Sir William Houldsworth once led the textile industry in Droylsden. Economic growth in the town was powered by his cotton mills. It even has its soapbox derby! It is an annual event that ignites laughter and excitement with inventive contraptions. I served an apprenticeship as a Plumber and one of our jobs was to look after some tippler lavatories owned by my uncle. When it rained the tippler used to work like mad and was prone to shearing the hinge pins, it was our job to replace them and as I remember it wasn't a very savoury job, they smelled a bit and were very slimey due to the sink waste running into them. Cod liver oil and malt. The cod liver oil was not very nice but was made palatable if followed by a large spoonfull of malt. My children’s adolescence was spent in the Home Counties, which is about as different an environment to Openhaw as one can imagine, and at a time when standards of living had dramatically improved. Without a written record of life in those days, it would be difficult for them to relate to how we lived then. My family lived at 145 Union street Ashton-u-Lyne during the war years and beyond. There were six of us in the family Mam and Dad and four children all boys. I was the youngest born in 1938. my brother Edward was born in 1936. Ronald was born in 1934 and Sidney the eldest was born in 1929.

Droylsden has something special for everyone, from its illustrious past to its vibrant present. So, let’s dive in and discover the captivating tales and hidden gems. 1. Droylsden’s Surprising Connection to Music Does anyone remember the shop in the Avenue that sold fresh ground coffee- you could smell it all the way up the Avenue? In the heart of Droylsden lies a spiritual cornerstone that’s not just a place of worship but a symbol of the town’s deep-rooted history and community spirit. Behold, the Christ Methodist Church. Beyond its religious significance, the church plays a vital role in the community. rang out and we all ran as fast as we could, but clumsy me had to trip and cut my head open, so thatThe person who remembers Manny Showman's the gents tailor on Penny Meadow, must remember the last shop looking across to the market hall and across to the Bowling Green Pub, I was my Fathers shop also a gents tailors Harry Askews. My farther was Eric Cooper, will lived in Audenshaw. The other shop on Penny Meadow I remember was Downings the furnisher shop. Imagine my surprise once inside to see old photographs of St. Gabriel’s. I was even more surprised when I realised I was on one of them – taken during the annual “scholars walk” at Whitsuntide. I remember the dress, white, long, organdie and very itchy. Ugh! I remember that rat in the outside loo, I remember the tippler too, and I remember that after you found the rat, you wouldn’t let me go to the toilet anymore... well I had to go, but you weren’t happy about it... come to think of it neither was I, I never did like that toilet! I wasn’t really scared of the rat though, I was used to the rats that David and Ethel next door used to keep, and his ferrets... so rats and things have never bothered me that much.

The company that served our region was the London Midland Scottish Railway or LMS as we called it for short. It was always the main interest of the Locospotters to see named engines. The main named engines that used the line from Manchester and through Charlestown station in Ashton were the Scot class, the Patriot class and the Jubilee class. These were good times for a 10 -12 year old although we never got any further that Manchester Victoria and Exchange Station from Ashton or Manchester London Road Station from Guide bridge. Other boys would go much farther affield to do their spotting. There were cream and white donkey stones, but the cream was more popular, I think. Actually it was a bit of a pain because when you sand stoned the steps it all walked into the house. It was years before someone thought of painting instead. I used to go to Bob Dale's ballroom dancing classes. That would have been around 1956-1959 when I was 13-15 years old. I loved it there and, of course, fell in love with him! If was thrilled in later years when I saw him on TV as a judge on the original Come Dancing. The classes took place in the Alhambra Dance Hall in those days. We Brits (Ashtonians, in particular) are a funny lot. Wherever we go or wherever we are, we seem to have a preoccupation with lavatories. We can ROFL when it comes to jokes about lavs and we can have in-depth discussions about them. We even discuss the attributes of foreign lavs and how they compare to our own. In my experience no conversation escapes the ultimate topic, the lav. Or is it just me?! The tripe shop on the corner of Camp Street and Henrietta Street. My Dads favourite dishes were tripe and vinegar, fried slut or elder and jellied pigs trotters Ugh!Donkey stone- did you know that you can still buy donkey stone in Ashton Market? I have some right here! My Mum used to stone our front step and woe betide you if you stepped on it whilst it was still wet! Meg Eric and I moved to New Zealand four years ago and so have left the severe wintry behind us, although South Island can experience a good deal of snow in the shorter winter here. School rivalry in the 1950s between Waterloo Primary School and Christ Church (now Cannon Burrows) culminated in epic snowball fights between the two. Innovations in machinery and manufacturing processes originated here, propelling the cotton trade. The transformation began in the late 18th century when cotton mills sprouted like mushrooms after rain. By the mid-19th century, it was a bustling hub of textile production.