RootsChat.Com

This isn't a 'standard' request since I'm trying to get in contact with anyone who knew Peter.

Peter James McNamara. Lived in Leyton, London. 15/03/1959 - 12/03/1991
aged 31years. Ashes scattered at City of london cemetery - East Ham, Lonodon.

Peter was a friend of my partner (Andy) and holds a special place in his heart. However, aside from memories, my partner has nothing by which to remember his friend. I know it would mean a great deal, if I could obtain a photograph of Peter for him but so far; appeals on various social networks have resulted in only a few replies from old friends, none of whom had any photos.

Thus I am making this last ditch appeal in the hope that it might be read by someone who knew, or  is related to Peter. I am happy to reimburse any reasonable reprographic and postage costs.   

If you knew Peter or you know someone who did, please get in contact. Thank you.

Phil

I think ths chat is starting to stray somewhat from the original posting so in order to conclude the matter of setts & cobbles I would say the following.

My paternal Grandmother and most of my Great Aunts & Uncles lived most if not all their lives in Beswick whilst my father and his two siblings grew up there. Despite this, (to the best of my memory), I never heard any of them use the word setts to describe the local road surface.

None of us can know (and I doubt there are complete records to show, even if anyone wants to go digging in the archives) what type of stone was originally laid on all the streets in the area. Over more than century, alterations to the road layout; repairs by various teams from the Council or utilities; bomb damage; RTA's; vandalism; Town Hall budget restrictions; mining subsidence etc., will no doubt have resulted in a 'patchwork' of stones used across the road network. The massive redevelopement of the area in the late 60s and then again since 2000, will have destroyed/erased much of the patchwork whilst complicating what little still remains.

Accordingly, there is nothing to say that any or all of us are right or wrong in our memories.

As far back as 1948 (I think) the local authority had identified the area of Beswick aka Bradford in Manchester as suitable for redevelopment, stating that the housing was poor quality and the area was effectively a slum. My father was born and raised in the area and says that the housing looked (& was) dirty and grim, due to all the pollution from coal fires in houses and local factories. However; it was solidly built and was capable of being modenised for example, his family lived in an end terrace on the corner of School street and Mill street and his parents had one of the upstairs bedrooms made in to a bathroom.

Sadly, the postwar period is littered with the 'we know best' attitude of local planners who recited the blunder headed mantra that 'all old is bad, all new is good' and (ignoring the importance of communties) proceeded to demolish most of the area in the late 60s and 70s. Many of the local industries also close at this time including the Stuart Street Power Station; Richard Johnson Wireworks and Bradford (coal) Pit. All that was left standing were a few pubs and the odd church (though many of these have gone since). As a child in the early 1980s, I can recall my father driving me around the area where he use to live. Aside from St Bridgets Catholic Church, there were no buildings. All I could see was the original roads (cobble visible in many places) and pavements. Just beyond (but running parallel to the pavements) was a continuous grassy mound (about 4ft high), underneath which, was the rubble of the former buildings. I wish I'd at least saved a brick because even this has all gone now and in its place stands Alan Turning Way.

My grandparents (and other family members and some old neighbours) were rehoused in new accommodation on Ramage Walk & Palmeston Street, near Ashton New Road, but they were lucky as although they were still in a terraced houses; each house had a front and back garden and was well built from brick. Compare that the Council's 'premier' redevlopement scheme of panel built flats, which resulted in the infamous 'Fort Beswick' development on Wellington Street, completed in 1972. Poorly designed and badly constructed; the developement was plagued with problems and eventually demolished from 1982 onwards.

I know i'm coming to this discussion very late but I hope RobynD will eventually pick this.

As a child in the late 70s/early 80s, I lived in a semi detached house on Southbrook Road, in Countess Weir.

Our neighbour was an elderly lady who (along with her husband) had bought their house new in about 1940/41. The houses (17, 19, 21 & 23) were built by the same builder who had gone on to live in our house at no 21.

She also told me that the estate was built on land which once belonged to Tollards Farm and this was the reason why the road which ran parallel to Southbrook Road, was (and is still) called Tollards Road.

Further more, I can recall playing in the stream which ran between our estate and the Burnthouse Lane Estate (near to where Chestnut Avenue is located). Next to the water course (about 500 yards upstream from the Topsham Road) was the remains of an old barn, which must have been part of the farm too. Sadly, I don't think anything remains of it now.