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After an hour and
a half of searching the old Manchester General Cemetery I located the grave of
Ben Brierley, the famous Failsworth born writer.
The monument is now overgrown but the size
alone brings it home to you how important Ben Brierley was at the time,
his stone is only overshadowed by the powerful Walmsley family grave.
The grounds, on Rochdale Road at
Harpurhey, are almost forgotten, you would be forgiven if you drove past
it 100 times without noticing it, the council admit that there is no
maintenance program and sadly, even in this day and age, some of the
larger tombs have been looted.
If the name Ben Brierley doesn't ring a
bell, let me jog your memory; the Writer, Ben Brierley was born at 'The
Rocks' which is now a pizza shop (next door to Manchester Air Guns) on
Oldham Road. You may notice a street in Failsworth called Brierley
Avenue, or a pub in Moston called - you guessed it - Ben Brierley, plus
and perhaps his most famous local legacy is that of
Daisy Nook, which until Brierley's book 'a summer ramble' was known
as waterhouses.
For those of you who think taking
photos of the grave is disrespectful, I should point out that the former
stone was replaced with the current large monument by his Wife as a
memorial to him, so I think it was the intention that he was not
forgotten. also I received a permit to take these photos from Manchester
City Council.
I hope to research Bens life further
and in the future publish it on the site, until then Failsworth Library
has lots of information.
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Please
click on any photo for a larger image. Will open in new window. |
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FAILSWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY IS BACK |
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NOV 2002 Failsworth Historical
Society is in the process of being reformed. Jim McMahon, Editor has
launched a program aimed at restarting the once popular society.
The former group was called Failsworth
Local History Society, and was going for a long time until the year
2000 when due to lack of interest it disbanded.
So why restart it? Well simply put
there is a huge gap of information over the last 20 years, mainly
due to the fact that nowadays so much is taken for granted, when you
see a building being built its so common you don't often think of
its significance in the town. |
With the District Centre starting next
year now more than ever it is important to record to changing face of
our town.
Plus we may have a heritage centre to
call our own over the next couple of years.
We have identified 5 official posts
within the society, these are:
Chairman: APPOINTED : JOHN CROMPTON
Deputy Chairman : VACANT
Administrative Coordinator APPOINTED : JIM MCMAHON
Multi-media Coordinator
Archive Coordinator
All these posts require drive and a
real devotion the our town, standard membership will be available once
the foundations are laid.
If you are interested please call Jim
on 0161 681 6448 after 6.00pm.
The future is exciting, be a part of
it!
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JUBILEE TREE PLANTED AT THE
POLE |
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Cllr Currie and 3 members of the
Failsworth and Hollinwood Area Committee were present to see the
planting of the Jubilee Tree at Failsworth Pole, Oldham Road,
Failsworth. The tree, which is a
Blue Cedar, will eventually grow up to 30ft tall and in future years
could be used as the towns Christmas tree.
Some passers by did think it was a
miniature Christmas tree but rest assured the usual tree will be placed
at St. Johns, Oldham Road Failsworth.
Be sure to check out the video of the
photo opportunity which took place. |
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CLICK HERE TO VIEW LARGER
PICTURE |
CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO |
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KINGS VISIT TO FAILSWORTH VIDEO ONLINE |
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The launch of the new
British Pathe
website has uncovered a piece of news footage detailing the kings visit
to Failsworth during WW2, although we are unsure of the exact date its
well worth a look!
PLUS Motor cross at Daisy Nook - I don't
think they'd get away with that today!
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FREE WEBSITE FOR LOCAL GROUPS |
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| Failsworth.info is
offering a free webpage for non-profit making groups and organisations'
in the Failsworth and Hollinwood area.
GROUPS WHO HAVE BENEFITED
FROM THIS ARE;
WOODHOUSES VILLAGE
ASSOCIATION
WOODHOUSES CRICKET CLUB
PLUS ASSOCIATIONS WITH:
FAILSWORTH CRICKET CLUB
This includes a free e-mail forwarding
service, i.e yourname@failsworth.info.
If you would like to apply for this
free community service please contact Jim McMahon at
jim@failsworth.info
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