“”We stayed in Manchester for 3 nights, as Noshir Mehta (our Indian friend) had business associates and friends to see there (his family runs cotton mills near Bombay). It’s a black city – every building jet black with grime. We were lucky both days were hot and sunny, as it usually rains there, and I couldn’t imagine anything more depressing than a wet day in Manchester. First day I looked up a girl I’d met at the hostel in London whose home is near Manchester. She took the afternoon off from work and showed me the sights of Manchester – Cathedral, Town Hall, and good library. We had dinner then went to the theatre and saw the “Vic Oliver Show” – very funny!
We hadn’t expected a second day in Manchester, so were more or less at a loose end i.e. Nell and I. So we went to the bus station and asked conductors for suggestions for interesting runs into the country, and went to Hayfield (we thought the conductor said “Airfield”, and were almost there before we realised that the Hayfield on the front of the bus and “Airfield” were the one place – just the Lancashire way of speaking! This was a really quaint village, but grimey, as everything is for miles and miles around Manchester. The industries spread out along the valleys, one suburb or town merges into the next for miles and miles. However, this little village was quite country-fied in spite of its mills and the grime. We explored a bit, had lunch, and saw nothing else to do but return to Manchester, when we saw an advert in a little shop window – for England’s most beautiful swimming pool, just a mile out of Hayfield. So we walked out and were well rewarded. After a lovely wooded walk, came to this beautiful wooded valley with modern swimming pool in beautiful setting, and good appointments. So here we basked on a couple of deck chairs like a couple of lizards in fairyland – glad in the warm sun. What a haven from Manchester – until a boys’ school arrived for swimming! However’ we’d had our siesta, and quite enjoyed watching the fun and games of the kids.
Back to the big smoke, tea and pictures. We saw the sequel to “Father of the Bride” – “Father’s Little Dividend” – very amusing and worth seeing.”
Jean’s letter to her sister Mary, written on 19 June in Stonehaven, Scotland
In 2015, Jean’s daughter Maree (creator of this blog), on a six month stay in the United Kingdom, sought out some of the places Jean had written about in her 1951 letters and diaries. One of these sights was the pool at Hayfield, which took quite some finding – the ruins of it buried deep in an overgrown forest, no signs to find the way – may have involved Maree clambering through some fences that perhaps she shouldn’t have! Long before discovering her Mother’s travel diaries and letters, Maree recalled her first trip to the UK in 1997 – where her first venture beyond London followed a similar route to Jean’s, including a couple of “loose end” days in Manchester – Maree recalls a phone call she made from Manchester home to her Mum in Australia, with Jean sharing her memories of her pleasant day out to Hayfield… some 18 years later Maree did finally find her way to that place where Jean enjoyed such a pleasant day out. Follows some photos taken by Maree on the ruins in 2015:
