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| with thanks to Kerry Fletcher and Dave Thompson at Middlewich Town Council |
In previous Middlewich Diary entries we've looked at some remarkable photographs originating in a collection owned by local photographer Phillip Shales and showing scenes from local events going back over 60 years.
This particular shot is from a file marked 'Chairman's Sunday 1948' and shows Middlewich Scouts and Cubs posing for the camera in Chester Road.
Which straight away brings up another of those anomalies we're always coming across in our travels around Middlewich and its past.
Which straight away brings up another of those anomalies we're always coming across in our travels around Middlewich and its past.
This diary entry shows the scouts, on what is said to be the same day, marching down from their Brooks Lane HQ to the Parish Church.
So why did they end up in Chester Road? Did everyone march there after the church service?
Perhaps it's not an anomaly at all. It could be that it was the usual practice for everyone to march up to Chester Road for what would be called a 'photocall' these days.
There was little room in the town centre at that time for such an activity and, given that the roads were a lot quieter then, perhaps Chester Road was considered the ideal place for such an activity.
We wouldn't recommend trying it now.
UPDATE (January 2017) Another theory, put forward by Geraldine Williams, has the ring of truth about it. Could it be that the Chairman of the Council that year was Mr Morris of Boosey's Nurseries, and the Scouts (and Guides) were there to form a sort of 'guard of honour' to escort him into the town for the service?
The buildings in the right background were all part of Middlewich Motors, and should be compared with the modern Middlewich Autos buildings (themselves due, we're told, for imminent demolition) shown here.
Behind the scouts on the left is the strangely evocative Boosey's Nurseries building which always looked like some kind of overgrown garden shed-cum-garage.
And just look at the faces of the scouts and cubs. Where are they all now?
Facebook Feedback (2018):
Deborah Rose The leader in the middle is Frank Hough. We think the leader on the left is Joe Stanier. The group marched down from the scout hall on Brooks Lane to the cemetery, where the parade formed up. The parade would then march from the cemetery gates to the church of the denomination of the Chairman at the time.
SEE ALSO MIDDLEWICH GUIDES IN CHESTER ROAD 1948
Perhaps it's not an anomaly at all. It could be that it was the usual practice for everyone to march up to Chester Road for what would be called a 'photocall' these days.
There was little room in the town centre at that time for such an activity and, given that the roads were a lot quieter then, perhaps Chester Road was considered the ideal place for such an activity.
We wouldn't recommend trying it now.
UPDATE (January 2017) Another theory, put forward by Geraldine Williams, has the ring of truth about it. Could it be that the Chairman of the Council that year was Mr Morris of Boosey's Nurseries, and the Scouts (and Guides) were there to form a sort of 'guard of honour' to escort him into the town for the service?
The buildings in the right background were all part of Middlewich Motors, and should be compared with the modern Middlewich Autos buildings (themselves due, we're told, for imminent demolition) shown here.
Behind the scouts on the left is the strangely evocative Boosey's Nurseries building which always looked like some kind of overgrown garden shed-cum-garage.
And just look at the faces of the scouts and cubs. Where are they all now?
Facebook Feedback (2018):
Deborah Rose The leader in the middle is Frank Hough. We think the leader on the left is Joe Stanier. The group marched down from the scout hall on Brooks Lane to the cemetery, where the parade formed up. The parade would then march from the cemetery gates to the church of the denomination of the Chairman at the time.
SEE ALSO MIDDLEWICH GUIDES IN CHESTER ROAD 1948
Until Middlewich became part of Congleton Borough the Chairmans Sunday Parade always started at the Golden Lion then marched to the cenotaph,then on to the place of worship of the chairman.The adult in the middle of the back row is my grandfather Mr Ralph Hough.
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