a lot of characters like
farmer Starkey who had a farm up Simister he used to come round with
a large cart pulled by a Clydesdale horse, selling potatoes and all
kind of vegetables, he would park the cart outside the Little Heaton
club in Boardman Lane on a Sunday and go and have a drink, living opposite
the club at number 54 we could earn a few pennies for looking after
the horse until he came out sometimes worse for wear, of course anything
the horse left behind on the road was collected and used by my father,
he would put the manure in a hession sack,immerse it in water in a
44 gallon drum and hey presto instant liquid manure for the garden
especially the tomatoes, another vender was Walter Hilton he had an
old van and used to do the same selling vegs from the window in the
side of the van, we used to go fishing with him on the Schwabe´s lodges,
he could never understand why he never caught anything while others
around him caught plenty of fish, the answer was simple Walter used
to smoke a pipe and of course filling the pipe put tobacco on his fingers
so when he baited his hook the bait always smelt of tobacco putting
the fish off, I don't think he really cared he just enjoyed the peace
and quiet, a constant visitor to dads shed was a rather large chap
called Charlie Massey he lived just across the road opposite Foxall
St., he had a market stall and used to import all kinds of stuff from
overseas especially Japan, in those days this was unusual, but music
boxes, cheap watches were the go and he always had something special
and unusual to offer people.
One of the funniest people was Stanley Marriott,he had an Hairdressing
shop on Manchester Old rd right opposite Boardman lane and although
his shop had plenty of pictures of modern day hairstyles hung on the
wall, no matter which style you wanted it was over the top with the
electric clipper and you got short back and sides, if you were lucky
you could get in before the old fellows went in for a shave, Stan used
to use the old cut throat razor to shave the old pensioners, how he
didn’t manage to cut somebody’s ear off I don’t know, because he appeared
to have a slight tremor in his right hand and when he held up the razor
it used to wave around like a leaf in a storm, still he was good with
us kids, he had a special extension that used to fit on the barbers
chair to lift you up to the right height, and if you were very good
you would find his hand sliding across your face and a toffee would
appear in your mouth as if by magic, to finish of the haircut you had
the usual hand full of brylcreem to keep the hair flat. I suppose every
village had its off beat characters I wish I could remember more as
they definitely had an influence of my life and think that to be born
into a small village and have the freedom that we had we were very
very lucky.
There are so many memories of my early life in Rhodes like the ration
books, Wakes week and Whit Sunday walks, the beer truck that used to
come to the club and watching the wooden beer barrels being lowered
down into the cellar, haymaking on Arnolds farm, the barn burning down
at Shackletons farm, church parade with the cubs and the scouts, finally
marrying the girl of my dreams who also happened to live in Boardman
lane and who I went to school with, now after 44 years of marriage,
three daughters and seven grandkids, its time to look back and remember.
I would urge everybody from the older generation to put pen to paper,
and recall all the memories good or bad that made them the way they
are, before its to late I know my grandkids enjoy every minute of looking
at old photographs and listening to all the stories about our early
life.
Picture of the Week
Submitted by Frank Jackson, Shows workmen carrying out repairs on
Schwabe´s Chimney. No Health and Safety Hi Vis vests, hard hats or scaffolding
back then! How times have changed.
If you have a photo of the village you'd like
to share then send it to me at: 77 Poolbank St, Rhodes. They don't
have to be old photos either, they can be anything you think may be
of interest to the rest of the village. SC.
Bygone Rhodes
This Picture was submitted by Julliette Pendlebury of Pool Bank Street Rhodes. It shows a team of nine young girls from Rhodes School in 1925. The Ball says: RHODES C. SCHOOL BASKETBALL LEAGUE WINNERS 1924-25. The girl with the pigtails is believed to be the late Alice Briggs who used to live in the village. Does anyone recognise the others in the picture? Let us know. webmaster@rhodesvillage.co.uk
Frank submitted this photo of a parade passing
the Gardeners Arms and another showing the Whit Sunday Walk(below).
Another couple of gems from Frank. Top of Boardman
Lane showing Schwabe´s Chimney(above). Check out the cobblestone gutters
on this street(below).
Letters Section
Donald Ramsden writes all the way from Kent,
Washington State, USA.
I lived in Rhodes many years ago & would like to hear from anybody
that might remember me. My name is Donald Ramsden.
I left the village in 1946. Was 80 last Nov. I went to the bottom school & the
top school. All Saints church & delivered papers for Whybrow whos'
shop was right next to the chapel on Chapel St. I could name most of
the kids I went to school with & have a photo of our class taken
when we were in Miss Goldthorps class.
Bye now Don Ramsden
If you would like to get in touch with Don, drop
me an email and I'll pass it on fao.don.ramsden@rhodesvillage.co.uk
Suggestion for the website from Susan McAnish
The web site is looking good I have lived in the village all my
life and it's nice to see it "on the map".
For the future, how about having a page for the younger people of the
village (up to say 19?), where they can learn about activites they
can get involved in put their own ideas forward for the village etc.
They probably think it very boring to attend meetings but to get involved
via a web site might be more appealing?
Susan McAinsh
That's a great idea Susan I hope to have something
along those lines pretty soon. SC.
Events Diary
RT&RA
Hanging Basket Demonstration - 11am-5pm Saturday 17th May 2008
at All Saints Church.
ALL SAINTS RHODES PARISH CHURCH
Community Cafe - 10am-12pm Every Tuesday.
Craft Club - 7pm-9pm Every Wednesday.
Village Events
Rhodes Village Midsummer Festival - Saturday June 21st 2008 on
the school fields.
Leslie Howarth's Village History
Les of Lands End Road, Rhodes has kindly submitted numerous old photos depicting village life from the last century and beyond. Here you can view all of these gems of yesteryear and read some of Les' musings about the past.
 |
A Bit about Leslie Howarth On the 26th of May 1992 at the age of 72 and 10 months old I Leslie Howarth did a sponsord walk in aid of church funds. I was seen off by my very good friend the vicar the Rev Geff Garratt. I undertook to walk from Church to Rochdale Town Hall and return In aid of church funds. I was met at the Town Hall by the mayor who at that time was a Middleton man Tony Heaford. After a warm greeting and handshake I had to sign tile visitors book as per tlle photograph. There was also a lady councillor there her name has slipped my mind. Both gave me a donation to the fund. In those days I enjoyed walking, after aII I was in at the outbreak of the war with Iocal terriors so Iong walks were easy for me. I and a pal walked over 50 miles to Dunkirk in france in 1940. With contributions from thc officials in Rochdale and the good people of the village I raised a little over £500. Thanks to every one. It was an experience l shall never forget, I enjoyed every moment. The photograph was a gift from the Rochdale Observer who's photographer took the photo. |
 Recognise the banner in the pic? View it for real at All Saints Church. |
 A couple of more gems from Les' archive! |
Rhodes Memoir - By Les Howarth.
WHO AM I?
I am Leslie Howarth I live at 2 Lands End Road Rhodes.
I was born on the 17th of July 1919 which makes me now in 2008, 88 years old. I am a Junctionite, my mother was there at the time. My father was William Howarth a very well known Socialist. His father, also William Howarth was a policeman in Horwich in the Bolton area where my father was born. He transferd to Middleton and thence to the Junction. He served in the force for over 25 years and recieved in recognition a marble clock worth a fortune now, alas gone, thrown out, it was difficult to keep going, it had to be dead level. He was 6ft odd but married a small woman hence our height. He died in 1912 and is buried in the church yard in the Junction, St Gabriels.
My father married a Staffordshire woman, Martha Hannah Gleaves who at the time they met, was living in Stockport with her elder sister, they left home when their mother died, not wanting to continue living with their drunken stepfather. In the Junction in the 30s, times where hard, my father was in regular work on the LMS railway, poor pay. On returning from school in the summer, my mother would be waiting for me with a sack, sugar bag, I then had to go to the railway sidings to pick little pieces of coal along with the unemployed men, lots of them. I Ieft scbool at 14. thick as two planks, because I had a bad attendance record. I hated it, there is a reason for it, but that's another story.
I began working at the Baytree Cotton Mill on Mills Hill Road, it is down now. The cotton trade was in serious decline then, ours we one that remained open longer than most. My Late wife Connie worked at the C.W.S. jam works on Mills Hill Road, we were just teenagers then. In the summer we used to sit outside on the fire escape at lunchtime, Connie would now and then walk down the canalside past the mill and wave to me. You can imagine what the older men had to say to me. One of the men who worked there at that time was Glen Grey, the well known dance band leader, he lived in the next street to me. The mill went like the rest in due course and closed. All this was in late 1937. In 1938, Hitler was on the war path, our goverment of the day declaired any male reaching the age of 20, on or after the lst of January 1939 would be conscripted for 2 years, to avoid that you had to join the Territorial Army within one month.
I will deal with that later. In the meantime, take care.
Yours Les H.
 |
Some
Sounds Familiar in the period Les is describing Listen to an Air Raid Siren Listen to Churchill's Speech about Dunkirk Listen to Hitler's Ranting |
Continuing my life story.
In 1937 Adolph Hitler was getting all hot and bothered, you could
tune in to the German radio most nights and hear him ranting and raving.
l used to tune in for a moment or so, I could not tell a word be was
saying, he was usually addressing huge crowds of Germans all ranting
and raving with him. When you went to the cinema you could see them
all on the newsreel. He was the talking point of not only this country,
but the rest of Europe and America. But life had to go on so much so
that my next but one neighbour, Eddie Boardman same age as I, decided
to learn ballroom dancing. We were only just 18, not a care in the
world, we were both on short time but what the heck, go out and enjoy
life. But where to go to learn? We wanted tuition, private was to dear,
only one place then, DYSON'S. So Eddie and I, along with another couple
of pals, decided we would go. Dysons was a house with all downstairs
rooms knocked into one. Oil cloth on the floor, 6 pence to go in old
money, 2 or 3 nights each week, more in summer, less in winter. The
reason for that was Vera Dyson ran a dance troupe of girls, most Saturday
nights they had engagments at schools covering Middleton, Heywood and
areas around Middleton and districts. Vera was a 19 year old a very
very good dancer, ballroom and tap hence the troop.
We had been going several weeks and by then I was a very good dancer.
I say without boasting. Several of the young girls used to go and I
danced with all of them. One night a strange girl came, strange to
me I had never seen ber before, but she seemed to be known to alI the
girls who were there. We used to dance to records, all the latest put
on by Vera's sister Bertha who was a cripple[sic] so couldn't
dance. I asked her who the girl was? "Connie Cross" from
Rhodes was the reply, one of the troupe. After Connie had settled I
asked ber for a dance. The moment I put my arms around her I was hooked.
Connie was 14 and one month, I was 18 and 2 months, what I did'nt know
then I was holding in my arms my future wife. The war was to hold up
our courtship, we married Saturday August 25th 1945 the day after her
22nd birthday. Connie died 4 years aged 80 after 58 years together.
Thank God seven surviving children. sadly missed by all of us, we lost
one unfortunately 11 month old.
Next month war years. Les Howarth.
In The Press
These are articles about Rhodes Village reported in the Middleton Guardian.Click links to view them.
Katie
Comes Home - West Green toddler, Katie Williams gets new heart
10/4/08
Going Global - News of the Rhodes Village Website announced 31/01/08