Salford Histories Festival will be back this coming Saturday 28th October and if it anything like last years event it will be packed with local history stalls, displays and members of the public with a keen interest in the history of Salford. The main event is being held as usual at the Fletcher Hall, Vicarage Rd, Swinton, Manchester M27 0WA, starting at 10am and ending at 4pm. There will be three talks spanning two days, the first will precede the main event on Friday 27th. The legendary Paul Kelly will be holding a talk on the Irwell Valley Mining Project within the Swinton Gateway (1st Floor) at 2pm sharp. Then on Saturday at the same venue there will be a talk at 10am by David Barnes on the history of the Bolton/Bury canal, followed at 11:30am by our good friend, the wonderful Theresa Emberton who will be talking about the history of Pendleton 'Pengy' Church. Theresa has been researching those who occupy the graves which were uncovered as part of the Uncovering Pendletons Past project which saw previously grassed over gravestones uncovered. The prestigious Frank Molineux Award for 2023 will be presented to Lawrence Gregory & David Lannon for their book entitled The Clergy of the Diocese of Salford 1850-1902, which Tony Flynn has reviewed and found to be fascinating. Link below. Free parking is available at the event on the council car park at the corner of Vicarage Road and Partington Lane but the festival is very popular and parking can quickly be filled up. Attendees are asked to respect the local community and neighbours by not blocking drives when street parking. The event will be opened this year by a mysterious bespectacled, tootal wearing guest with a love of local history, especially history involving pubs. We are not sure why they chose him as he just wrote a book about pubs and has been living off the royalties ever since. Chancer if you ask us. We can't reveal the name of the person as Tony Flynn has expressly forbidden it. Location: Fletcher Hall, Vicarage Rd, Swinton, Manchester M27 0WA
