150th Anniversery

Saturday 9th June was exactly 150 to the day that the Stockport to Whaley Bridge railway line opened.



The sun shone on a smiling group of Trust members who dressed for the occasion.









joined by the British Transport Police and the Hazel Grove model Railway Society

Plaza Blue Plaque Launch

Wednesday 6th of June was a big day for the Trust, the unveiling of a fourth Blue Plaque and the launch of the town's first Blue Plaque Guide.



The Heritage Trust, the Council and Stockport Express were all congratulated by the Worshipful Mayor June Somekh for having worked together to achieve such a momentous undertaking.





The Guide produced by Phil Rowbotham of the Trust is available free of charge from the Tourist Information Centre and can also be supplied in large print, Braille and audio versions. It is hoped that this will bring visitors into Stockport to view our varied history.

The Plaque could not be secured permanently onto the Plaza's facade as permission for listed buildings is a more complicated affair, but should be in place by the end of the Month.



A cake to commemorate the occasion was cut by Frank Galvin and the Plaza staff provided a most excellent buffet.

Four other Blue Plaques were on display and are yet to be put up, for Rostron's Brow, The Bulls Head, St. Petersgate Bridge and Houldsworth Working Men's Club

Kevin Dranfield and Phil Rowbotham, from the Trust have worked closely with Paul Mason and Fiona Bullock from the Council to make the whole thing possible.

Heritage Magazine Spring Issue

Have you seen this wanted poster all over the town?

Have you got yours yet?

With our new town crier on the front it contains articles about

• Stockport's last town crier
• Cobden's move
• Bombs in Stockport
• The last days of the Workhouse
• The gypsy's curse
• Stockport Story's new gallery
• "Reggie's 'oller"
• Reddish Library
• The Railway Children at Strines
• Marple locks trail.

As well as letters and lots of photographs.

A Wet Walk

Not to be daunted, the more hardy members of the Trust set off on Sunday for a wet walk in the hills.
The scenery was well worth the effort, and a stop in the Anglers Arms a must for drying out.

Thank you Steve for an interesting look at the area around Wormhill and Millers Dale.

The meaning of the name Wormhill for those as ignorant as myself is 'Dragon Hill' luckily for us dragon's don't like rain, so we passed it's lair unmolested.

Armoury Unveiling

The second of eleven new Blue Plaques was unveiled in Stockport on Saturday outside the Armoury.

It was performed by two Territorial soldiers who have just returned from their tour of duty in Iraq.

Attended by Councillor Sue Derbyshire as well as Frank Galvin from the Stockport Story Museum and members of the Heritage Trust.

The Cheshire Regiment Veterans put on a fine spread and warm hospitality.

Strawbery Studios Unveiling

Wednesday 2nd May saw the first of the Blue Plaque unveiling's. It was Strawberry Studios and the media were out in force.



It was advertised on GMR in the morning



Appeared on Channel M in the afternoon



and was featured on Granada Tonight at tea time.



the Stockport Express took photographs



and speeches were given by Julian Bromley, Peter Tattersal and the wife of one of the band 10cc.




The sun shone and the wine flowed, but the curtain was a little reluctant to come off.

All in all a successful launch thanks to Strawberry Studios for their hospitality and to Kevin, Phil and the council for all their hard work.

Reddish Baths / Fire Station / Library

Nearly every council in the country must be having the same problems. They have buildings they would rather pull down to build new ones.
WHY ? The answer is usually money.

Stockport has Reddish Library, a beautiful building, just not old enough to fit into the category of buildings worth saving.

But the Government has come up with an answer, and it's the Big Lottery Fund, £30 million intended for underused public buildings.

The details can be found at www.cabinet-office.gov.uk then go to third sector.

The Heritage Trust would like your opinion on this matter, please click on comments below.

Manchester Police Museum

Another day out for Trust Members this time took them to the Police Museum in Manchester.
Meeting at Piccadilly, 16 made their way to Newton Street where the old Police Station is now the biggest Police Museum in the country.

Tours have to be booked in advance and a maximum of 20 people at a time are shown around.
It was well worth the effort, fascinating facts and figures were on display as well as human stories, gruesome exhibits, weapons used in crimes and other artifacts showing the history of policing in the Greater Manchester area.

Altogether a great day out, the high light being the re-constructed Denton Magistrates court where we put Ann and Eric in the dock and Kevin sat on the bench. With Paula as a witness and the remainder of the party prosecuting the defendants didn't stand a chance.

Conservation & Heritage

It is now three years since the Council's Conservation and Heritage Strategy was launched, and in that time we have seen great changes in Stockport especially, around the Market Place and Underbanks.

Lottery and Heritage Funding has been used in conjunction with business partnerships to ensure that important areas of our Heritage have been developed or conserved in sensitive and appropriate ways.

Progress has also been made in creating more conservation areas around the borough and information about these can be be found on the Council web site, including maps.

The Council are now looking at a new strategy document and the Heritage Trust was invited along with other local groups to have a say in what kind of issues they would like to be included in it.

Many different facets of conservation and the environment were looked at including buildings that were at risk, such as Wybersley Hall, the home of John Bradshawe, which is now being carefully restored and an Archaeological data base for research purposes outlining the borough's 320 known sites.

Three other building that the Trust has a particular interest in are the Reddish Library/Baths/Fire Station, St. Thoams' Workhouse and the Old Dungeon on Mealhouse Brow.

The meeting was only one of two scheduled this week in order to make them accessible to as many groups as possible.

The Trust will be watching with interest as this document is formulated and hope to continue a good working relationship with the Council's Heritage Officers.

A Serious Side.

If you view the blog on a regular basis, it may appear the members of the Heritage Trust spend most of their time stood behind stalls dressed in period costume and having fun.

I assure you this is not the case.

Trust members are very much involved on a weekly basis in what is going on with our town's heritage.

We have representatives who are invited to Conservation Forums, sit on judging panels for Conservation & Design Awards, meet regularly with the Tourism Partnership, aid groups applying for Lottery funding for re-generation projects and give talks about our heritage as well as many other activities.

Our aim is also to make people aware of the borough's history and that is why, when offered another chance to show what we do to the public, a small band of willing volunteers (and St. George) could be seen once more dressed as medieval costume in a park, this time in Cheadle Heath.









Cheadle Heath Pavilion was the setting on Saturday 21st April, for a St. George's Day festival and car boot sale. Music was supplied by the Brinnington Bongo Band and animals and bouncy castle added to the entertainments.
The only one who lost his head was St. George, but with so many fair maidens who could blame him.

'150'

COUNT DOWN TO THE BIG '150'

June 9th 2007 Watch This Space!

'Easter Market Fun'

Hundreds of people visited Stockport Market Place on Easter Saturday determined to join in the FAMILY FUN.





The Market traders, St. Mary's Church, the Heritage Trust and the Fire Brigade joined together to offer visitors a selection of activities from an Easter Egg Hunt and bonnet making, to a rare opportunity of see inside Stockport's medieval Lock-up and Dungeon on Mealhouse Brow with a display of Crime & Punishment. There was a clown and Disco as well as face painting and a Coconut Shy.






The weather was kind to us and Trust members were out in force. With the usual enthusiasm, they dressed for the occasion.







New members Tony and Nick acted the parts of Constable Birch and his prisoner, while Jim offered youngsters the chance to try their hand at being a Town Crier.







Photographs from the Heritage Centre were on view and Rev. Roger Scoones had tomatoes thrown at him in the stocks beside the prisoner. People gave generously in appreciation of the efforts put in by everyone and the event was seen as a tremendous success.

Bill Hoad

It is with great sadness that I have to announce that Bill Hoad, the author and inventor of the Stockport Heritage blog passed away at 4 pm this afternoon at St. Ann's Hospice, Cheadle.

Bill had been a valued member of the Trust for many years as well as our Treasurer.

His cheery personality will be very greatly missed and I am sure I speak for everyone when I say that our thoughts are with Lan and his parents at this time.

Make Roads Pay for Rail

STOCKPORT EXPRESS - Readers Letters 28th Feb 2007

There was once a proposal to run a shuttle train service from Marple Rose Hill to Altincham via Guide Bridge and Stockport.
This Proposal would give more predictable journey times from Marple to Stockport (about 32 mins) and would allow the people of Denton and Redddish a reasonable train service.
Beyond Stockport to Altrincham new stations at Cheadle, Wythenshawe and Baguley would again give the population a train service.
Time from Stockport to Altrincham would be about 22 mins. As you can see from the times, two trains can give and hourly service and as all the track infrastructure is in place, start up costs would be relatively cheap.
The cost could be recovered from the congestion charge which under current proposals does not benefit Stockport at all.

Kevin Dranfield