Memories of Marple!

[Barbara]

You are right Henrietta - my memory let me down (blame old age and visitors!).  I had got the cobblers and barbers mixed up - the children used to be very rude about having their hair 'Chewed'! 

[My login is Henrietta]

The cobblers shop down the steps on market street belonged to Mr Bill Bradbury when you went on the arranged day to pick up a pair of repaired shoes it was always !they will be ready tomorrow! and they were. Bill and his wife and two children lived above the shop. At one time Bill was the leading fire officer at Marple fire station in the memorial park and if you happened to be in his shop when the fire siren went you were asked to leave , Bill locked the door jumped on his push bike and off he went to the fire station. Next door was Mr.Dawson the grocer then  Frank Wardel the Undertaker. Painter & Decorator, and Musician. Mr Chapman butcher. Mr Chew hairdresser, Mr Somerset i think he sold radio's, then the Pineapple
,  Ray

You go back further than me then. Can't remember the Grocers next to Frank Wardle's (was it the Wiseway dry cleaners by the time I lived on Market Street) and by my time the end shop was the estate agent. And next door to Mr Wardle was Miss Bennion, (a private house). As children we were terrified of her but much later when I came back to live in the flat over our shop and she and I were the only residents of Market Street, I found out what a nice old dear she was

[My login is Henrietta]

Can anyone remember the restaurant on Dale Road, backing onto the railway, don't know it's name?

Had a very ancient waiter with an enormous hearing aid. Oh. I am enjoying this!

[My login is Henrietta]

Does anone remember Jimmy Saville visiting the Co-op? (Many years ago!)

I remember the Stiffs shop and the friendly man/men who ran it.

A friendly old lady who lived on Stockport RD and waved to all the kids when they walked past.

Very sadly remember searching for a toddler who went missing on the canal about 20 years ago, there were many volunteers pulling together as a strength of the community willing to help, but sadly it was a tragic ending

The cafe upstairs (not sure which shop it was above but upstairs one of the shops near where Angel hair is now) which did fantastic breakfasts and milkshakes and was run by two lovely older ladies.

I remember Noel Gill Sports, Chocloate Box, Downtown, Corner shoe shop, Johns supersave, Pram shop, seconds shop and loads of other stores.

I was forbidden to go on the canal bank without my parents for fear I would fall in and drown. Was panic-stricken when we were taken along the canal bank with Guides (I was about 12). Couldn't decide which would be worse - drowning or my mother finding out where I'd been!

[My login is Henrietta]

ooo you lot are sparking memories! The cafe on Brabyns Brow (now Purple Pakora) where we used to get a Dandelion and Burdock, oh yes and Mr Procter the cobbler on Derby Way.

And the scary usher in the cinema, who was lovely really, and the man who owned it who was so nice to me when my tooth fell out in the middle of Bedknobs and Broomsticks, who ran out in the rain to his car to get some tissues to stem the flow of blood!

And Sam the dog who used to sit on a gatepost on Manor Road and say hi to all the schoolkids on their way home!

Alison

I had a Sunday Job at the Station Cafe (Purple Pakora) when I was in 6th form

[My login is Henrietta]

And Mr Proctor in the cobblers used to appear up from the cellar behind the counter - always reminded us of the demon king in the panto.  Also the barbers in the cellar just up from the Bulls Head - he had old brass firemen's helmets on display there, which used to fascinate our boys. (Haircuts were nothing to write home about though!)

Sorry Barbara. I hadn't seen yours before I posted mine. Glad I'm not the only one who thought about the demon king.

But the barbers in the cellar? There was the cycle shop and Mr Bradbury's cobblers shop in the cellars but I don't remember a barbers there.There was a barbers - Mr Chew's - further up Market Street - second from the end of the block between Chapman's butchers and Mr Headridge who was the estate agent and sometime Mayor. As regards the firemen's helmets - Mr Bradbury, the cobbler, was a fireman. It was a volunteer service in those days and Mr B had a bell which rang when there was a fire. My dad used to reckon that it was 4 minutes between Mr B's bell sounding and the fire engine turning out of Hibbert Lane.

When I turned 18 Dad gave me a list of pubs in Marple I wasn't to go into. The Pineapple and the Bulls Head were on it as they were considered to be a bit disreputable and the Romper, which father said was where businessmen trook their secretaries (what they got up to next was never spoken of but seemed to involve the quarry!)

[My login is Henrietta]

One of the highlights for me was the cycle race which attracted lots of professional cyclist but of course the downside was it closed down all the main roads in Marple and as a teenager we wanted to head for the bright lights of Rommel but we were stuck until all the roads reopened.  Can someone remind me how often it happened was it every year I just can not remember.
Another was getting apples by going in the farm yard and climbing over the vets wall in the now car park on Hubert Lane
Another was planning how we could let the animals escape from the slaughter house behind Littlewoods butchers to save them from their fate.

. Tour of Britain one year it came down from gloss op lower fold through Marple I remember it well we had just moved in to lower fold and someone had as kip on the road just below Windsor castle the police were playing hell they wanted it moved they were not very happy that must be over thirty years ago .and Mrs Benson's shop on the corner of gloss op road she used to sell bit of every thing had  a dog called Tina it used to lick the cheese on the counter .no health inspectors in the days the old coop on the bottom lower fold that was still open but not as a coop .used to be a great iron mongers now were Ian man is another great deli shop now were the estate agents is gascoins .hams and all sorts hung up i inside great days could go on forever .

And Cosadinos's hairdressers in the same row as Ian Mann

[My login is Henrietta]

Carnival Queen dances, in the winter, at Marple Swimming Baths.  I seem to remember that they used to board the pool over for the dance floor.  They also had a mirrored globe.

And didn't we think it was sophistcated?

[My login is Henrietta]

  I also used to love going into the shoe repairing shop on Market Street which was around about where Helen Winterson is now.  The owner was a lovely man and the shop always smelt of leather.   

You mean Sid Proctor's shoe shop. It used to frighten me when I was little. The cellar (where the repairs were done) entrance was in the floor behind the counter so when the shop door was opened and the bell rang Mr P senior used to rise up behind the counter like the demon king. Gave me the whillies every time I went in with my mother.

Does anyone else remember the rocking horse in the window above Astley's shop? And Old Mr Astley being Father Christmas in the upstairs show room? It was years before I cottoned on that it was Mr A and not the real Father Christmas.(Astleys was where the newsagents is on Market Street.

And Clara Fox (or Clara Cluck, as my irreverent father used to call her!), thesmall (and rather select) dress shop next door to Astleys?

[badger]

Can anyone remember the restaurant on Dale Road, backing onto the railway, don't know it's name?

[RAY NOBLE]

The cobblers shop down the steps on market street belonged to Mr Bill Bradbury when you went on the arranged day to pick up a pair of repaired shoes it was always !they will be ready tomorrow! and they were. Bill and his wife and two children lived above the shop. At one time Bill was the leading fire officer at Marple fire station in the memorial park and if you happened to be in his shop when the fire siren went you were asked to leave , Bill locked the door jumped on his push bike and off he went to the fire station. Next door was Mr.Dawson the grocer then  Frank Wardel the Undertaker. Painter & Decorator, and Musician. Mr Chapman butcher. Mr Chew hairdresser, Mr Somerset i think he sold radio's, then the Pineapple
,  Ray

[heather]

Mr proctor was on market street next to the horseshoe tunnel he could always find a pair of shoes no matter how much money you had on his counter was a sign that read i cried cos i had no shoes till i saw the boy with no feet, i remember most of the shops on derby way being homes mum lived in one as a child it was the bottom one where toast is she tells of Goddard and buckingham being where the carpark is,i remember the carpark being Walsh's building yard dad would push us down in the wheelbarrow and get a barrow full of sand and we would have to walk home.which shop did the cobblers where you had to go down the steps to become cant decide if it was the jewelers or the house of flowers which is now the pound shop

[Barbara]

I also remember excitedly rushing from dropping the kids off at Rosehill School to queue for the opening of the new Co-op (No Miss M, the original one where Mackays is now).  Seem to remember if you spent £5 you got free stuff,including a chicken. 

And there were two shoe shops including Turners (where the Pound Shop is now) who were brilliant at children's shoes. 

And do you remember collecting pennies to buy all the daffodils that were planted in the Memorial Park?

[JMC]

Does anone remember Jimmy Saville visiting the Co-op? (Many years ago!)

I remember the Stiffs shop and the friendly man/men who ran it.

A friendly old lady who lived on Stockport RD and waved to all the kids when they walked past.

Very sadly remember searching for a toddler who went missing on the canal about 20 years ago, there were many volunteers pulling together as a strength of the community willing to help, but sadly it was a tragic ending

The cafe upstairs (not sure which shop it was above but upstairs one of the shops near where Angel hair is now) which did fantastic breakfasts and milkshakes and was run by two lovely older ladies.

I remember Noel Gill Sports, Chocloate Box, Downtown, Corner shoe shop, Johns supersave, Pram shop, seconds shop and loads of other stores.

[alison]

ooo you lot are sparking memories! The cafe on Brabyns Brow (now Purple Pakora) where we used to get a Dandelion and Burdock, oh yes and Mr Procter the cobbler on Derby Way.

And the scary usher in the cinema, who was lovely really, and the man who owned it who was so nice to me when my tooth fell out in the middle of Bedknobs and Broomsticks, who ran out in the rain to his car to get some tissues to stem the flow of blood!

And Sam the dog who used to sit on a gatepost on Manor Road and say hi to all the schoolkids on their way home!

Alison