STUART CUNNINGHAM
I recall the night when a special train, all lit up with bulbs, came clanging down Manchester Road [to Denton] to announce Victory in Europe. It meant my dad would be coming home.
(From Denton Voices)
PHILIP LLOYD
On VJ Day a tram came past the shop, and they had the illuminated tram, bulbs all over the outside, and I remember my mother getting us up at about 10.30 p.m. to go to the front attic window to see this tram passing. I wasn’t very impressed at the time!
HILDA MASON
We couldn’t afford to go to Albert Square. In the streets and that, they put tables, and everybody made jelly, cakes, and whatever they could, and we had a real good celebration when it was all over.
And it was surprising how quick you got back to normal life, even though you’d had all those years of upheaval.
A modern-day photo of the War Memorial in Piccadilly Gardens, commemorating those killed during the Luftwaffe raids on the city of Manchester. (Author’s collection)
CONTRIBUTORS
Names marked with a * indicate those interviewed by the author.
Harry Abraham Allen Hayes
Barry Abrahams Frances Henson
Marjorie Ainsworth* Jeanne Herring
Bill Ashton Edward Higson
Roy S. Ashworth Bryant Anthony Hill*
Roy Bevan Francis Hogan*
John Burton Dennis Humphries*
Alice Campbell Jenny Johnson*
Harry Capper Trefor Jones*
Elizabeth Chapman Margaret Kierman
Joan Constable Marjorie Lloyd
Ivy Corrigan Mary Lloyd
Mary Corrigan Philip Lloyd*
June Cowan* Ida McNally
Maurice Cowan Joe Marlor
Dr R.A. Cranna T. Marriott-Moore
Stuart Cunningham Hilda Mason*
William Cunningham Roy Mather*
Arthur Robert Davenport* Thyra Mather*
Nancy Drumm* Nora Marjorie May
Annie Gibb* Mickie Mitchell*
Margaret Greaves* Doreen Needham
Mary Malcolm Gregory Ruth Palmer
Frank Hargreaves* John Pearson
Pat Hargreaves Harry Pexton
Ellis Phythian Snr. Ann Stansfield
Fred Plant Phyllis Stewart
Bob Potts* Diane Swift* [pseudonym]
Olive Quayle Eileen Towers*
Donald Read Hugh Varah
Ernest Rigby Doris Wade
Peter Roughan Doris White*
Helen Sephton* Bob Wild
Brian Seymour* Stan Wilkinson
Evelyn Seymour * Dr Garfield Williams
Rosa Slater Norman Williamson*
Renee Smith Dennis Wood*
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Chapman, Elizabeth, One Child’s War: Memories of a Wartime Childhood in Stockport (Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, 1990)
Cooper, Ian, Hardy, Clive, and Hochland, Henry, Manchester at War: A Pictorial Account 1939–45 (MEN Special Edition) (Archive Productions Ltd, 1986)
Cronin, Jill, and Pilcher, Marion, Denton Voices (Chalford Oral History, 1998)
Gardiner, Juliet, The Blitz: The British Under Attack (HarperPress, 2010)
Hardy, Clive, Manchester at War (First Edition/MEN, 2005)
Hayes, Cliff (Ed.), Our Blitz: Red Sky Over Manchester (Kemsley Newspapers Ltd, 1945)
Howarth, Ken, Manchester Wartime Memories (Manchester Library and Information Services, 2006)
Hylton, Stuart, Reporting the Blitz: News from the Home Front Communities (The History Press, 2012)
Lavery, Brian, The British Home Front Pocket-Book (Conway, 2010)
Leach, Bernard, Hibberd, Helen, and Reed, Kate (compilers), ‘Memories of Chorlton’ (Manchester City Council, 2011)
Levine, Joshua, Forgotten Voices of the Blitz and the Battle For Britain: A New History in the Words of the Men and Women on Both Sides (Random House/Imperial War Museum, 2006)
Potts, Bob, The Old Pubs of Hulme and Chorlton-on-Medlock (Neil Richardson, 1983)
Read, Donald, A Manchester Boyhood in the Thirties and Forties: Growing Up in War and Peace (Edwin Mellor, 2003)
‘Recollections: Heaton Park Memories’ (North West Sound Archive)
‘Recollections: Ramsbottom Memories’ (North West Sound Archive)
Various, Spirit of Manchester (City News Supplement, 8 February, 1940)
Various, Front Line 1940–41: The Official Story of the Civil Defence of Britain (HM Stationery Office, 1942)
Various, World War II: An Account of Local Stories (Newsquest Media Group, 2004)
Wild, Bob, The Dogs of War: A Prestwich Boyhood (Bob Wild, 2008)
Wright, Simon, Memories of the Salford Blitz: Christmas 1940 (Neil Richardson, 1987)
WEBSITES
www.nwsoundarchive.co.uk www.chorltongoodneighbours.org
www.movinghistory.ac.uk www.levyboy.com
www.britishpathe.com
For a striking visual record of Manchester’s wartime years, especially of the Blitz, Messrs Howarth’s and Hardy’s books are highly recommended. Also well worth a look is the unforgettable ten-minute film ‘Manchester Took It Too’, produced by the film unit of the Co-Operative Wholesale Society, and available for domestic viewing from the North West Film Archive. Contact details (from April 2014):
North-West Film Archive
Archives+
Manchester Central Library
M2 5PD
Email: n.w.filmarchive@mmu.ac.uk
Copyright
First published in 2014
The History Press
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This ebook edition first published in 2014
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© Graham Phythian, 2014
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