Here is a photo of my son Neil showing off his new fort
to his friends. It may be of interest to some readers to know the young blonde
boy, (second from right, next to Neil) is David Fletcher, uncle of Mike Atherton,
the great former Lancashire and England Cricket Captain. (Wendy, Mike’s mother
is David’s sister). The name of the *boy in the light coloured sweater escapes
me, but his parents were licensees at the Victoria Public House on Oldham Road
between Pitt Street and Ford (Later
Forester) Street.
David became a professional Golfer, and my son Neil purchased
his first set of Golf Clubs from David’s shop at Reddish Vale Golf Club.
Incidentally David’s mother and father, Mary (Nee Robinson)
and Jack Fletcher, were proprietors of the superb Pork Shop situated next to
Ernie Middleton’s Paper Shop at the corner of Collyhurst Street. What a
Pork Shop that was! Everything was made from the pig, nothing wasted! Pigs trotters,
Chitterlings, Brawn, Savoury Ducks, you name it, they made it! I remember a
neighbour sending me to buy some pig’s belly and being too embarrassed
to ask for belly, I asked for pig’s stomach instead!
Jack Fletcher was a great Manchester United Fan. On the day
of the Munich Air Disaster, I was in the Pork shop when Jack Fletcher received
news of the crash by telephone. The atmosphere in the shop was electric with
all the customers shocked and upset.
Jack’s wife Mary, had a sister Joan, who kept the Fountain
Inn Public House on Bradford Road, and Joan’s daughter Beryl worked as
a hairdresser for my good friend Marian Edge whose shop was on Albion (Later
Alburn) Street. Sadly Marian died last year. I attended the funeral and sad
though it was, it was good to see many old friends at the service, including
Winnie Smith, Irene English and Marie Jordan. (Maiden Names).
We left Miles Platting in 1962, after running the Wine Shop at the corner of
Lowe Street. We took over at another Wine Shop in South Manchester and stayed
until retirement, but I have never forgotten my roots in Miles Platting. I went
to Corpus Christi School and still visit the Church quite regularly.
Miles Platting people in those days were the “salt of
the earth” and I recall Clifford Hart who had several shops on Oldham road,
saying to me when we first moved into the Wine shop “You’ll have no
problems with people paying their bills”.
When we moved to South Manchester his words rang true “The
‘posher’ the area, the more bounced cheques”.
This is the end of my epistle and may it bring back
some happy memories to some of your more senior readers.
Vera Matthews. (Nee Doyle)
* Editor thinks the boy was Newman Smith.
