WHEN WE WAS BRUNG UP PROPER

Congratulations to all my friends who were born in the
1940s, 50s and 60s.
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or
drank sherry while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, bread and dripping, raw
egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, and didn’t get tested for
diabetes or cervical cancer.
Then, after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with
bright coloured lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or locks on
doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not
to mention the risks we took hitchhiking.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seatbelts or air
bags.
We drank water from the garden hose, not from a bottle.
Takeaway food was limited to fish and chips, there were no
pizza shops, McDonald’s, KFC, Subway or Nando’s.
Even though all the shops closed at 6pm and didn’t open on a
Sunday, somehow we didn’t starve to death!
We shared one soft drink with four friends from one bottle
and no one died from this. We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in
at the corner store and buy toffees, gobstoppers and bubble gum.
We ate white bread and real butter, drank cow’s milk and
soft drinks with sugar, but we weren’t overweight because . . . we were always
outside playing!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long
as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all
day, but we were OK. We would spend hours building go-karts out of old prams
and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.
We built treehouses and dens and played in riverbeds with
Matchbox cars.
We did not have PlayStations, Nintendo Wii and Xboxes, or
video games, DVDs, or colour TV.
There were no mobiles, computers, internet or chatrooms. We
had friends and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and
there were no lawsuits from these accidents. And we ate worms and mud pies made
from dirt, too.
Only girls had pierced ears.
You could buy Easter eggs and hot cross buns only at Easter
time.
We were given air guns and catapults for our tenth
birthdays, we rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door
or just yelled for them.
Not everyone made the school rugby, football, cricket or
netball teams. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment.
Imagine that. Getting into the team was based on merit.
Our teachers hit us with canes, gym shoes and threw the
blackboard rubber at us if they thought we weren’t concentrating.
We can string sentences together, spell and have proper
conversations now because of a solid three Rs education.
Our parents would tell us to ask a stranger to help us cross
the road.
Mum didn’t have to go to work to help Dad make ends meet
because we didn’t need to keep up with the Joneses!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was
unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
Parents didn’t invent stupid names for their kids like
Kiora, Blade, Ridge and Vanilla.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we
learned how to deal with it all.
You might want to share this with others who grew up in an
era before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives.
And while you are at it, forward it to your children, so
they will know how brave their parents were.

Public Houses in Walkden and Little Hulton in 19th Century

Little Hulton Public Houses 19th Century

DUNN MARE Greenheys, 227 Manchester Road West (1841), opposite Stansfield Mill, beer seller, Peter Hall, southside.

FARMER’S ARMS Greenheys, 271 Manchester Road West (1861), 50 yards from Dunn Mare on the same side, beer seller and coal miner Henry Yates, “demolished, southside.

FLAGG INN Greenheys, Manchester Road West (1861), opposite the Farmer’s Arms, beer seller Robert Schofield, now a private house with rooms to let, northside.

WAGGONERS “Peel Bank / Hanging Bank”, Manchester Road West(1841), east side of Colliers Arms and Kenyon Arms, Beer seller Margaret Stones, northside.

COLLIERS ARMS (Stone Jug) “Hanging Bank”, Manchester Road West (1871) beer seller and coal miner James Collier, a stone build which stands today as a private house, northside.

UNNAMED BEER HOUSE Atkin Street (1861), beer house keeper Gerrard Pendlebury, northside.

WHEATSHEAF Hurst Houses, 21 Highfield Road, near Watson Road (1861), grocer and beer seller James Hurst, northside.

OLD HOUSE AT HOME Hanging Bank, 160 Manchester Road West (1871), coal miner and beer seller John Eckersley, renamed White Lion (1881), northside.

KENYON ARMS Bank Brow, 99 Manchester Road West (1851), inn keeper and timber merchant John Tunstan, an earlier name was Golden Lion.

SWAN INN Bank Brow, 144 Manchester Road West (1871), John Critchley colliery stoker, he was the name beer seller when he served on the jury at the bank Colliery explosion 1867, on the east side of the railway bridge near the White Lion, near Spring Gardens, leading up to the front door was a hand rail and 4 stone steps “demolished”, northside.

ANTELOPE INN Street Gate, Manchester Road West, Publican James Heap, (1841) a valuable public house known as “Poor Dicks” beer seller Mrs Martha Gregory. A well built house containing a bar, vault, bar parlour, tap rooms, kitchen, club rooms, 7 bedrooms, and good cellarage. The out buildings comprise of brewery, stables, shippons, barns piggeries etc, and well laid bowling green and flower gardens. The site contained 5,114 square yards of land, southside.

CHURCH INN Street Gate, 56 Manchester Road West, beer seller Simon Clarke (1871) opposite Peel Church, now demolished northsde.

The ROYAL OAK Street Gate, 46 Manchester Road West, brewer Samuel Astle, (1871) northside.

HORSE SHOE Street Gate, 10 Manchester Road West, carter and beer seller Joe Dearden, (1871) northside near Cleggs Lane.

RISING SUN 5 Cleggs Lane, day labourer and beer seller Thomas Berry (1871).

RAVEN 180 Cleggs Lane at the corner of Whitby Street, beer seller John Greenhalgh (1871). The old Raven was replaced in (1960) and now stands at the junction of Cleggs Lane and Eastham Way.

BRIDGE INN Bridge Street off Manchester Road East, Dunkirk between Smithfold Lane and London North Western Railway, beer seller William Hinch (1971) southside

MINERS REST Bridge Street lower down from Bridge Inn a free hold beer house, previously known as Staid and Freedom

SEVEN STARS Smithfold Lane, coal miner and beer seller Thomas Knight (1871)

THREE PIDGEONS Dunkirk, 289 Manchester Road East, beer seller and railway carpenter John Hurst (1881) situated between The Commercial (Bluebell) and the L.N.W.R. the two pubs were separated by a bowling green, southside.

BLUE BELL INN Dunkirk,273 Manchester Road East, publican Jacob Fletcher (1851) evidence shows that there was a pub at the site of the Blue Bell as early as 1807later changed to the Commercial this is now the Bell which stands on the site of the old bowling green, the previous pub stood were the car park is today.

COMBERMERE ARMS Dunkirk, 302 Manchester Road East, named after Viscount Combermere whose son and heir acquired Peel Hall through marriage, publican Robert Bridge (1881), almost opposite Smithfold Lane at east side of railway line.

JOLLY CARTER Dunkirk, 251 Manchester Road East, beer house keeper John Tyldesley 91881), southside.

SHAMROCK TAVERN Dunkirk, 241 Manchester Road East, beer house keeper Lydia Mullineux (1881) southside.

UNNAMED BEERHOUSE Hilton Lane, brewer and farmer of 44 acres James Atkin (1861)

PROVIDENCE INN Thought to have stood on the path leading to Mather Fold and The City across Providence Fields on the west side of Hilton lane between high level railway bridge and Newhearth Road.

ALBION HOTEL Hilton Lane head 137 Manchester Road East with large bowling green attached to the pub now gone, beer seller Margaret Reeves (1881).

NEW INN 79 Manchester Road East, inn keeper Sarah Tonge (1881), an oastler and general servant also lived at Inn.

VULCAN Auctioned 1881 it was situated at 11 Lansdale Street, Worsley Road, Little Hulton with yard and stables, coaching house, out buildings, blacksmith and shop in the yard. Mr Robert Howard landlord. It is nearly a mile from any other pub, fully licensed with a vault, bar parlour, taproom, kitchen, pantry, smoke room, large room, sitting room, well cellared throughout. Buildings include out buildings 4 stables, coach house ,piggeries and domestic offices.

VIRGINS INN Corner of Alexander Road.

LITTLE HULTON BREWERY Was situated between Silver Terrace and Moorside House on the southside of Manchester Road East run by William Cocker from Walton Le Dale. In 1851 he was working as an oastler and brewer at the Antelope. In 1861 his address was Little Hulton Brewery where he lived with his wife and 6 children. In 1881 he was recorded as ale brewer and employed 3 men. In 1891 he retired and his son William Junr took over as brewer and his address was 60 and 62 Manchester Road West.