Haunting film of old Salford

[chirp]

I think anyone researching in Salford prior to the 1970s will find this of interest. It's the first part of a film project sponsored by Salford University  which puts together pieces of film from the North West Film Archive made circa 1968 as the old Salford homes were demolished. It shows well how people had lived in the area for a long time. http://vimeo.com/68841275


also:   http://vimeo.com/69454965


Apologies if this has already been posted on RC. I have only just come across it.

Chirp

[Desert Girl]

Fascinating. 
I watched that and thought what a shame when they pull old buildings down and our towns lose their old areas, and to a certain extent their identity, end of an era etc etc.   
And yet, if I had lived there in one of those houses, and known the hardships, I wonder if I would feel pleased to see the end of the 'slum' area or would I feel nostalgic?

Thanks for posting it.

[LizzieW]

In 1960s, I used to work for a company called Searchlight Electric which was based in smallish premises just off Deansgate in Manchester.  Then they expanded and moved to a place in Salford.  I can't remember the street, but I do remember having to walk quite a long way from my bus route, down streets where houses had been bombed, or were just in ruins and it always seemed so dirty.  There were cobbled streets - not good when wearing stiletto heels.  The company itself has expanded even more and moved back into Manchester.

By the way, at one time Salford, although a city in its own right, was thought of as the poorer relation to Manchester.  Now it seems, it has been swallowed up and become part of Manchester.  Not sure how that works, having a city within a city, but that's local government for you.

[chirp]

I know exactly what you mean Desert Girl. Some of my relatives lived in Hulme during the 60s when it too received the demolition treatment and they felt that the heart was being torn out of their community. Some people although they appreciated that they were going to "better" accommodation, missed their friends and old ways of life and were in some ways intimidated by the move to the suburbs. They were critical of the tower blocks and "rabbit hutch" (their words not mine) housing which was to replace their own little terraces. They would have much preferred it if their homes could have been upgraded. So, on the whole, I got the feeling that it was not a happy time. Recently, however, whilst taking part in online discussions with people with an interest in the old days in Hulme and Salford, I have come to realise that what actually happened was the people who moved into those areas when the new builds were completed established their own communities and they are sometimes critical of the subsequent changes that were made towards the end of the 20th century. There is a new generation (of ex-Hulme and ex-Salford dwellers) looking back equally fondly to their formative years and the communities which shaped them. It seems to me that it's not just people who grow, develop, change and move on, places do it too.

[Ray T]

By the way, at one time Salford, although a city in its own right, was thought of as the poorer relation to Manchester.  Now it seems, it has been swallowed up and become part of Manchester.  Not sure how that works, having a city within a city, but that's local government for you.

Salford was, and still is, a City and the same goes for Manchester. Even after local government reorganisation in 1974, they were separate entities within the Greater Manchester Council area and Salford retained its individual identity following the abolition of the GMC in 1986.

I suspect that it is mainly those from outside the area who cannot distinguish between the two.

[LizzieW]

I suspect that it is mainly those from outside the area who cannot distinguish between the two.

You mean like the press and radio and TV, where Salford, is always mentioned as Salford, Manchester as if Salford is a part of Manchester?

[Viktoria]

 Gosh- I remember that happening in Manchester, the dirt and desolation and idiocy of leaving odd houses surrounded by abandoned ones.
 The next stage was all the poor women stuck in high rise flats away from neighbours and the daily
 contact with people. Lifts not working and  vandalised and the loneliness and  ensuing depression.
 Having two children I was at the Dr` from time to time  and there were always women trying to get out of the flats, asking the Dr to help them on health grounds, which he could not really do.
 Then came the breakdowns -  and the  break up of family life as the women retreated into their own black despair.Children out of control, I mean how can you watch children if you are several floors up.
 Not all families were in houses. It  was cruel and could have been handled much better.
The conditions were not much better in many ways, the dampness from underheated rooms and the condensation from drying washing, cooking and just breathing grew black mould and was a prime cause of respiratory diseases in children. The electricity bills were far higher than in a little terraced house but wages had not gone up but rents were high in comparison..It was a bad time and I was so grateful I was not one of those people.

 There was not much that was  voluntary about it, given a couple of choices ,refuse on reasonable grounds and the third choice was your last. A relative worked in Middleton and was  twice  offered unsuitable  locations -third choice was Bramhall--- take it or leave it. He had owned his little terraced house and got nothing like the value to him it represented. He`d done it up, re-plumbed and re -wired etc. It was clean and in good order.  I think he got £30-00.
 He had to take it and cycled to work and back for many years.
 That was M/C not Salford
. Such a lot was lost of community spirit and neighbourliness which you can`t put a price on yet the cost when those things went was high-- in misery and unhappiness. Viktoria.

[chirp]

There were indeed many sad tales Viktoria. I have read that some of the older people simply couldn't handle being wrenched out of the homes and communities they had always lived in and simply died within weeks of leaving. I guess they felt safe there; they had after all survived the war in those houses. Interestingly a few of the old terraces are still there today (in Hulme and Moss Side) and have been upgraded and their stonework cleaned. Some privately owned now. I'll bet that when they come up for sale the agents refer to them as "cottages". Now that the air pollution is no longer a problem I personally think that they look good and a lot more attractive than the high rise flats Viktoria is talking about.

[LizzieW]

My cousin and my aunt, until she died last a couple of years ago, lived in similar type houses in N.Manchester, but in their case the landlord had always kept them up to scratch.  Now they've been modernised and each alternate row of houses has been knocked down so that the remaining rows now have greenery in front of them, plus they've all got low green railings in front of each house, so that they can put pot plants there safely. My cousin is delighted with her house and looking on Google streetmap, they do look lovely now.  I don't think the original landlord still owns them, I can't believe any private landlord would agree to knock down perfectly good houses and lose the rent from them.