An Old Cinema Clock

This clock can be found in the Projection Room at the Theatre Royal.

It was rescued from the Carlton Cinema in Salford.

Autumn Chestnuts

Once more the chestnut trees have dropped their autumn harvest. Just like last year, broken husks were found scattered near the cemetery gates on Richmond Hill.

They inspired me to write a haiku which when added to a photograph produces a haiga which can be viewed at Autumn Haiku 2007

More chestnuts can be seen at Another Paris DP ~~ Budapest DP ~~ Curly's Photoshop ~~ The Keropok - Singapore DP ~~ Kuala Lumpur DP ~~ Medam's Colored Garden ~~ Merisi's Vienna for Beginners ~~ New York City DP ~~ Novara DP ~~ No Wooden Shoes ~~ Singapura Daily Makan Photo ~~ This Abingdon

Raglan Street Bridge

This bridge over the Peak Forest Canal is by the animal shelter at the bottom of Raglan Street.

It is currently closed, having beeen declared unsafe. Despite being on a regularly-used footpath, nobody seems to be in a rush to get it repaired.

Hyde Lads Club

This photograph by guest photographer Frank Bennett shows all that is left of Hyde Lads Club on Beeley Street. The club was demolished and Beeley Street lost to create a car park.

According to Thomas Middleton's History of Hyde (1932)

The Hyde's Lads' Club is one of the most novel social ventures of the day, and has excited interest throughout the country. It was founded by Mr. J.W.A. Danby, Chief Constable Of Hyde, and was opened on October 5th, 1928 in a room in the Town hall. As the membership rose to 316 in the first three weeks, the club was removed to the Wesleyan School on Water Street, where it continued to flourish. Then Mr. Danby acquired the Old Police Buildings and site in Beeley Street; the building was transformed; games rooms, library, reading-room and small lecture rooms were adapted from existing rooms; a large assembly room was made out of the old court room, and a billiards room was arranged beneath it. A large hall and gymnasium was erected on part of the site; and when completed the premises provided for every phase of work associated with such a club.

The new buildings were opened by H.R.H. Prince Henry, Duke Of Gloucester, K.G., on February 6th, 1930, and were inspected by the Home Secretary, the Right Honrable, J.R. Clynes, M.P. in 1931. The club has received the warm commendation of some of the leading social reformers of the day. The main purpose of the Club is the prevention of juvenile crime, and to rescue those who are criminally inclined by bringing them into contact with clean-living boys, and transferring their inclinations into a more healthy channel. The principal features of the Club are games, physical training and gymnastics, classes in First Aid, Library, Dramatic Society, and other educational agencies, and each Sunday evening a short service is held. The boys are in the hands of fully qualified instuctors, whose services are voluntary. The Chief Constable's hope was that the Club may be looked upon as a place where boys may spend their spare time away from the streets, and improve themselves physically, religiously, and morally.

The notice above the name-slab mentions nothing about the good Mr. Danby but reads

TO COMMEMORATE HIS HONOUR JUDGE THOMAS HUGHES AUTHOR OF "TOM BROWN'S SCHOOLDAYS" WHO USED THIS BUILDING AS COUNTY COURT JUDGE DURING THE YEARS 1882-1896

Roadworks and a new bollard

These roadworks at the junction of Union Street and Market Street have been going on for a while, but my attention was drawn to them recently by the new bright shiny yellow bollard that has appeared amongst the cones.

10am on a Tuesday morning

Now that the licensing laws have been relaxed to allow pubs to choose their own opening hours, and since the ban on smoking inside premises, there have been changes to the layout of Market Street.

Screens have been erected outside the Cotton Bale (a Wetherspoon's pub) and tables and chairs provided. So any fine morning you can sit outside smoking, drinking and eating breakfast. And if you want to eat inside you can leave your dog tied to one of the tubs of flowers.

The lamp you can see in the background belongs to another pub, The Albion.

Brookfold Lane Bridge Detail

I recently posted a a photograph of Brookfold Lane Bridge.

This detailed look at the parapet is taken from the other side.

St Georges Altar

Here is the altar at St Georges Church.

On the left hand side you can see the plain modern lectern, which these days seems to be preferred over the eagles lectern I showed you earlier.

Red Lion

The Red Lion (a pub/public house/drinking establishment -- for the benefit of readers in countries that do not have such premises) in Hyde stands at the corner of Manchester Road and Clark Way.

When I last published a picture of the White Lion, someone said

Why is this building called "White Lion?" Lions-animals are most likely brown and not even red also

I tried doing some research but didn't get any definitive answer. It would seem to be all tied up with heraldry, symbolism and 14th century politics.

Here are a few more Red Lions I found on some blogs:

• Hemel Hempstead
• Lacock
• London SE17
• London SW1 (2005)
• London SW1 (2006)
• Los Angeles
• Norwich
• St Margarets at Cliffe

Signpost to Green Lane

Walk under the old railway bridge on Brookfold Lane and before you get to the farm you'll come across this signpost pointing you in the direction of Green Lane.

Chimney pot at Dunkirk Farm

Take the road past Newton Hall and you'll end up at Dunkirk Farm.

The highly unusual chimney pot is in sharp contrast to the modern satellite TV dish.

Behind the Fence

There is an area of ground next to Farm Foods that has been fenced off for months now. You can see it in this picture from April 10th.

Around the sides are the back-doors into the shops in Clarendon Shopping Mall. Sometimes you'll see the shop-workers standing around having a "cigarette-break"

Anyway I poked my camera lense through a gap to see what might be happening behind the fence. Not much at the moment it seems.

Allotments

These allotments are just off Wood End Lane. Security in such places are tight these days as confirmed by the presence of an alarm. I had to poke my camera lens through the metal bars of a fence to get this picture of the valley of Gower Hey Brook.

At one time there were allotments all the way across to Gower Road and the trees were not so thick. See what the area used to look like almost a hundred years ago on Old Hyde.

Missed the Birdie

As I was passing Stonepit Reservoir recently I saw what I think was a heron by the first fishing station.

I fished my "point-and-shoot" out of my pocket but just as I stuck the lens through the bars I dropped my stick and the bird flew off.

Even so, you can see the piece of wattle-fencing and a new strip of grass in this picture.

Previous photographs in this series:

• Jul 20th 2006 Stonepit Reservoir
• Sep 6th 2006 Twigs & Barbed Wire
• Sep 14th 2006 Stonepit Reservoir Again
• Dec 14th 2006 Stonepit Reservoir Yet Again
• Dec 22nd 2006 A Glimpse of Stonepit Reservoir
• Jan 11th 2007 Reservoir Filling Up
• May 15th 2007 Reservoir Nearly Ready
• July 7th 2007 Waterfall flowing at Stonepit
• August 11th 2007 Stonepit Reservoir Not Quite Ready

Hand-bell ringers

One of the joys of the Heritage Open Day last year at St Georges were the handbell ringers, Tin'stle Bells.

They were there again this year and played an excellent selection of pieces.

End of Lines

This shop appeared to be having a closing-down sale in July 2006 but it hasn't shut down yet.

Brookfold Lane Bridge

This is the old railway bridge on Brookfold Lane.

It leads, not surprisingly, to Brookfold Farm, and it is from the top of the bridge that I took my earlier photo of the farm. There is [unless you are a very agile climber] no access from the lane under the bridge onto the footpath that goes over it.

Wheelbarrow

Now where was it I left my wheelbarrow?

Previous pictures in this series

• January 2007: JNH store to be demolished
• Ready for demolition
• demolition on its way
• Old building gone altogether
• Foundations down
• work proceeding
• Scaffolding
• You have been warned
• Building rising up
• Work on Reynold Street
• The Court Rises
• Mortar delivery
• Roof goes on
• Flats rising up behind the Church

Refuse Wagon

I showed you a workman emptying the contents of our wheelie bin into the back of a refuse wagon last year.

Here is a full length shot of the vehicle.

Path to Apethorn Mill

This picture by guest photographer Tom Wigley is of a footpath that leads off Apethorn Lane, down to the river Tame, past the site of Apethorn (aka Gee Cross) Mill.

When the mill boiler blew up it landed here!

A picture of the explosion is on Old Hyde.

Beams

These beams are inside Newton Hall which was open yesterday as part of the Heritage Open Days.

The 14th century cruck framed manor house was restored in 1970 by W Kenyon & Sons Ltd.

Eagle Lectern

Like the Theatre Royal, also taking part in the Heritage Open Days was St George's Church.

Trips up the bell tower were available, but the stairs are steep and suitable only for the fittest of folk. The handbell ringers were there again.

Among the items on display was this carved lectern in the shape of an Eagle, rescued from storage in the Hearse House.

Over the coming few weeks, I'll be posting some other pictures from the day.

Push Bar to Open

As I reported recently on here and Old Hyde, as part of Heritage Open Days 2007, the Theatre Royal was open yesterday and is again today.

This picture taken yesterday gives an idea of the state of the inside of the theatre. But it is not all doom and gloom. There is a new website now for Hyde Theatre Royal Onward, the company set up to save this historic theatre for the town.

The basic structure of the building is sound and although a lot of work will be needed, it is not impossible.

Photographs from the 2006 Open Day can be found at http://www.geraldengland.co.uk/gx/royal.htm and are better than any of the ones I took yesterday.

Astoria Bingo Hall

The Astoria Bingo Hall was glimpsed in my photograph looking up Clarendon Street.

It was originally a cinema called La Scala; rumour has it they used to turn the heating up towards the interval in the hope that people would buy more ice cream.

Train at Godley East

Seen across fields, this train from Glossop has just left Hattersley Station [off to the right] and is heading past the now defunct Godley East station [aka Godley Junction] towards Godley and Manchester Piccadilly, leaving me to walk down to the main road at Godley Arches for a bus into town.

Panther Parked

I saw this pretty Panther parked outside premises in town the other week. It didn't get clamped. When I passed by again about twenty minutes later it had gone.

Flats going up behind the Church

The new flats on Reynold Street can be seen rising above the Central Methodist Church on Crook Street.

Previous pictures in this series

• January 2007: JNH store to be demolished
• Ready for demolition
• demolition on its way
• Old building gone altogether
• Foundations down
• work proceeding
• Scaffolding
• You have been warned
• Building rising up
• Work on Reynold Street
• The Court Rises
• Mortar delivery
• Roof goes on

White Lion 2007

When I recently posted a view of the flower beds on Greenfield Street, some commentators suggested the lack of flowers there might be due to council cut-backs. However, to give the council their due, there are lots of bright flowers in hanging baskets and tubs around the town.

This one is in front of the White Lion which stands on the corner of the Market Place at the top end of Clarendon Street.

A picture of how it looked around 1910 is on Old Hyde.

Covered seat in Market Place

I recently posted a picture of the Canopy covering the seat in the Market Place.

Kaz asked if the Bradford & Bingley, visible in the background, was still going. It is and as far as I know the B&B is still a building society. This picture which shows the whole seat is taken from outside the B&B and now we have the Halifax in the background. That used to be a building society but is now a bank.

The seat itself is relatively modern and not actually attached to the shelter, so it is quite probable that the latter was originally a tram-stop shelter, but perhaps not quite in its present location.

Diversion

The monthly DP theme for September is "street signs or street lighting".

It is a subject that is covered quite frequently here and my first thought was to do a collage of signs and lights that have appeared here previously. I'm sure a number of participents will have the same idea. However, I wasn't very pleased with my attempts at creating a collage.

My attention was diverted recently by activity in our street, the bottom of which has been made one-way. Shortly after I'd taken this picture, the workmen went on to paint the words "NO ENTRY" in white letters across the road. I've seen at least a couple of vehicles carry blithely on down the hill, nonetheless!

Below are links to sites that have registered to say they'll be posting on this month's theme. Unlike previous months, I'm not intending to update the list with permalinks to the actual theme posts.

Seattle (WA), USA - Ocean Township (NJ), USA - Twin Cities (MN), USA - Cleveland (OH), USA - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Singapore [Keropokman] - Boston (MA), USA - Mexico (DF), Mexico - Kajang (Selangor), Malaysia - Mainz, Germany - Evry, France - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Sequim (WA), USA - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Nottingham, UK - Toulouse, France - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Manila, Philippines - Mumbai, India - Montpellier, France - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Stayton (OR), USA - Moscow, Russia - Paris, France [Jeremy] - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Austin (TX), USA - Lyon, France [DJPhil] - Stockholm, Sweden - Hyde, UK - Hong Kong, China - Joplin (MO), USA - Seoul, South Korea - Chandler (AZ), USA - St. Louis (MO), USA - Arlington (VA), USA - Anderson (SC), USA - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Villigen, Switzerland - Sydney, Australia - Selangor, Malaysia - Montego Bay, Jamaica - Norwich (Norfolk), UK - San Diego (CA), USA [Zentmrs] - Bandung (West Java), Indonesia - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Melbourne, Australia [John] - Nelson, New Zealand - Quincy (MA), USA - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Bend (OR), USA - Wellington, New Zealand - New Orleans (LA), USA - Cypress (TX), USA - Nashville (TN), USA - Bucaramanga (Santander), Colombia - Detroit (MI), USA - Saigon, Vietnam - Selma (AL), USA - Phoenix (AZ), USA - Miami (FL), USA - Arradon, France - Sheki, Azerbaijan - New York City (NY), USA - Inverness (IL), USA - North Bay (ON), Canada - Melbourne, Australia [Michael] - Port Vila, Vanuatu - Tenerife, Spain - Auckland, New Zealand - Forks (WA), USA - Rotterdam, Netherlands - Chateaubriant, France - Madison (WI), USA - Wailea (HI), USA - Orlando (FL), USA - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Ajaccio, France - Baltimore (MD), USA - Crepy-en-Valois, France - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Budapest, Hungary - Lyon, France [Cedric & Angelique] - Saarbrücken, Germany - Adelaide (SA), Australia - Le Guilvinec, France - River Falls (WI), USA - Stavanger, Norway - Naples (FL), USA - London, UK - La Antigua, Guatemala - Philadelphia (PA), USA - Montréal (QC), Canada - Paris, France [Eric] - San Diego (CA), USA [Felicia] - Truxillo, Peru - Haninge, Sweden - Prague, Czech Republic - Oslo, Norway - Grenoble, France - Shanghai, China - Toronto (ON), Canada - Durban, South Africa - Zurich, Switzerland - Cape Town, South Africa - Singapore [Zannie]- Torino, Italy - Flagstaff (AZ), USA