Work was continuing in the city centre on the construction of the new Royal Exchange, despite the difficulties with the supply of materials due to the war.

Bank street was now closed to traffic between Cross St and Exchange St with a temporary passage for pedestrians until the new building reaches the 1st floor, before a new thoroughfare from Cross Street to St Ann’s Square supersedes it.

Preparations were also under way for the removal of the Portico in Cross Street.The disappearance of this architectural feature, wrote the Evening News, will be regretted by many, even though it is in the cause of architectural symmetry.

There was a disastrous fire at the Alpha  Spinning Mill in Denton. The fire broke out at midday and there were scenes of panic as mill workers fled the building.Two workers were treated for burns at the Ashton infirmary.It took the firebrigade, three hours to bring the fire under control. It was discovered that it had started due to friction at the mule head stock.
A police raid on the New Era Club in Chorlton on Medlock led to its being closed down.

The club on Booth Street East was being used for an unlawful purpose the magistrate were told, there was frequent drunkeness on the premises and illegal sales of intoxicating liquor after hours.Neighbours complained of fights outside and the use of filthy language with taxis turning up all hours of the night and the police having to speak to “loose women”, who frequented the area. 
Salford’s Corporation tramways reported heavy financial losses, the main cause being the granting of  concessions to the travelling public under the work men’s ticket at the start of the war.

However the committee was to recommend that the subsidy be abolished.

A Rochdale labourer appeared in court charged with causing the death of his wife after she was found in a huddle at the bottom of the cellar steps. A neighbour told the court that she had heard the prisoner abusing someone and then there had been a terrific bang.
Reports were reaching the country of the battle of Neuve Chapelle with dispatches showed no the full horror of the war on the Western front.

“ all hell broke loose, with a mighty hideous screeching burst of noise, hundreds of guns spoke, the din was continuous, an officer who had the curious idea of putting his ear to the ground said it was though the earth was being smitten great blows with Titan’s hammer” said one account 

“ the sickening fumes of lydite blew back into the British trenches, in some places the the troops were smothered in earth and dust and spattered with blood from the hideous fragments of human bodies that went hurtling through the air-at one point the upper half of Garrman officer his cap crammed on his head was blown into one of our trenches.”

Attempts by the Germans to retake Hill 60 South East of Ypres have been rebuffed said Sir John French in his dispatches from the front.’The entire crest of the hill is now held by us and its use denied by the enemy who attach great importance to it.’
Four battalions of the Manchester regiment left Heaton Park for Grantham. As they marched to London Road station, mothers father’s sisters and friends lined the route. As they reached market street the city came to a halt it was reported, every window seemed alive with sightseers.

Eight trains leaving every 45 minutes conveyed them South.

The death was announced of the former Lancs cricketer Fred Reynolds at the age of 81, the flags at Old Trafford were flown at half mast. He was, said the Evening News, one of the most famous bowlers of his day, his playing  career starting back in 1852 before the county system had been set up touring the UK with George Parr’s England eleven, coming to Manchester in 1860 where he played until his retirement in 1873.
The FA Cup final was held that weekend as Sheffield United played Chelsea.There had been a small demonstration against the game being played on account of the war which had attracted little interest the previous evening.

It was the second time that Manchester had staged the final, previously at Fallowfield in 1893 but in front of a capacity crowd of 70,000 at Old Trafford, Sheffield United won 3-0  

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