Crowds converged on The Fletcher Hall, Swinton on Saturday 28th October for the annual, Salford Histories Festival with over 30 stalls showcasing the various local history groups, societies etc in the Salford and district area The event was once again excellently compered by Don Ranger and I was honoured to officially open the event, still not sure why I was chosen, I presume our local M.P. was busy? but it was a great honour and I thank you for the invite. There were stalls covering all aspects of local history from the coalmines of Salford to the history of Swinton Rugby Club, I was particularly pleased to see the stall from ACRA the Agecroft Chapel Restoration Association showing the progress they have made in the last 12 months and how they have gained charitable status enabling them to seek funding to save the historic chapel. Mention must be made of the dynamic duo of Barry and Theresa Emberton with their stall telling the history of Pendleton Church (St Thomas) and the fantastic research they made into the project, Unearthing Pendleton's Past which pieces together the lives of those interred in the grounds of Pendleton Church, charting their occupations, homes and their roles in shaping the local area, and Theresa will be bringing out a book before Christmas a comprehensive history of Pendleton Church which I can't wait to read. Sue Richardson had a stall selling her publications and I personally can't thank Sue and her late husband, Neil enough, they got so many people's works into print and I count myself in that, some 90 publications or more, she truly deserves an award. Other stalls included The Buile Hill Mansion Group, Ordsall Community Arts, Salford Victoria Theatre Trust, The Friends of Salford Cemeteries Trust, Eccles Local History Society, Salford Local History Society, Bridgewater Trust, far to many to mention and I do apologise if I have left any out there was so much to see and do. I ventured into the room that was the home to The Merry Trotters Mobile Museum of Memorabilia and what a delight it was, the stalls were bedecked with paraphernalia from the Victorian ages up to the 1970s including kitchenware, clothes, toys, tools, militaria, books, shoes a cornucopia of delights and the beauty of it was you were allowed to touch and pick up the exhibits, many of them unknown to me, anyone for an organ grinders, monkeys, collecting tin? or a rubber studded, massage roller? The Salford Histories Festival was not just about the stalls, there were three talks were given by the following: Paul Kelly on the Irwell Valley Mining Project, Theresa Emberton on The History of Pendleton Church and David Barnes on The Bolton, Bury Canal and the highlight being the presentation of The annual Frank Mullineux Award which this year was given to Lawrence Gregory for his book, The Clergy of the Diocese of Salford 1850 -1902 which he co authored with Father David Lannon, a well deserved winner an outstanding piece of well documented and meticulously researched. Check out all the images from the day in our online Gallery: Having seen the growing success of this event, Carl and I have decided that we shall apply for a stall next year, this makes sense because I run a Facebook site, Salford History which has over 15K members many who contribute with photographs, slides and movie reels, memories etc and this would be a good way to introduce them to the delights of The Salford Histories Fair.
