Memories of Manchester

The photos today are from 9 April 1998 and we were visiting Manchester.

We came originally from Rochdale so Manchester, being the nearest large city, was very familiar to us. We grew up with it, although it had changed hugely in the 1980s with the creation of the Arndale Centre down Market Street.

With the 1990s trams came back to Manchester, running between the two railway stations of Victoria and Piccadilly. The Metro Link also connects Manchester with surrounding towns.

Eighteen months previously to these photos the IRA had exploded a huge bomb here which destroyed the Marks and Spencers store on Corporation Street and badly damaged the Arndale Centre, seen on the right shrouded in corrugated iron and the historic Royal Exchange, which here has a sign telling shoppers that 30 shops are now open again.

Also destroyed were the offices of British Engine, where my Dad worked for almost twenty years before moving to Blackpool.

The night before the explosion, Fran and I were in Manchester with a party from work, visiting the theatre.

I walked down to Deansgate to visit the cathedral.

Manchester's cathedral is of the Perpendicular period (15th Century), though it was badly damaged by bombing in the Second World War. The 130ft tower was rebuilt in 1867.

As I entered, I was accosted by an elderly lady who was acting as a Cathedral Guide. "Most of us are in our 80s," she confided, "...but I'm only 72!"
"Still too old for me, love..." I thought.

Manchester's cathedral is somewhat gloomy inside. Dark stone, made darker by the smoke of Victorian factories gives it this feeling although it can be dramatically enlivened by a shaft of sunlight through a window. But then... this is Manchester...! Happily however, it did happen during my visit and the change was worth the seeing.

There was a service going on so I had no chance to view the carvings of the choir stalls.

I have some earlier photos of Manchester, showing a very different Market Street before the Arndale Centre. But you'll have to wait until I scan them!