WHY CHESHIRE EAST? (EDITORIAL)

WHY CHESHIRE EAST?

The old order changes. Frank and Edna Bailey pictured in 1972.

Frank was the last Chairman of the Middlewich Urban District Council and the town's first Mayor when the one time Royal Borough of Middlewich became a part of the District (later Borough) of Congleton in 1974.
Middlewich Town Council still soldiers on but on the 1st of April 2009 Congleton Borough Council disappeared to be replaced by Cheshire East Council covering, as its name suggests, the Eastern half of the old Cheshire County Council area. 
Thus Frank bridges the gap between two eras of local government.
Should you be wondering  why the slide depicting Frank and Edna is damaged, thereby hangs a tale.
A tale which we may decide to tell in the fullness of time...

by Dave Roberts

It may seem odd to people who are relatively new to this area that Middlewich, administratively speaking, is part of the Cheshire East Borough when its history and relationship with its near neighbours Northwich and Winsford would seem to indicate that its logical home would be in the Cheshire West & Chester area.

So why are we where we are?

When it comes to local government Middlewich finds itself where it is because of decisions made in the early 1970s.

In April 1974 Middlewich became part of Congleton Borough.
There had been talks about creating a new local authority for this area as far back as the 1930s when a ‘Mid-Cheshire Council’ was proposed, amalgamating Middlewich, Northwich and Winsford UDCs, but the traditional rivalry between the three towns and particularly between Middlewich and Winsford, based on historical factors concerning the salt industry, meant that nothing was done.

In the nineteenth century Winsford was able to exploit its position on the River Weaver to develop its salt industry. 

The salt could be sent straight down the river to the Mersey for export.
Middlewich, despite its pre-eminent position on the canal system, had no such advantage.
Plans to bring barges straight into the town centre via the Anderton Lift and the Big Lock never came to anything. Nor did a plan to canalise the River Dane or another to build a canal eastwards from Middlewich towards Macclesfield.

Winsford's salt industry boomed, and Middlewich's went into a decline.

Ironically, though, we had the last laugh when British Salt was built here in 1969.

Reform of the system was talked about incessantly during the sixties and early seventies, and several ideas were mooted for this area.

Middlewich could have found itself part of Stoke-On-Trent under one such idea; another was for us to be part of a ‘Super Council’ stretching from Sale in the north down to Stoke-on-Trent in the south.

By 1974 the Government had decided to act.

It was thought that councillors at UDC level did not have the experience and know-how to handle the ever more expensive and complicated business of running local authorities, and that the creation of larger ‘local government units’ was the best way to serve the public.

Talks were held at all levels about the way forward. 

The ‘Mid-Cheshire Council’ idea was resurrected but discounted for the same, familiar reason with one Middlewich Councillor saying that he would never serve on a council which included Winsford.

Eventually it was decided that a new council taking in Congleton, Alsager, and Sandbach and the rural areas between would be created.

In the opinion of many Middlewich was eventually included simply to 'make up the numbers’ – a local authority has to have the requisite number of rate-payers after all.

Simply, no one else wanted us.

The new Vale Royal most certainly didn’t.

In fact, if the truth were known, the new authority we ended up in probably didn’t either.

When the news broke that we were to be part of this new authority we couldn't believe it.

Our inclusion in the Congleton District, incidentally, led to Middlewich being on that little ‘peninsula’ of land, surrounded on three sides by another authority which looks so weird on the map.

Actually this situation is by no means new. Up until 1974 we were 'surrounded' on that same little peninsula by the territory of the Northwich Rural District Council.

Which explains why, for example, Wimboldsley and Sproston, though technically 'part' of Middlewich, have ex-council houses bearing the inscription 'NRDC'.

But, to paraphrase the immortal Goon Show, 'every town's gotta be somewhere', and Middlewich needed to be under the control of someone, somewhere.

So, for no better reason that that, as far as can be ascertained, we found ourselves 'lumped in' with Congleton. 

Of course we were left wondering 'Why Congleton?' Wasn’t Congleton somewhere on the other side of the county, near Macclesfield?

Whatever the ins and outs of this most unsatisfactory jiggery-pokery, eventually the steering group for the new council met to decide on a name for the new authority.

Congleton?

No. In fact the committee decided that the name should be ‘Daneborough’, reflecting the fact that the River Dane runs through our area.

Sleight of hand by officials at Congleton substituted the name ‘Congleton’ at the last minute, understandably giving people the idea that this was some kind of ‘takeover’ by Congleton.

It was, as they say, ‘bad PR’ and Middlewich people resented the new Congleton authority right from the start.

With good reason.

Incidentally I was working at Middlewich UDC just before the re-organisation and remember the Clerk to the Council, Ivan Glover, telling councillors that now was the time for them to introduce their own ‘pet schemes’ – swimming pools, leisure centres etc – and the new council would be duty bound to carry the work on.

A golden opportunity for us to get that swimming pool we’ve always wanted.

Heartbreakingly, and astonishingly, the council said that there was 'nothing that the town needed’.

And from the start it was patently obvious that this form of local government would lead to unfairness. What chance would a few councillors from Middlewich have when ranged against those from Congleton and Sandbach (where the main offices were situated).

We were all convinced that, just as we’d never heard of Congleton, they’d never heard of us.
We always suspected that, if there was any money to be spent, it would be spent in Congleton, Sandbach, Alsager – anywhere but Middlewich.

And I can’t help thinking we were right.
Certainly, as is apparent from the state of our town after the CBC years, they did very little for us.

Congleton Borough Council was hated so much that it’s hard to believe that another authority could enjoy even less esteem.

Cheshire East has managed it with ease.

It's only existed for ten years* and already its name is a hissing and a byword.

All the old complaints we heard about the CBC are made about Cheshire East, with a few thousand more thrown in for good measure.

The authority is perceived as 'not caring' about Middlewich, and whether or not this perception is justified, Cheshire East doesn't seem very bothered about correcting it.

And now, as power struggles between Macclesfield and Crewe rage, poor old Middlewich is even more isolated than it was before.

What’s going to become of us?

It seems very likely that in the years to come people will still be asking

Why Cheshire East?

*At the time this entry was updated on the 31st March 2019.

© Dave Roberts 2013

First published 29th January 2013.
Updated, reformatted and re-published 31st March 2019 (the eve of the tenth anniversary of the creation of Cheshire East Council)

THE FOUNTAIN FIELDS PADDLING POOL, EARLY 1970s.

 by Dave Roberts

Photographs of the paddling pool which once lay behind Fountain Fields are very rare indeed.
In fact it's very often forgotten that the  facility ever existed. 
Chris Koons, who now lives in America with her family, but was in a former life Christine Sant, daughter of David and Miriam Sant of King Street,  has kindly sent these precious snapshots showing the pool in around 1973 or 1974. That's Christine in blue on the left, with her sister Karen. The spot where they were playing all those years ago is now the private access road which runs alongside Fountain Fields to Wallcroft Gardens and ultimately to Wheelock Street.
The pool was behind the still existing 'bowls hut' (or 'putting hut') on Fountain Fields, now used as a base for Cheshire East's maintenance workers but at one time the place where you would go to hire bowls, golf balls and putters to enable you to  use the Fountain Fields amenities.
In my first job, with the Middlewich U.D.C. (1969-72) one of my duties was to visit the hut and collect the pennies and half-pennies which locals had paid during the week, and take them back to the office.
You can see the roof of the building on the top left of the photo. There were at one time public toilets behind the brick wall, and the pool, together with a children's slide, were in a sort of 'annexe' to Fountain Fields, reached by a gate alongside the bowls hut. To try to get our modern-day bearings, we can point out that the building on the extreme right is the present-day High School Drama Studio (originally the school gymnasium). And now we come to one of those little mysteries which infuriate and delight us all. To the right of the brick wall should be what were at the time the tennis courts on Fountain Fields*, and the uprights for the wire netting seem to be present and correct. But why are those cars parked there? The access road to the car park and supermarket is not in place yet (and neither are the car park and supermarket, come to that). Beyond the tennis courts, certainly until the late sixties, was the  putting green which, along with bowls and tennis, was the sum total of  Fountain Fields' attractions until more recent times. So where do those cars fit in? All information, as always, gratefully received.

*one of the tennis courts survives in modified form as a  five-a-side football/basketball court.

And here are Christine and Karen again having a paddle with their Grandma, who was visiting from Manchester. Behind them is the original spiked fencing, which was first modified to avoid injuring would-be trespassers and then replaced completely about twenty years ago. Beyond the fence is the bowling green, which has just been replaced by all that lovely children's playground equipment, and beyond that can be seen the Congregational Church (the 'Congs') in Queen Street, now known, of course, as the United Reformed Church. The building looks very much the same today,except that the Victorian ventilators on the roof have disappeared. Two doors away the top of the original Middlewich Police Station can be glimpsed.
If you look directly behind Grandma, you can just make out a wooden building. This was the original France-Hayhurst clubhouse later replaced, following a fire, by the modern brick building next to the 'bowls hut'.

Many thanks to Chris for giving us the chance to show you these photos of a long-vanished Middlewich attraction. If you have any photos of this, or any other, Middlewich scene from the past, or can add to the information in this Diary entry, please don't hesitate to get in touch. For example, was the slide the only facility on the site, apart from the pool, or were there also swings there? Can you remember?

- and here's the proof that there were indeed swings and a slide on the site in those days. The paddling pool was beyond the slide seen here.

 Photo added 1st December 2018.

Update: See the Facebook Feedback below. It's obvious that the 'annexe' to Fountain Fields was a fully-fledged children's playground in its own right, complete with paddling pool and separate from the Fountain Fields main site. It was only in later years that the playground equipment began to encroach on the main site (necessitated, no doubt by the sale of the land where the paddling pool and other playground equipment once stood). I myself was a young man in my twenties in the early seventies, and not interested in children's playgrounds, which explains why I can't remember how things were. Many thanks to everyone for their memories.

Dave Roberts
Editor.

The same area in October 2018. The access road to Wallcroft Gardens now runs through the site of the playground. The brick building in the centre of the picture identifies the site. 

Photo added 1st December 2018

Facebook feedback:

Chris Koons I’m pretty sure there were swings there, too, and another access gate to the annexed area via a gate from the alleyway close to Nana Dean’s.
Also, the putting green was still in operation in the mid-late 70s because I remember playing on it when I was seven or eight, and I was born in 1969. 

Gaynor Smallwood There were two big swings at the top, together with two baby swings, then the big slide. The paddling pool was at the bottom. On the grass was the roundabout and a big red horse that rocked. I spent every day in the summers of 1975 and 1976 on the park. The boys (Steve Smallwood, Alan Bowker and John Price) would get us girls at the top and run us down into the pool! We would need to change into dry clothes three or four times a day! Happy, hot days, with no worries.

Anita Hough I remember the paddling pool too. It was the mid eighties, as that's when we moved to Middlewich. It wasn't filled that much then which was a shame. I remember the swings, MASSIVE slide and the dreaded roundabout that we used to make ourselves dizzy and almost sick on. The access gate is still there near Nana Dean's. The bowling green was still used in the mid eighties as well, as I remember sitting watching them play and being fascinated by it.

Sylvia Burrows I used to take both my children there when they were little. They really enjoyed it!

Jayne Latham There were two swings and a baby swing. Then a rocking horse that would head butt you if you went too fast and had about 6 seats on it. Then that steep slide that used to get greased with bread paper so you would slide quicker and if you were unlucky you would end up in the pool.
I am sure the other end of the very slippery pool had a two-tier concrete fountain on it. This was removed as the kids would climb onto it, so it wasn't safe. Then you would run through the gate behind it and run right through the gardens to the toilets either side of the putting hut, as we called it. The best person to tell you all about this is Alan Sant, who lived across the road from the school on King Edward Street. His Mum, Joyce, who was the school cleaner, said he played in that pool in any weather in all his clothes! I'm going back over fifty years, now. Thinking back, the original toilet was in the hut. The other toilets were added years later. There was a big greenhouse looking at the right hand side of the hut. Also there was a sunken garden to honour someone or something - sorry, not sure who or what* Good memories.

*This would be the France-Hayhurst family. The sunken garden is still there, but rather neglected. Ed.

Lynda Lever I moved to Middlewich in 1988 and had my kids in 1992 and 1994. I vaguely recall there being a small playground area and pool, though I'm not sure if the pool actually had water in it. I don't recall my son actually going in it, but perhaps he was too small.

Jacky Connell Cottam I remember it very well. I used to go there often, but sorry - no pics!

Susan Johnson I remember it well. I used to spend weekends and school holidays there all the time in good weather.  |Many families took picnics and spent all day there. The park was always packed. The putting green and tennis courts too. Also the bowling green and the hut they used. There used to be an attendant in the building next to the toilet block.. You could hire putting clubs, tennis rackets etc. Happy days and happy memories.

Lynne Towers Happy days; long, hot summers! I remember Mrs Dean's ice-cream van and that massive slide!

Tim Morton I remember slipping over and hitting my head on the floor of this pool.

Pete Berry I've still got the scar on my chin! It had a bit of a divot in it. Turned the pool red! My parents still have photos of the pool. I remember seeing them a few years ago. I'll ask them if they can try to find them.

Barbara Cooper I remember this pool. My Mum and Auntie Freda used to take our daughters Louise and Angela  there. Happy days!

JULIE CORT has pointed out that there was a similar paddling pool in one of the childrens' playgrounds in Cledford. Does anyone have any photos of this pool?

First published 1st September 2018
Revised and re-published 1st December 2018.

FOUNTAIN FIELDS SIGNS 1974 and 2011

by Dave Roberts

This was the sign which greeted visitors to the Fountain Fields recreation ground during the last days of the Middlewich UDC's existence in 1974. The recreation ground - or 'The Park' as most people call it* - had been serving the people of the town for twenty-two years at this point. I can't recall what the rest of the sign said, but it was one of those stern 'By Order Of The Council' announcements warning people against trying to enjoy themselves too much.

Notice the deadly spikes on the fence and gate. There was much dismay when these spikes were sawn off.

The general consensus of opinion was that anyone stupid enough to try to climb over such an obviously dangerous fence really had it coming.

In 1974 there was a little more to Fountain Fields than there is in the present day. At the top end, where the access road for Tesco's supermarket now runs, there was a putting green where in around 1966 I beat all comers in a St Michael's Players sports evening (I also thrashed them all at bowls, too)

*or even, time having moved on, 'Tesco Park'.

In 2011 the main entrance into Fountain Fields was graced by this sign erected by the Congleton Borough Council which, unusually, decided to give due credit to its predecessor for creating this valuable amenity.

As can be seen, it tells all and sundry that Councillor F Buckley opened Fountain Fields in July 1952, though why they didn't have the common courtesy to wait another couple of months until after I'd been born is beyond me. 

The Town Council has some photos of the opening celebrations, and I hope to be able to bring them to the Middlewich Diary soon.

It would be quite fitting if  Cheshire East  erected another sign acknowledging that it was the CBC who erected the sign acknowledging the MUDC...

There is a possibility that Fountain Fields will, before too long, be back in local hands. It's one of the responsibilities  which could be handed back to the Town Council under new legislation.

Then it would be time for another new sign. I suggest one giving thanks to the CBC and Cheshire East for looking after the place for us, followed by 'We're Back Now.'

I've got many happy memories of Fountain Fields. I played tennis there with my brothers as a child and when I got my first job with the UDC in 1969 one of my duties was to toddle along there periodically with old Bertie Maddock and collect all the pennies people had paid to use the toilets and the putting green.

Fountain Fields is, and always has been, very popular and I'm very proud to say that a few years ago I was instrumental in helping foil a dastardly plot to close it and sell the land off for housing.

Consultations took place in late 2015/early 2016 on the way that Fountain Fields should be developed; money became available for a revamp of the area and people living nearby were asked what they would like to see happen.

By far the most popular suggestion was that we should return to the days when Fountain Fields was locked at night, in order to deter 'anti-social behaviour'.

Surely not too much to ask?

If they can put a man on the moon....

Fountain Fields in its 1960s heyday. Note that in those days in was not thought necessary even to fence off the bowling green.       Photo courtesy of Elaine Carlin

Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed that  the original MUDC sign says FOUNTAIN FIELD rather than FOUNTAIN FIELDS. 

I've never noticed that before. Nor have I ever heard anyone use the singular form of the name. Has anyone else?

And if you're wondering where Fountain Fields gets its name from, it seems that  in the 19th Century the area was a source of water for the town. There were three wells, feeding into two storage tanks, one of which was called 'The Fountain'. These tanks, in turn, fed water into the 'Town Spout'. We're grateful to the Middlewich Heritage Society for this information. 

Facebook Feedback (2016):

Geraldine Williams In my day a great gathering place for the town's Yoof. I still have nightmares about one piece of equipment called The American, a huge suspended see-saw, where the poor kids in the middle were at the mercy of the lads hanging off the end, which made it go as high as possible. Elf 'n' Safety?!!

Sylvia Burrows I hope they do spend money on it. I enjoyed taking my children there, and playing bowls on the green. There was also a small paddling pool at the back but, sadly, houses were built on it. Happy memories!

Maggie Garner I remember that sign!



First published 30th November 2011
Updated and re-published 26th April 2016
and 27th April 2018

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

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

Edit

MANOR LODGE - A CHRISTMAS MEMORY

By Dave Roberts

Here's a little corner of Middlewich which hasn't changed much over the years (or has it? See the link below -Ed), and always reminds me of Christmas time because of a particular memory from long ago.

Manor Lodge, just off  Nantwich Road and very near to the Aqueduct which carries the SUC Middlewich Branch canal over that road, stands at the top of the former carriage drive which made its way (and, in a way, still does) through the gateway on the left in a straight line towards Middlewich Manor. 

The Lodge is seen here in the winter of 1974. Sometime after this photograph was taken, the gate-post seen at the left hand side of the building fell into disrepair and lost its top. That top,complete with decorative ball, after spending years lying forlornly in the undergrowth, has recently been restored to its rightful position, another one of those little touches which, all put together, make a difference and make the town look as though someone cares (In fact, the saga of the Manor Lodge gate-post was only just beginning. The link towards the end of this entry will tell you more).

The reason this attractive building reminds me of Christmas every time I see it goes back 51 years to 1960 when I was, for a very short time, a member of the Church Choir at St Michael's Church.

As it was the Christmas season, it was decreed that members of the choir should walk all around the town singing carols. I don't recall there being any other motive behind this festive goodwill gesture - there may have been, but I was only eight at the time and wouldn't have been interested even if someone had told me. I don't think we were collecting money for charity or anything like that, just singing carols for the sake of it  because, at Christmas, that's what Church choirs did. And still do, of course.

We duly wandered around what was at that time still a smoky little industrial town singing festive songs to anyone who would listen and eventually, after making our way along Nantwich Road and under the aqueduct, found ourselves at Manor Lodge, where we dispensed more carols in return for mince pies and pop (at that time most likely to be the legendary Tizer, the favoured drink of the youth of the day).

But this wasn't the end of the journey by any means. Our ultimate destination lay at the Manor itself, at that time the home of Mr E.K. Willing-Denton and family.

And so we made our way along that carriage drive. You can still make the same journey today but the difference is that, once you get a short distance along it, the carriage drive turns into Kerridge Close. Walk a bit further and you'll find yourself walking along the footpath of Greendale Drive. Both these modern interlopers are built (more or less) on the alignment of the old drive.

In 1960 it was carriage-drive all the way to the Manor.

In my mind's eye I can still see us making that journey all those years ago, dressed in traditional Victorian costume and carrying those candle lamps on sticks through the snows of December.

But there, of course, my mind's eye is playing tricks on me, as it always does. We weren't in Victorian costume (nor even dressed as choirboys - it would have been a bit cold), we didn't have any lamps, candle or otherwise, and, I don't think it was snowing either.

We made our way through this then rural part of the town, passing through what children now call 'Mystery Wood' (there is some dispute at the moment over the correct name for these woods. Some say 'Mystery', some say 'Misty'. In 1960 - I am trying hard not to say 'in my day' - they weren't called anything. They were just 'the woods', and there was a lot more of them. See the comments below from Daniel Preston), and along the tree-lined drive to the Manor itself.

There we were met by the Willing-Dentons who plied us with more festive fare. More mince pies, and more Tizer with, no doubt, cups of tea for the senior members of the choir, if not something a little stronger.

Just a little idle memory, but it still haunts me every time I walk past Manor Lodge, particularly at this time of the year.

The Manor, of course, is now a Nursing Home and the last time I visited it (ironically to do a spot of singing and entertaining) was shortly after my Mother died.

The place had hardly changed at all, but the first thing I saw when I entered the imposing hallway was the door to one of the residents rooms which bore a sign saying DORIS ROBERTS.

This brought me up with quite a start. But that's another story altogether...

Editor's note:  The area may not have changed much, but the Lodge itself certainly has. See this posting

Facebook Feedback (from the 'You Know You're From Middlewich When...Group):

Daniel Preston Having read the part in the story where some dispute is mentioned over the name of Mystery Woods, I can say that that is what we called the woods in the sixties. As noted in the diary, Mystery Woods covered a lot more ground in those days.

Dave Roberts Ah! Other people have told me they remember the name from quite a few years ago, so it must be one of those inexplicable gaps in my education. Others, including Dave Griffiths (see comments) remember the area being known as 'Manor Woods', which would certainly make sense. I spent a lot of time there with my brothers (drinking Tizer and eating Smiths Crisps) when I was really tiny and we lived just down the road at 53 Nantwich Road, but I only ever heard the name 'Mystery Woods' in the last few years. It's an 'official' name, by the way; officers from the dreaded Cheshire East Council have it in their sights and are looking at how it can be 'managed'. Leave it alone would be my suggestion. Or, if it really has to be 'managed', get someone who knows what they're doing to manage it...

• 
  
• 
  
  

  
  

Originally published 10th December 2011

Re-published 19th December 2013

and 22nd December 2016

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW (POLICE STATION) LATE 1974

 
by Dave Roberts

Having perused the old Police Station

and its outbuilding (which may or may not have been a stable)
we turn our attention to its replacement, seen here under construction in late 1974. Bland and boring, and with none of the reassuring solidity of its Victorian predecessor, the new police station  was built during a time in which a 'one size fits all' policy seemed to be in force. The police station in Nantwich, for example, is almost a carbon copy of this building. The station in Sandbach is of a slightly different design, but has one thing in common with the Middlewich station: it's never open (at Sandbach, there is a notice in the window boasting of the fact).
The buildings to be seen in the middle distance to the left of the picture are the Victoria Building and Civic Hall (now the Town Hall and accompanying Victoria Hall).
In 2015 the new Police Station, which never provided very much of a 'hands-on' service to the public, stood with its windows and doors completely obliterated by blue vinyls and notices informing people that it was not 'the Middlewich Police Custody Suite'.
That somewhat unpopular building  is situated  on the edge of town, on the Midpoint 18 estate. Why it was decided that a town with such a dreadful public transport service would be suitable for such a facility remains a mystery.
One beneficial by-product of the replacement of the old station with the new was the  handy little footpath which  runs from Queen Street, past the police station,  to the Civic Hall car park and Market Field.



Originally published 26th June 2011
Updated and re-published 15th August 2015