An exhibition of photographs from the 1950s and 1960s is set to open in Manchester that is sure to bring memories flooding back for anyone who lived in Salford and Cheetham Hill in that era.
Over 60 new images, from the archive of thousands, have been selected to be exhibited for the very first time at the People’s History Museum. The images include shops, industries, furniture, schools, the annual Whit Walk processions, portraits and fashions of the period, as well as images of migrant ancestors, brought by families who came to Cheetham Hill in the late 19th century and in the 1950s and 1960s from places such as Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa.
The Salford & Cheetham Hill In Focus exhibition is launched at the museum in /on Saturday 25 November, 1.00pm to 4.00pm. The event is free to attend and there will be a chance to meet members of the team and share your own memories of the area.
Thanks to painstaking restoration work by a team of project workers and volunteers, a treasure trove of previously unseen images has been uncovered, digitised and preserved for future generations by the Salford & Cheetham Hill In Focus project.
Little is known about the people and places in many of the photographs, so it is hoped that the public will be able to help provide more information.
The Retracing Salford project was founded by local historian and artist Lawrence Cassidy.
He said:
“There are many fascinating images in the collection of glass plate and film negatives and the team had just a few handwritten notes on the boxes to give us clues to the locations and the people in them. We have been able to map some of the shops and businesses featured but we would love to know more about them.”
Many of the shops, industries and schools have long since disappeared so the archive is also an important record of a bygone era. “By recording many of the landmarks and occasions in the area,the collection is a kind of accidental piece of social history,” added Lawrence.
“I am sure that anyone who grew up in the area will find many images that they recognise and that will bring back all kinds of memories.”
Retracing Salford received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to clean, restore and digitise the archive and after the exhibition it will be stored at the Greater Manchester County Records Office.
