October 2025 Newsletter
By Roy Bullock
Our talk in October was once again by one of our won Rosemary Swift who told all about the three Williams of Ordsall all three born or raised in close proximity to each other.
They were William Worrall Mayo, William Joseph Whelan and William (Bill) Roberts.
William Worrall Mayo was born in Salford on 31st May, 1819.
He was a cloth dyer and tailor who lived off Oldfield Road. But he was also interested in science and medicine and so he attended lectures given by the great chemist-physicist John Dalton in Manchester.
In his mid-20s, William emigrated to America. There, he, studied medicine and worked in the pharmacy at the Belle Vue Hospital in New York.
He then moved out west, to Indiana, and for a time returned to tailoring. In 1849, he assisted during a cholera outbreak and after that attended college. It’s unclear whether he actually graduated from college. He later told people that he graduated within a year, but there’s no actual record of this.
He married and had a family, but soon left to work as an assistant at the University of Missouri. He was awarded a degree in medicine in 1854. He then brought his family out west, settling in Minnesota.
In the 1850s, this was very much frontier country- and a long way from Salford. He tried his hand at a number of different occupations: farming, operating a ferry service, running a newspaper and working on a steamboat. All this time, he also earned extra money on the side as "frontier doctor". He got more medical work treating soldiers and settlers during a war with the Native Dakota tribes. He set up his first medical practice over a drug store in the town of Rochester, but this failed.
He got into local politics and was elected Mayor of the town of Rochester (he oversaw the building of the City Hall) and got onto the State Senate. By now, he had enough paying patients so that he no longer needed to be constantly doing other jobs.
In 1883 a huge tornado ripped through the town and there were many casualties. William and his two sons (one had just qualified as a doctor and the other was in his final year as a medical student) set up a makeshift hospital. A local nunnery helped with nursing during the emergency.
Afterwards, William persuaded the Mother Superior to begin fund-raising for something more permanent for the town. This led to a 12-bed hospital, St. Mary’s, being set up in 1889, with the nuns serving as staff and William and his sons as the doctors.
William remained active all his life. Even at the age of 90, he was carrying out experiments and trying to find a way to extract alcohol from animal and vegetable waste. He got his arm caught in the crusher and it had to be amputated. He died in 1911 aged 91.
His hospital would go on to become the world-famous Mayo Clinic. Today the Mayo Clinic is one of the top hospitals and medical research facilities in the world.
Back in Salford, in the 21st century, the Mayo Building, a state-of-the-art education and research facility at Hope Hospital is named after him.
Next up was William Joseph Whelan and although Rosemary told us all about him, I have tosay that he was a clever devil, A chemist, A scientist and an all round know a lot his work during his life must have saved many a life or made life better through his work on microbiology and glycogen as detailed below
William Whelan was an exceptionally celebrated scientist recognized equally for his work in research, education, publishing and international scientific organizations. He studied organic chemistry at the University of Birmingham. He taught at the University College of North Wales and the University of London and became head of the Department of Biochemistry of the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, University of London, in 1964. In 1967 he moved to the United States and served as professor and chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the University of Miami Medical School for the rest of his career. Bill is known for his pioneering research on the structure of starch and glycogen. He discovered that glycogen contained the protein glycogen, an enzyme with primer function in the synthesis of glycogen. This discovery filled a crucial gap in understanding the biosynthetic process that transforms glucose into glycogen. Bill's contributions, including his innovative methods for isolating and characterizing molecular structures like glycogen, have since become established scientific practices, and he established some of the fundamental concepts and nomenclature used in the carbohydrate field today.
Our final Ordsall hero was William (Bill) Roberts.
Born in Salford, Lancashire, Roberts competed for England at the 1934 British Empire Games, finishing second in 440 yd (400m) behind Godfrey Rampling.The following year, Roberts became the national 440 yards champion after winning the British AAA Championships title at the 1935 AAA Championships.
At the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Roberts just missed the medal in the individual 400-metre event, finishing fourth in the final, and ran the third leg in the gold medal-winning British 4 × 400 m relay team.[6]
Roberts won another 440 yards AAA title at the and then Roberts turned Empire Games silver into the gold medal at the next British Empire Games in 1938 in Sydney, Australia. He also won a silver in 4 × 440 yd relay event and finished sixth in the 220 yards contest.
We must congratulate our member and speaker at previous meetings on his being awarded the Frank Mullineux Award for 2024/2025 The information below is that written by the awards panel
The Awards Panel spent some time deliberating over the different entries. It was a difficult choice as each entry had their merits and yet were quite different from each other. The consensus was that the winner of the Award for 2024/25 should be Joe Murray for Dirty Old Town. Albeit a novel and therefore largely fiction, it is based on historical research we think could inspire curiosity and further research into different periods of Salford’s past. It is hoped to present the Award at the Histories Festival and publications entered for the award be made available for sale.
The site of the former Pendleton Town Hall is surrounded by wooden hoardings and it looks like it is being developed, there is no sign of any buildings as yet, or any information as to what is being built
I went for a walk recently just to view the Salford Rise project the following describes the comments on the web site, which can be found on the internet as described below, but with illustrations.
Salford Rise forms a key part of the £2.5bn Crescent Salford master plan. It will connect Crescent Innovation and the University of Salford with surrounding communities through an elevated green walkway and high-quality public spaces, improving accessibility and encouraging active travel. The walkway will enable communities to utilise the employment and education opportunities in the Crescent area, as well as provide a safer connection over Frederick Road.
The information above is well under way and involves part of Frederick Road being blocked off and restrictions on other roads which the contractors site covers.
September Newsletter 2025 - Number 2.
The second talk in September on the 24th of the month was the actual talk for that month the earlier talk was one that was passed over from August due to no availability of the room.
The talk was given by one of our members Paul Sherlock on the subject of “The Beginnings of Salford’s Mayoralty. The talk was attended by Councilor Heather Fletcher and her equivalent from Bury council one of them wearing the chain of office.
Due to the vast number of mayors in Salford’s past it was not possible for Paul to mention them all and give details of them, maybe he wills resume at a later date.
The first mayor mentioned by Paul was after the time of Salford receiving its Carter in 1230, was William Lockett who was the first mayor in 1844.
We were shown an image of the current coat of arms bearing the motto Salus populi Suprema lex, which translates to the welfare of the people is the highest law, although I think that for the historical subject that we were being told the coat of arms of the earlier years would have been better with the motto of Integrity and Industry, which says more about the time that Paul was speaking about.
We were told of the municipal corporation act of 1835 and Wigan mayoralty got a mention, but I can’t remember why.
We were told of the political leanings some mayors of a certain era, there being 6 liberal 1 Tory and 1 Conservative
Broken Bank was mentioned which I thinks was from the Adelphi position to around where the Cathedral is now, the same stretch carried the name of White Cross Bank on William Greens map of 1794.
Water supplies were mentioned and John Kay 1845 – 1846 The church of St John, the Hight was mentioned with the added information that it was not the Height, but Pendlebury. Certain parks were given a mention along with our own Peel Park 1846 in relation to which was the first, with Derby Arboretum and Birkenhead Park and their claims to being the fist.
Our own Peel Park and other local parks in Manchester were mentioned, I e. Queens Park and Philips Park and Peel Park being opened first so it is the oldest by a few hours. Robert Parren Livingstone was mentioned as a manufacturer of cotton, lace and lace thread.
William Jenkinson 1847-1848 not his period of life, I hope, maybe the dates that he started his business of brass founding.
As an aside I feel I have to mention a pub named the Braziers Arms lots of pubs were named after local industries, presumably to entice the workers from that business to drink in there.
Blackfriars bridge was mentioned it eventually becoming toll free. Back to Mayoralty and Paul mentioned Edwin Sheppard, Edward Riley Langworthy and Joseph Brotherton the latter we were told was opposed to any increase in armed forces and one of the three was responsible for the creation of untearable flannelette.
Thomas Agnee was mentioned as a picture frame and art dealer also a carver and gilder.
Queen Victoria was mentioned as visiting Lancashire in 1851 and was greeted by around 80,000 school children during her welcome to Peel Park. The final mayor mentioned was William Ross 1853-55, an extensive and well researched talk by Paul and I am sure to be continued some time in the furure.
The Rugby League season has finished with our local team the Salford Red Devils finishing at the bottom of the Super League table, a heartbreaking situation for my self and I am sure the rest of the fellow season ticket holders and the payers on the day.
It was more difficult with the knowledge that we finished fourth in the league last season and could look forward to better things ahead.
The main positive and thanks must be given to our coach Paul Rowley who under difficult circumstances managed to supply entertaining and occasionally exciting rugby winning only three of our total games.
The reason can only be put down to the club being taken over by presumably people with no previous experience of the game, but that is conjecture on my part.
Here’s hoping that next season we can recover and get back to the heady days of last season second division, or Championship here we come.
Regards to all
Roy.
September 2025 Newsletter
There was no meeting in August so it was deferred to September 3rd, the September meeting will be on the usual date of the last Wednesday of the month.
Also, our scheduled speaker could not make it so Derek Antrobus stepped in at short notice with the title of his talk probably being the longest in the history of the society which was ‘It has Happened Before, Two Controversial Episodes from Salford Past’ If anyone knows a longer one I will be pleased to know.
Although based in Salford we almost traversed the world with Sierra Lione, negro Colonies, Irish Catholic Papist, Maynooth College in Ireland and nearer to home Greengate arches in Salford with a very short demonstration of dance. (not by Derek)
Derek’s talk was very informative with lots of detail projected on to the screen, but, sadly my shorthand was not good enough to write it all down quickly enough, however the talk was by Derek not a record of my writing problems, so back to that.
Hugh Stowell was a Church of England clergyman with a reputation as a "vigorous and inspiring preacher". He was an implacable opponent of Catholic emancipation whose supporters built Christ Church in Salford, Lancashire, for him, where he remained from its consecration in 1831 until his death.
One of the first images shown by Derek was of Stowell Memorial church and tower after the church was demolished plus an image of Stowell himself.
Stowell was born in the Isle of Man and later became a big figure in Salford he first preached at St Stephens Church and was made a Canon in 1845. in i850 the collegiate church became the Cathedral of Manchester.
Before Derek’s talk I was of the opinion that Hugh Stowell was a revered man of the Salford community and as a member of the cloth was held in great respect.
However what came over to me was that he was intolerant of many things.
He was certainly anti Catholic and constantly attacked the despotic tyranny of the Catholic church, this impacted on the Irish catholic population mainly in Stockport.
In 1919 there were riots around the country referred to by Soweto Kinch as 'the black peril' was referred to along with accusations of wife beatings that the news reports referred to at the time, if it was a black person this was identified as such, but not in the case of a white person doing the beating. As usual Derek was not encumbered by the one subject as he was frequently able to sidetrack and include extra information about other interesting subjects, not necessarily connected, but, also being didactic.
A very well researched an informative talk by Derek and in his final statement he dedicated the talk to his new grandchild who was present in the audience.
There then followed the usual questions and answers which Derek completed professionally.
Apologies if I have missed anything out Derek I will take lessons in shorthand soon.
The talk that should have been was the Story of Whit lane by John Catterall, that has now been transferred to next years programme.
As a filler
Salford Quays were developed from the run down area of the former Docks in Salford, which were worked between 1894 and the 1970s when they started to decline through lack of trade resulting from the introduction of containerisation and other handling methods that reduced the need of the traditional type of dock labour, also as the size of seagoing vessels got larger to carry greater cargoes that would not fit into the canal the amount of tonnage was limited.
Trafford Road Bridge
Originally a swing bridge operated by hydraulic power. Span 75ft weighs 1800 tons. Links Salford and Stretford. Last bridge over ship canal, furthest inland and busiest for road traffic, but only had to swing for ships going through to Pomona Docks. The bridge was on major tram route so special provision had to be made to align the tracks and wires when the bridge swung back into position.
No 6 Dock the shortest of the large docks at 850ft .
No 7 Dock one of the original docks intended for large vessels and had storage sheds on the quayside
No 8 Dock 1,340 ft long and 250ft wide at head was a turning basin to allow vessels to turn for the return trip.
No 9 Dock was the largest, being 2700 ft long, opened in 1905 and built on the site of New Barnes racecourse. It was on this site in 1887-88, before the docks were opened, that Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show took place. A massive enterprise that stayed for 6 months and entertained thousands of people. These are the main docks, numbers 1 to 4 are at Pomona No 5 was scheduled but never completed or used. Although its position can be identified facing Pomona.
Regards to all … Roy
June 2025 Newsletter
Our Speaker in June was Paul Hindle who spoke to us about Salford Through Time, one of his published books. His presentation was of multi images of our city In a before and after situation. Part one of his talk covered the Chapel Street area of Salford showing the changes over the years.
Paul is also connected to the Bolton Bury Canal Society who are doing a great job in trying to get canal opened again. the Ceremonial Mayor of the City of Salford for 2025 to 2026. Councillor Heather Fletcher was present at the meeting and had her photo taken with a group of members
Going along Chapel Street we were shown the ramp to Exchange station, which had two ways to get to the former station the Salford approach and the Manchester approach
the Salford approach started from Blackfriars Road next to the The former tram ticket office on Chapel Street in Salford located in a building that was originally built as a police station. It was later used as a tram ticket office before being acquired by a printing company. The building is situated on a piece of land between Chapel Street and the Salford Approach to the former Exchange Station. The Manchester approach to the station was directly in front of the station opposite the Cathedral
Moving along we were shown the Sacred Trinity Church unique because it is the only church with that name in the country. So as not to repeat myself too much Paul showed many buildings that were smoke blackened and then similar images that were in the cleaned up period.
We were shown an image of the Threlfall’s brewery The building still stands and is now part of a business estate although the don’t brew beer any more In 1961 the brewery merged with Chester and the business estate in known as the Deva Centre and were acquired by Whit bread in 1967. Deva is the Roman name for Chester (clever eh!)
We were shown images of the flat iron Market next to Sacred Trinity Church. So called because of the shape of the piece of land on which it stood.
All in all Paul had over one hundred images so it would be difficult to write about them all in detail here, but briefly the former Chemical Tower got a mention that used to sit between Peel Building and the Salford Museum & Art Gallery
The landslide was given a mention, although it was known about well in advance and the council had already diverted the tramlines to a new exit to Bury New Road
an image of Chain Brow was shown, showing the ornamental chains on the right going down the hill This raised portion and the chains were to keep people away from the muddy road at the time and provide safety from the horse drawn traffic.
The reason it is called Chain Brow is not because of the ornamentation of the chains but because Horses were employed on the then steep brow to give extra aid to any horse drawn vehicle that was struggling up the hill with a heavy load.
I can validate that by a story I saw in my research of the nineteen 30s when the park superintendent wanted a greenhouse moving and his comments were that he would borrow a chain horse from the brow.
Anyway back to Paul he showed us images of Pendleton Town Hall and church together
and the cluster of churches that used to stand along Broad St. The Bee Hive and Poets Corner pubs were shown with their fancy domed roofs. The pubs and the property in between were joined together to make one much larger pub now demolished.
The tram depot on Frederick Road was shown Kersal Toll bar St Paul’s church with its unusual architecture of small and large steeples Paul’s final image was of the ancient Kersal Cell.
If you watched the F A cup final between Manchester City and Crystal Palace the young girl who sang Abide With Me in the pre-match entertainment was from Salford and used to sing in the Egerton Arms pub on Gore Street next to Salford Central Station. I think that she will go far, and she’s back at the Egerton at the moment although I am sure that her singing career will take her far.
Frederick Road is set to shut between Lissadel Street and Leslie Hough Way from Saturday, July 12.
The road is a major route across Salford, connecting the A6 Broad Street and going towards the River Irwell in the direction of north Manchester and Bury.
The closure will allow the building work of Salford Rise, a massive 220m elevated walkway creating a traffic-free route across the city for pedestrians and cyclists.
Salford Rise is aiming to get more people walking and cycling around the city, creating a new link over Frederick Road to the University of Salford’s campus.
Work started on the scheme in September last year and is set to finish next summer.
It is part of the £2.5bn Crescent Salford project, a huge 240-acre masterplan to transform part of Salford city centre with more than 3,000 new homes and buildings for research and businesses.
This project is a partnership between developer ECF, Salford Council, and the university.
And watch you don’t get run over by an electric scooter or bike.
Things we don’t say any more, “get me a pat of butter” and “nip to the coal yard and get a quarter of nutty slack.
Regards to all … Roy Bullock
May 2025 Newsletter
Our meeting in May was fronted by Dr Carole O’ Reilly who spoke to us about the De Trafford family mainly recognised for their association with Trafford Park, there were 16 people present. Dr Carole as most of us will remember had spoken to us about Parks in the area.
The De Trafford family Carole described as a homogeneous class of British aristocracy and John DE Trafford being given a Baronetcy by Queen Victoria.
John lived in Trafford Park and the family motto was Gripe Griffon Hold Fast
We were shown an image of the family coat of arms which had an image of a peasant holding a flail, which immediately resonated with me because I had heard stories about the reason for the attire, which I vaguely remember as one of the De Trafford family being hunted by the Round heads and approached in a field under the suspicion that he was one of the family, which was true, but he had purposely dressed in peasants clothing and when spoken to replied in the two words on the coat of arms Now thus, Now thus, continually until his interrogators took the opinion that he was a peasant and mentally unstable, which worked in his favour and they left him to his own devices.
The Family had built a hall in Trafford park that served many uses over the years. They also had Croston Hall which was demolished in the mid 1960s they also built the monestary at Barton on Irwell, built by Augustus pugin which still stands and can be visited especially the graveyard at the back in which Marshall Stevens is buried who became general manager of Trafford Park a company set up by Ernest Terah Hooley to develop Trafford Park.
The estate was passed to his oldest son Humphrey who married the daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury and following him all the males contained the title Humphrey as part of their name. The talk was fast moving with multiple slides, which I found difficult to keep up with at times so just a few brief lines on what was said. The estate was put up for sale in 1896 and the asking price of £300.000 was not met but later that year it was bought by Ernest Terah for £360, 000 with Hooley having ambitions to create the worlds first industrial estate.
He was declared bankrupt in 1907, with gambling and racehorse betting being much of the cause in much disgrace for his family and Evelyn Waugh describing him as a ‘fine desperado.’ towards the end we were shown an historical map of the estate giving some idea of its rural aspect totally different from what we see today.
My thanks to Don, Mandy and all who put together the March newsletter I completely overlooked the fact that we had a meeting. I think there’s a name for it.
April was the event of our A G M and historically we do not have a speaker for that month, although we have in the past enjoyed the viewing of members slide collections.
It was decided that for a change this year we hold hold a quiz based mainly on the countless personalities, and achievers of our great city. There were twenty members in attendance so we can take some comfort from that, whether they were there for the quiz or just to renew their memberships is not known, but an audience of 20 for the A GM is
As there is no speaker to review. The questions asked at the meeting have been replicated below with the answers.
Salford Quiz Questions A G M 2024
Q1. It is part of Salford myth that Guy Fawkes visited Ordsall Hall to scheme with his cohorts to plan the Gunpowder Plot, this is recorded in a book called 'Guy Fawkes'. Who wrote that book?
Q2. What was the motto on the Salford coat of arms before 1974?
Q 3. What is the motto on the current Salford coat of arms
Q4. What is the meaning of the motto on the current Salford coat of arms?
Q5. Who was the second chancellor of the Salford University, SALFORD?
Q6. Who was Salford's first M. P.?
Q7. Which Salfordian has a crater on the moon named after him and reference to his name can be found on every packet of cornflakes, sauce bottle can of Cola etc?
Q8. Which Salford born composer and Master of the Queen's Music. wrote a piece called 'Cross Lane Fair' and also a piece called 'Farewell to Stromness?
Q9. Which Salford Lad first sent a letter from America in 1946 and then weekly for more than 50 years?
Q10. A pub on Chapel Street was known locally by its nickname the Tallow Tub to which it was eventually changed, what was its original name.
Q11. Where in Salford was Salford Grammar School originally situated?
Q12. Where in Salford is Little Bolton?
Q13, Which famous Salford swimmer who died in 1890, rescued 50 or more people from drowning in the river Irwell?
Q14. New Barns, Castle Irwell and Kersal Moor were once homes to which sporting pursuit? New Barns was also home to other sporting events.
Q15. What is the present day name of what was originally called Height Lane?
Q16. Where was Broughton Suspension Bridge and what happened to it in 1837?
Q17. Where in Salford was is the original 'Millionaires Mile'?
Q18. Which was the last road junction in Salford to be regularly manned by police?
Q19. Syncopating Sandy Strickland set a world record of 227 hours in the Eccles New Road area in 1951, doing what?
Q20. What world record did Eamonn McGirr beat in Patricroft in 1973?
21. Q. What was the name of the Salford astronomer and mathematician who observed the transit of Venus over the face of the sun?
22. Q which Salford actor when told by his teacher that he was sending him to R.A.D.A. allegedly said RADA what’s that?.
23. Q Which Salford born scientist whose father had a brewery, was born on New Bailey Street and has a house on the Crescent and a crater on the moon, and a pub-bar in Salford takes his name
24. Q. Who visited Salford with his show between December 1887 and May 1888?
25. Q. Where was the first gas lit street in the country possibly the world located in Salford?
26. Q Which singer, more famous for his pants splitting once resided in the Salford Arms pub on Chapel Street.?
The next six questions are about films books or songs that are based in or about Salford.
27, Q Who Wrote Love on the Dole?
28, Q Who wrote East is East?
29. Q who wrote The Classic Slum?
30. Q Who wrote A Taste of Honey?
31. Q Who wrote ‘Dirty Old Town’
32. Q Who wrote Hobsons Choice
Q. 33. Which man came to Salford and married here and is now buried in Agecroft Cemetery, claimed that he was the son of the King of Matabele Land?
Q. 34 He was responsible for probably the most famous saying in sport “There’s some people on the pitch, they think it's all over, it is now!” Who said it?
Q. 35. How better do we know Martin Austin Ruane or Luke McMasters? Same person
Salford Quiz Questions Answers
A1. William Harrison Ainsworth. A2. Integrity and Industry.
A3. Salus Populi Suprema Lex. A4. The Welfare of the people is the Highest Law
A5. Sarah Ferguson. Duchess of York. (Fergie) A.6 Joseph Brotherton.
A7. Scientist, James Prescot Joule, a reference to the amount of energy from the contents of the container. (|Although I have seen it expressed in Joules in the past it is now shown as K J followed by Kcal.
A8. Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. A9. Alistair Cooke, who was born in Isaac Street, Ordsall.
A10. The Queens Arms. (Apparently a reference to a candle factory nearby.)
A11. Leaf Square on Broad Street where the three concrete sculptures now stand.
A12. It is the area between West One trading estate and a point just after Stott Lane, leading down to the ship canal, originally the river Irwell.
A13. Mark Addy. A14. Horse Racing. A15. Claremont Road.
A16. It was on the site of the present Gerald Road footbridge linking Pendleton and Broughton. It collapsed on April 12th 1837 as a regiment of soldiers marched over it.
A17. Eccles Old Road, so called because of the number of wealthy cotton magnates and industrialists who live there in the late 19th and early 20th century.
A18. The junction of Chapel Street and Irwell Street until traffic lights were installed in December 1961.
A19. None stop piano playing. A20. Non stop singing, for 71 hours 31 minutes.
21. A. William Crabtree. 22. A. Albert Finney. 23. A. James Prescott Joule. The Joule.
24. A. Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show. 25. A. In the area of Chapel Street near Sacred Trinity Church.
26. A. P. J. Proby. 27. A31. A Walter Greenwood. 28. A Ayub Khan Din. 29. A Robert Roberts.
30 A. Shelagh Delaney. 31. Ewan McColl. 32. A Harold Brighouse. 33. Peter Lobengula. 34. Kenneth Wolstenholme. 35 Giant Haystacks
It is strange how we believe in things that we have learned over the years until that information is refuted in some way. I am initially thinking of the Bridgewater canal being claimed as the first in Britain. I was alerted to this while watching the T V Programme Great Railway Journeys, presented by Michael Portillo, who visited the Fossdyke canal
A search of the internet reveals: “The Fossdyke Navigation dates back to Roman times, giving it a strong claim to be Britain’s oldest canal.” confirming what he claimed.
In a later programme he claimed that the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway and made a point of saying that it was the first, pre-dating the Manchester Liverpool railway, but needed pulling up inclines with a cable. The internet says There are a number of other claimants to the title "first railway in Britain", including the Middleton, (Leeds) Swansea and Mumbles Railway and the Surrey Iron Railway amongst others.
In the end after trying to put this down and making sense, I thought does it matter? And lets just believe what we like best.
I hope that I have not made too many errors as there was some replication of questions as I wrote them down from the top of my head.
Regards to all and happy home quizzing. … Roy Bullock
April 2025 monthly newsletter
Our meeting in April was the A. G. M. in which the committee was re-elected whether willing or not following which we had a Salford based quiz, which was non competitive with no winners or losers with the questions being answered, hopefully by individuals who could add to the answer with more information from personal experience etc. An old quiz from December 1998 was used.
A number of available picture quizzes were handed out with pictures of then Salford personalities either from sport, art, or politics The answers to the picture quiz being 1. Steve (The Viking) Foster 2. George Costigan. 3. Ben Kingsley. 4. Tom Bergin, Salford Reporter editor. 5. Bill Hinds, then leader of Salford City Council, 6. Joan Lestor MP. 7. Royston Futter, Head of Arts and Leisure. 8 Ken Wolstenholme. 9. Albert Finney. 10. L.
S. Lowry. 11. Harold Riley. 12 Anthony Wilso. 13. Ryan Giggs. 14. Robert Powell. 15. Terry Lewis. M.P. 16. Peter Maxwell Davis (later Sir). 17. Mike Leigh. 18. Hazel Blears. 19. Tony Warren. 20. John Merry. 21. Don Rainger. 22. Eddie and Ruth Frow. 23. Brenda Dean. 24. Christopher Eccelestom.26 – 29. Rocky, Rex, Regent and Ranger. (Salford Council horses) 30 Allan Clarke 31. John Cooper Clarke, 32 The Horbick car, made by Horsfall and Bickham. 33. The Salamander car. 34. John Motson. 35. Tony Frankland.
Further questions that were asked at the meeting- below are forty of them. There were 50 originally others will be used in later newsletters.
1. what were the pubs that were turned into places of worship (at the time)
The Lowry. The Duke of Wellington, The Broughton Hotel.
2. At the bottom of Regent Roadwhere Sainsbury’s now stands there were 3 blocks of flats known as the Dales, what were the names of the 3 blocks
Langdale, Patterdale and Ennerdale.
3. He was born Jimmy Miller in Broughton and wrote many songs including Dirty Old Town, By what name did he gain fame.
Ewan McColl
4. Which lady who was more well known for her television work on news and current affairs, led the bid for the for Lowry Centre lottery millennium fund money.
Felicity Goody.
5. When Tesco first moved into Salford in the early 1960s they set up shop in a former cinema. What was the name of the cinema.
The Bijou on Broughton Road.
6. The last cinema to open in Salford was at Salford Quays was taken over by Virgin Who owned it when it opened
Canon
7. Who was the leader of Salford Council 03/05/1984-06/05/2027
Bill Hinds
8. What was the name of the Salford comedian known s Parrot Face.
Freddy Davis
9. Which large reptile was cut out of the river Irwell in the 1950s
The Anaconda bend
!0. Which Salfordian said There’s some people on the pitch, they think it’s all over, It is now. (arguably the most famous saying in sport).
Kenneth Wolstenholme.
11. which Salfors born jockey won the National Hunt jockey Championship for the 1959-60 season and also became the first to reach N.H.1000 winners.
Stan Mellor.
12. In a special ceremony held in Glasgow in 1993 the City of Salford awarded its Silver medal to a Nobel Prize winner and world renowned leader the medal replaced what used to be the freedom of the city before 1974. who was the recipient of the medal
Nelson Mandella
13. Which Salford born singer had hits in the record charts with Crying in the Chapel and Suddenly there’s a Valley.
Lee Lawrence.
14. which Salford pop music group had their only entry in the charts with ‘ Who you Looking At
The Salford Jets.
15 where in Salford would you have found the Statue of Liberty
on the roof of Riverside House at he junction of St Simon street and Broughton Bridge
16. What could have been found in the Broughton area bounded by Bury New Road Broom Lane and Northumberland Street between 1838 and 1842.
Broughton Zoo
17. Which Salfordian has a crater on the moon named after him.
James Prescott Joule
18. Who was the Chief Constable of Salford Police who served for over 38 years who introduced many pioneering road safety methods, mainly with children in mind including play streets, etc.
Major C. V. Godfrey.
19. Which Salfordian actor was a Papal Knight and provided the voice over-for the television advert for Hovis bread.
Joe Gladwin.
20. It was originally called Broomhouse lane by what name do we know it now.
Eccles Old Road.
21. Syncopating Sandy Strickland, Eamon McGirr and Beau, created separate world records in Salford, what did they do to achieve those records.
Non stop piano playing, singing and organ playing. In that order.
22.Whose body was taken from its burial place in Salford and re-interred in Edinburgh Castle.
Ensign Charles Ewart.
23. Where would you go to find the ghost of of Owd Billy.
The Whit Lane Brindle Heath area of Pendleton, it is the ghost of mill owner William Douglas, known as Black Douglas
24. Which Salfordian was was the musical staging and choreographer of the long running musical Grease played at the Manchester Opera House
Arlene Philips.
25. which Salfordian printed the first railway timetable.
George Bradshaw.
26. Agecroft Hall was shipped over to America in 1924, in which state of America is it now based.
It is now in a suburb of Richmond Virginia.
27. Where could you regularly see trains crossing the street in Salford’
Irwell Street, between two railway goods yards that stood on either side of the street.
28. Which famous comedian was born in Kipling was born in Kipling Street Broughton.
Al Read.
29. Who and what was El Engles
He was Frank Evans, who performed as a bullfighter in Spain.
30. Which Salford brewery sold Blue Label pale ale
Threlfalls brewery
31. Which Salford brewery sold Red Rose Stout
Grove and Whitnall.
32. Which public park opened in Salford in 1846.
Peel Park.
33. Who was thr first mayor of Salford in 1844
William Lockett.
34. what was significant about the deaths of Miles Weatherfield and Timothy Flaherty in1868
They were last people to be executed at New Bailey Prison, Salford.
35. Which Salford man had hits in the pop music charts between 1959 and 1967 which included his most famous Fanlight Fanny which reached number 22
Clinton Ford.
36. Which pub in Broughton changed its name to Hanky Park then eventually changed it back.
The Grosvenor.
37. By what name was Salford musical artiste Elsie Cotton better known
Lily Elsie or little Elsie
38.Which Salford born recording artist had a hit with the song Lilac Wine
Elkie Brooks.
39. Which Salford person was reported missing in 1979 being assumed to be lost up the Amazon
Albert Finney who was working in South America at the time.
40.Brothers, Billy, Teddy, Jack, Mark and Albert Marchant were famous. for what sport.
Boxing.
Regards to all-Roy
