Enjoying retirement
In The Red Rose County
Dinner, Bed and Breakfast from an on-line offer at the 5 Star Lowry Hotel in Manchester seemed too good to miss. and our room overlooking the river exceeded expectations.... it had a typically Manchester urban view over a Calatrava bridge. with impressive view both ways.... And here I must apologise to the City of Salford because the hotel side of the bridge is indeed Salford, Manchester's poorer sister. I note that the Lowry always referred to Manchester....something it should really change. There's no shame in being in Salford! Anyhow, having dropped our bags we walked through Manchester, past the usual variety of styles and ages of buildings which is such a feature of my favourite city and ended up at our destination of the Bridgewater Hall to buy some concert tickets. Here again the ultra modern Bridgewater stands in contrast to one of Mnachester's old mills turned, as is often the case, into some smart flats. Some city-centre buildings are just grand - here the Midland Hotel. and some stand teeny weeny but proud as with the Rising Sun which seems to be in the wrong company. Talking of pubs Manchester has many excellent ones of course. The Old Nag's Head has amazing decor. Christmas hadn't quite arrived, but very nearly. Since we were staying in Salford we thought we would like to give Salford a chance and went to the Museum and Art Gallery standing on an eminence over the very fine Peel Park. Opened in August 1846, Peel Park was one of the first public parks to be opened in the country "for the enjoyment and recreation of the public... without charge or restriction." It is named in honour of Sir Robert Peel, the former Prime Minister. After a good and very reasonably priced lunch in their cafe which was very popular with students from the adjoining University, and others, we visited first the Lark Hill Place Victorian street where it is apparently always tea-time on a winter’s evening, when the street gas lights have just been lit. This was certainly the equal of the similar attraction in York, and one of the very friendly employees pointed out quite a few things to us which we would otherwise have missed. The Langworthy Gallery was next. Here you follow the alphabet through Salford’s collections as you journey from aeroplane to zither. Under each letter you never knew what you were going to find next - from paintings and decorative art to costume and social history. Talking to one of the assistant curators he implied that the whole idea of the gallery, which we by the way thought was terrific, was a mere pet project of the Curator. We enjoyed the interesting juxtapositions. Under 'S' the almost floor to ceiling painting of the sailor was stupendous... and the unusual not to say unique Steam Hammer Clock was intriguing. Who knows what it might do on the hour?! There were modern toilets elsewhere.......... There was a conventional art display as well with some excellent local paintings... This particular painting (below) was of Manchester seen from Peel Park, Salford in the Seventies when I lived there. How things have changed in one or two generations. But this is how I remember it. The River Irwell which now flows past the Lowry and where we saw a cormorant and where amazingly an otter has recently been spotted, was in the Seventies indescribably filthy........absolutely jet black and almost solid with wastes, many of them chemical. I suppose it wasn't all bad. I remember one particular fishing spot on the Bridgewater canal near Trafford Park which had a warm water outlet from, I think, Kellog's and believe it or not tropical fish thrived there and were regularly caught. It goes without saying that the Art Gallery has some Lowrys (the painter not the hotel). This one painted from the terrace outside the Gallery. Lowry was at art school here. Something we were not very familiar with (only having seen the odd piece on 'Flog It' etc) was the work of the Pilkington Pottery. The Pilkington’s collections are significant because of their size and the range of material spanning almost the factory’s entire history from 1889 to 2008. The collections are material evidence of one of the most successful and longest surviving of the British art potteries founded in the late Victorian period. The Pilkington’s factory was based in Clifton, Salford and the business was only liquidated in 2010. What a crying shame. Its products were brilliant, and a lot would now certainly be in fashion. Must surely have been mismanaged.............worth some further research. These particular tiles (below) were rescued at the last minute from the demolition of a butcher's shop. The tale is told below. The potter's wheel shown at an exhibition is on show in the museum. There were also a number of exhibitions featuring local artists. Here the theme was Salford buildings past and present made into bird boxes...... ..and here articles found in Salford parks and impressed into florists foam....some interesting guesswork needed. One of the main galleries is the Victorian Gallery arranged in the busy way quite normal for the Victorians (and sometimes the Summer Exhibition at the RA). But the gallery had been taken over by a party of school children who were doing some imaginative work so we didn't linger. But I was fascinated to see the statue entitled 'Genius of Lancashire'. I'd like one. Salford Museum got 10 out of 10 for me. A good find. The area around wasn't without its attractions either..... Walking back to the hotel was atmospheric at night. Our 'Host' for our meal was Jones, and he did look after us incredibly well and chat to us whenever there was a natural break. He was Five Star. The plastic plants you can see were everywhere and completely naff in a Five Star hotel. The next day we revisited John Ryland's Library (always a pleasure). Amazing architecture. Even the heating controls were impressive. Here some papers which I consulted in the Sixties on these shelves. I must rejoin the lIbrary. And we thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition about The Qing 清 (1636-1912), China’s last dynasty, which existed for nearly three centuries, and produced some incredible works of art and artefacts. Lunch was at Pot Kettle Black in the swish Victorian gem the Barton Arcade. Then to the Bridgewater and our concert featuring Strauss's Four Last Songs, Mozart's Jupiter Symphony and Howell's Lamia which we knew nothing about but which was very good indeed. Dorothy Howell was only 21 when Lamia was given its first performance at the Proms by Sir Henry Wood. The work was such a success that it was played five times that season and was soon being heard all over England.
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August 2023
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