Brought up in Miles Platting some 60years ago. We first lived in Gt. George
Street the same road as St. Luke’s School that I attended from the age
of 4-5 and have some great memories of my time there. Although we lived within
minutes of the school we were always late and had no time for breakfast. My
mother Doris Beresford came across to school at playtime with mugs of hot cocoa
and thick wedges of toast to keep us going ‘til lunchtime.
My grandma Cissy Johnson had a pub on the corner for thirty
years, many people will remember The George, she was in the pub until it was
finally demolished. I remember going to my grandma’s pub at dinnertime
and seeing the workers from West Gas and the local foundry eating their sandwiches
with a pint, Grandma also used to put on Potato Hash Pie.
After finishing at St. Luke’s we all went to Holland
Street School to complete our education. (Apart from the brainy ones who passed
their 11plus exam.)
My family had in the interim period, moved house on two occasions. First to
Hulme Hall Lane, which was very busy with traffic, then to Hanbury Street on
Tripe Colony. What a name!
By this time I was working at the Calico Print Works just
off Albion Street and had some great mates who also worked there. Terry Manton
who taught me to drive in a Ford, he also had a very large wooden bodied shooting
brake, which he sold to local character, Jack Wood who owned a small Haulage
business.
My father Harold Beresford had a haulage company operating
out of Smithfield market delivering fruit and veg’ to local shops. He had
horse-drawn carts when he first started and I used to go with him on Sunday
mornings to feed the horses, on many occasions when we got there they’d
kicked the stable doors open and were roaming the streets of Ancoats, much to
the delight of the children and the consternation of the local people.
My father eventually had to invest in a lorry to enable
him to compete with others, not being able to drive at the time he went into
partnership with a young man Arthur Woods who already had a driving licence,
they flourished from then on and when dad finally passed his test they had two
lorries on the road. I used to help him on Saturdays; to earn some cash so I
could afford to go to the plaza, dancing and be entertained by a very young
Jimmy Saville (The resident DJ) or we’d go to the speedway at Belle Vue
and see the local heroes performing on the track.
Harold Beresford.
