Friday 28 July 2017

GATER'S PASTRYCOOK and CONFECTIONER BILL 1954


Here's another of Carole Hughes' collection of old bills and everyday documents. It dates back, as can be seen, fifty-eight years to 1954 and gives us cause to revisit a couple of photographs we've seen before..
Gater's was a rather high-class pastrycook and confectioner situated next door to what was then the Crosville Bus Garage in Wheelock Street, more recently home to the Mococo Cafe and soon to become 'starter' flats for young people.
Gater's shop can be seen in the photograph below to the right of the cafe.



Despite being empty for many years, the appearance of the shop remains very much the same as it always was, with its distinctive 'gate' across the entrance (although the gate itself looks to be  a replacement for an earlier, slightly higher, one, as seen in the third photo (below) from 1987 when T&M. Autoparts occupied most of the premises. 

Gater's shop was, evidently, in use at the time but it's very difficult to see what was being sold. Can anybody shed any light on this?

UPDATE (23rd July 2016): By 2016 all had changed again with the closure of the Mococo Cafe and its replacement by flats (still, though, under the auspices of the Middlewich Community Church).

See: MD Archive: MOCOCO CAFE TO CLOSE (JULY 2012)
 Gater's former shop was included in the conversion and the shop front with its plate glass window and gated entrance finally disappeared, to be replaced by ordinary windows. Interestingly, the black fascia board seen in the above photo was retained, presumably because of the difficulty removing it would have caused, and so at least one clue to the building's former use remains.


Here's the scene on the 28th July 2017, a wet and dreary Summer day in Middlewich. The cafe's gone and the flats have been created. Gater's shop window has been replaced by the three plastic windows, but that tell-tale black fascia is still there betraying its origins as a shop. No doubt this will eventually disappear during some future refurbishment, and the very last trace of Gater's will have gone.

The bill itself, for 30 teas at 3s 6d each, adding up to a grand total of £5. 5s 0d (or, to put it another way, five guineas) has something of an air of melancholy about it.
The teas were actually funeral teas and were sold to local undertaker Len Dean to be consumed by those attending a funeral in the Sant family.
But the slight  air of glamour which hung around Gater's is reflected in the  unusual and rather sophisticated  typeface used on its paperwork.

First published 23rd July 2012

Updated and re-published 23rd July 2013,
23rd July 2016 and 28th July 2017

Saturday 22 July 2017

MUSIC IN MIDDLEWICH: RECORDSVILLE DJs AT THE WHITE BEAR 22nd JULY 2017 (ARCHIVED)







THE FIRST MIDDLEWICH MEXON STREET MARKET JULY 2017 (ARCHIVED)





Hot on the heels of the Artisan Market (June 2012 - March 2014) and the Makers Market (April 2014 - May 2017) comes a brand new and this time purely local venture, the Middlewich Mexon Market!


SUPPORTING THE MIDDLEWICH MEXON MARKET....






From Middlewich Town Council:
Middlewich Town Council, Middlewich Vision, partners and volunteers would like to announce the creation of a new market for Middlewich. The market will be a not-for-profit venture and all proceeds will be used to sustain the market over the coming months. It will take time to develop but we hope that you will give it your support to make it a success and a welcome enhancement to our town centre.


DIRECT EMAIL LINK: visionapm@middlewich.org.uk

Find out more about the Middlewich Mexon Market at:


SUPPORTING THE MIDDLEWICH MEXON STREET MARKET...




Middlewich Heritage Society   Photo: Salt Town Productions July 2017

There's a long history of markets in Middlewich, stretching back to at least the 13th century (our first Market Charter was granted in 1260), and the Mexon website features an article with information from Allan Earl giving a brief run-down of that history and explaining where the name 'Mexon' comes from. 
 'Mexon' doesn't appear in the OED, so it may be that the word is obsolete. Or it may be a word of purely local origin, like 'Lompon'.

Photo: Bill Armsden

Historical note: This is not the fIrst time that the name 'Mexon' has been revived. In the 1970s local businessman Steve Wells used the name The King's Mexon for a restaurant in Wheelock Street, where the Blue Ginger Indian Restaurant & Takeaway currently (2017) is.


SUPPORTING THE MIDDLEWICH MEXON STREET MARKET...






And here's our celebratory MD Masthead for July 2017 featuring the advent of this

great new venture...


We wish the new Middlewich Mexon Street Market every success!

This also appears on THE QUEEN STREET COLLECTION

First published 14th July 2017
Re-published 22nd July 2017

Friday 21 July 2017

LUTHER WALTON'S SHOP 1974





by Dave Roberts


We're back in Middlewich Town Centre in 1974. The black & white building to the right is The White Bear and framed in its ornate gateway is Luther Walton's shop, which I remember as a mixture of high-class confectioner and travel agent. Next door, to the left, was Reg Taylor's Newsagents and next to that Samuel's Ironmongers, with Skellern's shoe shop on the corner of Wheelock Street and Dierden's Terrace completing the row. Walton's has now become the 'Kandi' Bar*, and for most of the 80s it was, as Colin Derek Appleton reminded us, Tempter's Wine Bar, referred to by social climbing Middlewich newbies as 'The Wine Bar In The Village', thus making it the inspiration for a poem about old and new Middlewich which will probably find its way here before too long.. Does anyone remember any other uses the building had between then and now?

* Update: In early 2012 the Kandi Bar was transformed once more and became 'Chimichango's Mexican Restaurant'.


First published on Facebook.

Original Facebook feedback:

Natalie Sant
Then it was shops and a cafe, about six years ago.

Colin Derek Appleton
I think the shops and cafe were in what was Reg Taylor's old newsagents?

Geraldine Williams
Luther Walton's brother used to run a sweet shop higher up Wheelock Street (wool shop area) and in the days of rationing my family used to pool its sweet coupons and spend them at that shop for a once-monthly binge. Luther's was also an ice-cream parlour at one time.

Dave Roberts
Yes, the shops and cafe were at Reg Taylor's, next door. It was called Middlewich In Shops and the cafe was at the back. A very pleasant spot, but short-lived. It was later incorporated into the Kandi Bar premises as the Choklat Bar. Luther Walton was ahead of his time with his travel business where you could buy brain and coach tickets.

Ian Bailey And ex juke box records!

Melanie Edwards
Don't forget Cafe Bar M 2002-2007

Update (July 2017)

By 2017 Luther Walton's had become CHIMICHANGO'S MEXICAN RESTAURANT

and Reg Taylor's Newsagent MAGGIE FINN'S TEA-ROOM

Originally published 2012
Revised and re-published 21st July 2017
Reformatted and re-published 24th April 2020




Chimichango's (photo Bill Armsden)





The Choklat Bar (photo Bill Armsden)



First published on Facebook 3rd May 2011

First published in The Middlewich Diary 21st July 2011


Revised and re-published 21st July 2017
















Wednesday 19 July 2017

NOW OPEN IN CANAL TERRACE - MAGGIE FINN'S TEA ROOM AND TEA GARDEN!

TEA-ROOM AND TEA GARDEN

FRESHLY PREPARED HOT AND COLD FOOD.
TEAS,  COFFEES AND COLD DRINKS.

EAT IN OR TAKE OUT.

OPEN MONDAY TO SATURDAY
from 8am until 4pm.



MAGGIE FINN'S TEA GARDEN

Maggie Finns Website


Facebook Page


'Here at Maggie Finns we pride ourselves on our quality and service...

We always use only the best ingredients, sourced locally whereever possible, prepared with care and reasonably priced.

We can accommodate most dietary requirements and intolerances...please ask.

Business meetings, parties etc.. any special occasion - ask about our party food and catering services.'

Contact number for catering: 01606 869062



Find out more from our friends at the

PASSION IS THE DIFFERENCE...

First published 7th April 2017
Updated and re-published 19th July 2017

BACK TO QUEEN STREET!

Monday 17 July 2017

PUPPETEERS AT WIMBOLDSLEY SCHOOL, EARLY 1960s

by Dave Roberts

I've always wanted to be an entertainer, and some day I might be. Here's an early attempt, at Wimboldsley school in the early 1960s.

 At the risk of sounding like a name-dropper, that's me with Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. Next to me is David Bradley, with Pinocchio and what looks to me like either Pinky or Perky. 
The girl on the left is Judith Whittingham, but I can't remember the other girl's name. 
What's intriguing me is this: who's the tall dude with the puppet and paintbrush? 
He looks worryingly like a young businessman who's wandered in off the street. He'd look more at home on 'The Apprentice'.

Can anyone supply the missing names?


SEE ALSO: PUPILS AT WIMBOLDSLEY SCHOOL 1950s

Saturday 15 July 2017

TEN YEARS OF THE MIDDLEWICH CLASSIC CAR & BIKE SHOW 2017 (ARCHIVED)




It started ten years ago as the Middlewich Transport Festival and has now become a firm fixture on the Middlewich calendar. 

Congratulations to all concerned with the continuing success of this great event!

TOWN COUNCIL WEBSITE

DIRECT EMAIL LINK



First published 13th July 2017
Re-published 15th July 2017

Monday 10 July 2017

SEDDON'S ROW 1974


by Dave Roberts

Long before the days of Waterside Way, the modern housing development which occupies part of the boggy land lying between Croxton Lane and the Trent & Mersey Canal, a short terrace of houses stood in the middle of a field in the area, looking rather incongruous, almost as though it had been dropped there by mistake.

The houses were of traditional Victorian design and had 'front' doors in the usual fashion, although there was a footpath rather than a roadway for them to open onto.

This was 'Seddon's Row', built by the local salt manufacturer to house some of their workers.

Although the area had been used from time to time for making salt, as we've seen here, and Ralph Seddon's Kinderton Works were a short distance away across the canal and River Croco, it is not entirely clear which of the works the houses were intended to be associated with.
Possibly the Seddon family just owned the land on which they were built (which was, incidentally, much closer to Croxton Lane than it was to the canal).

With regard to the above photograph, when I think back on the circumstances in which it was taken I remain convinced that, when challenged by the demolition gang and asked what I was doing there, I replied that I was from 'the Heritage Society'.

But this can't possibly be true, because we didn't start the Heritage Society until eleven years later, in 1985. A clear warning for us all not to take what we think we know, or remember, as fact. The human mind, and memory, can play tricks on us all.*

*Thinking back on this, I'm wondering if I told them I was from 'The Council'? They'd have to be a bit dim to swallow that one, as my camera was a Kodak Instamatic - not at all the sort of thing you'd expect an official Council photographer to be using!

UPDATE (10th July 2017)

Here's a view of Seddon's Row from Mike Jennings' collection which shows the setting of the houses.

This photo attracted quite a lot of interest on Facebook.

Mike Jennings asked if one of the end houses in the row had been a shop at one time, and his mother Mary replied that there was no shop in the row.

However Peter Dickenson, who said he had lived in Seddon's Row (his house can be identified by the fourth window from the right), told us that there had been a shop in the area, 'approximately where you turn for Waterside Way and Meadow View'.

Ron Evans asked if the photo showed the front of the houses as viewed from Croxton lane and Peter replied that it did, in fact, show the row as seen from the canal side over a field belonging to his grandfather.

So not only were the houses in the middle of a field, they also faced 'the wrong way ' or, at least, in a direction opposite to what you might expect.

Perhaps there were plans for more housing on the site, and a roadway in front of this row?

Ron Evans also reminded us of the existence of a large 'pond' between the houses and the canal where he used to go to catch frogs!

In response to another query from Mike Jennings, Peter told us that Hector Davies lived in the second house from the left.

Here, from Facebook, is Peter's partial recollection of the names of the  families living in Seddon's Row when he lived there.

'From left to right (as far as I can remember) it was: Farrington, Davies, Carter, ?, Bratt,?, ? George Dickenson (my Dad), ?, Rex Dickenson, Frank Gaffney.
If anyone can fill in any gaps please don't hesitate to get in touch!

Ian Buckley says: 'My wife tells me that her father's family lived in one of the houses. Surname Clarke, forenames Fred, Frank and Bob. There were also two sisters, but their names have been forgotten'.


One final note: Although I refer to this row of houses as 'Seddon's Row' and have always, almost without thinking, given it that name, this was never the 'official name' of the row.
As Peter Dickenson confirms, these houses were actually part of Croxton Lane, and the house where he lived was simply '28 Croxton Lane'. In fact, he can't ever recall the houses being referred to as 'Seddon's Row'

Similarly, there's a row of houses not too far away in Webbs Lane which was always called 'Yoxall's Row' and was owned by private landlords Mrs Yoxall and Mr Henshall (Mr Henshall was actually a near neighbour of ours in King Street in the 1960s).

The Middlewich UDC bought this row of houses in the late 60s/early 70s and took them into their council house stock.

 As relief rent collector it fell to me to collect the first 'council rents' from the tenants, many of whom complained bitterly at the vastly increased amount they were asked to pay.

 From memory the increase was something like 100%. They'd been paying about 50p (ten shillings) per week and the council were charging them just short of  £1*

It was all a long time ago.

Certainly the highest weekly amount I can ever remember collecting from any council tenant before I left the council in 1972 was £3.50.

Now these houses are just a part of Webbs Lane and I'm sure that almost no one except me can ever remember their past lives as part of 'Yoxall's Row'.

The name has passed into history and so, too has 'Seddon's Row'. 

In the latter case, of course, even more completely. It's been wiped off the face of the earth.

*actually my failing brain has got the story slightly wrong. The rents first 'shot up' to 10/- and it was only after the council carried out structural improvements that they reached the astronomical heights of 19s 6d. The Yoxall's Row story is told here.


First published 15th November 2011
Republished with revisions and additions 10th July 2017