Growing up in Miles Platting

I have a lot of happy memories of growing up in Miles Platting, especially my schooldays. I attended Holland Street School and had some great times. My pals and I were sports mad. We would play football and cricket until it went dark. I played for all the football and cricket teams at school and I’m afraid that the education side of the school became secondary. Mind you, we could all read and write and do our sums. The best results I had at school were in my last eighteen months. Our teacher’s name was Mr Whittaker. He was quite strict. He certainly made us pay attention. He told us how we should be proud of the area. We did research into how our district got its name. Apparently on a dirt road leading into Manchester centre was a stone plaque with one mile on it. This was sited next to a little stone bridge which was known as a platting, and it became known as the One Mile Platting, eventually becoming Miles Platting. We believe the stone bridge was the one we all knew as Royles Bridge near Holland’s Mill not far from Butler Street. I believe this was in the 18th century and it is still there today. I always remember Mr. Whittaker’s wording on how this big industrialised area full of close knit terraced houses, factory chimneys, smoke and grime had in its centre a lovely green oasis, namely Iron Street & Sandal Street Bowling Green. Certainly, over the years we came to realise that’s exactly what it was. After spring when the weather started to improve people in the area were drawn into it. Mothers with babies in their prams, the older people sitting reading on the many benches around the greens. Then the bowling season would start. There would be lots of matches to watch, from the four teams they had there. On weekends the place would be full of people of all ages, enjoying the pleasant surroundings and escaping from the dirt and grime for a few hours. These are just a few of my happy memories of Holland Street and Miles Platting.