CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE

.. AN HISTORICAL STUDY OF THE RESPONSE OF THE DEPARU' \I.. OF RECREATIONAL SERVICES OF l1ANCHESTER, TO

THE AVOCATIONAL LEISURE NEEDS OF THEIR COF!l'f.LTNITY

A thesis submitted in partial satisfactior~ of the requirements for the degree of 11aster of Sc~.. 2ECe _;_.n Recreation by

Phyllis Ke.efer ~-

January, 1980 p '

The Thesis of Phyllis Keefer is approved:

David Sterle, Dr. Rec.

California State University, Northridge

i i TABLE OF CONTENTS page Chapter

1 THE STUDY OF THE PROBLEM 1 The Purpose . . . . 1 Definitions ...... 2 The Scope and Significance 3 2 MANCHESTER - THE COMMUNITY 10 Significance of History 10 Pre-Industrial Manchester 11 Industrial Revolution 15 3 CULTURAL AND FOLK TRADITIONS 26 Significance . . . 26 Early History . . . 27 ...... 35 Contemporary Customs and Traditions 37 4 LEISURE AND RECREATION IN MANCHESTER 39 Other Municipal and Private Leisure Programs in Manchester 4.5 Art and Crafts . . . . 46 Adult Education . . . . 47 Voluntary Organizations 49 Sununary so 5 MANCHESTER SHOW 53 Introduction . . . 53 Phase I - The Little Show 57 Phase II - The Middle Years 60 Phase III - The Big Show 64 Participant's Questionnaire 71 Results of Questionnaire . . 73 Significance of Manchester Show 78 Summary 79 Bibliography 83

iii page APPENDIX

I Los Angeles Times, 6, 1979 article about social classes 86 II Chronology of English Monarchs 87 III Calendar of Observances 88 IV Recreational Services Department Statistical Information 90

v ~o~_Angeles Times, August 5, 1979 article about Gardening in Britain 91 VI Map of City of Manchester 94 VII Comparison of English Pound and American Dollar ...... 95 VIII Manchester Show 1977 Advertising 96 IX Questionnaire: Participants Study 97

iv Acknowledgements

I wish to express sincere appreciation to those who

assisted in the planning and development of this research

study.

At San Jose State University, Dr. Nellie Arnold,

Director of the Center for International Studies in Leisure, provided the opportunity, guidance, and encouragement that made this study possible.

In Manchester, England, the Director of the Depart­ ment of Recreational Services, Roy A. Bee, was both a gracious host and expert mentor. The author is greatly

indebted to him and to the many persons, in and out of the

Department, who contributed so generously to the research and to the enriching and enjoyable experience of living in

Manchester, England.

At California State University, Northridge, Dr. David

Sterle provided the first incentive to study international leisure. His subsequent advice and commentary on the manuscript were most valuable.

To Dr. Isabelle Walker, Committee Chairman, I wish to express my sincere admiration of her expertise and insight, both intel1ectual and personal, and to extend to her my deep gratitude for her support.

v· ABSTRACT

AN HISTORICAL STUDY OF THE RESPONSE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF RECREATIONAL SERVICES OF HANCHESTER, ENGLAND TO THE AVOCATIONAL LEISURE NEEDS OF THEIR COMMUNITY

by

Phyllis Keefer

Master of Science in Recreation Administration

Literature in the field of Recreation addresses the problem of providing recreation programs and leisure experi­ ences that will enhance the quality of life in today's

American work-oriented, urbanized society.

In contrast, it has been noted that Britain is fast becoming a society of leisure where individuals express their real personalities in their leisure lives. The characteristics of this leisure life style are not indepen­ dent of a rich and intricate mosaic of culture, history, and tradition. This mosaic is evident in all social classes thAt comprise the Manchester society.

Leisure activities in Britain are distinguished by the amount of time given to and ir:portance placed on them

vi , by the participants. These activities are less concerned with immediacy, escapism, or popularity; but are generally interests which can grow and play a significant part in the development of self-identity over a life span. Such leisure activities as gardening, wine-making, or perfecting a particular breed or species commonly in­ clude membership in appropriate societies. These leisure organizations participate in planning the many and varied shows and that are held throughout Great Britain, and provide an opportunity for competition, recognition, and rewards for avocational accomplishments. The Show of the City of Manchester, England, spon­ sored by its Department of Recreational Services, attempts to recognize and provide a showcase for many of the leisure interests of the community. The author· reflected that this form of recognition and showcase provided by the City of Manchester for the community in their annual Show might encourage an "in­ depth" quality approach to leisure; ·that is, inspire the individual to develop enjoyable and lasting leisure in­ terests and skills. As the Manchester Show had been held annually since 1951, its structure and growth, problems and goals could be evaluated. This Show in 1977 included 8,000 entries in over 30 categories of leisure-oriented activity enjoyed by more than 50,000 spectators in a three­ day period.

vii Chapter 1

THE STUDY OF THE PROBLEH

The Purpose In assessing the state of the recreation and parks movement in their 1973 report entitled "Reflections on the Recreation and Park Movement," David E. Gray and Donald A. Pelegrino pointed out: The imperative is that persons planning prog:rams and parks must know intimately the culture, wishes, social patterns, and life­ styles of people who are to use therri (10: 51) . It is the purpose of this historical study to examine enough of the history, culture,· soci~l patterns, and life-styles of·Hanchester, England, to get an under- standing of the leisure needs and interests of its citizen·s. Among the many programs planned by the Departrnent of Recreational Services of Manchester is the Manchester Shovl, an annual three-day event planned in conjunction with many long-established volunteer organizations and leistu.:-e societies of the city, as well as other city departments, the business connnunity, and the media. This particular program, the Manchester Show, will be studied over a 27-year span to illustrate how such a shmvcase of the English leisure tradition truly reflf.=cts

1 2 . ' the leisure needs and interests of the community. Subsidiary goals of this study will be to take a broader look at types of leisure activities that might encourage a sense of belonging and involvement in the community. Such subjects as pride and understanding of the community's history and traditions, socialization, another approach to competition, and enhanced personal growth through continued education and mastery of skills are reviewed. This study does not suggest that Manchester's leisure habits succeed in all these goals, or that the goals themselves are judged universally valuable. It is suggested that studying this approach to leisure can be instructive. Further, it is not the purpose of this study to suggest emulation of the Manchester Show by &11erican recreation departments. Quite the opposite. As Manchester is unique, so is each community, as are the leisure needs and interests of its citizens. The purpose of the study concerns the outcome of an attempt to describe the matching of one community's leisure needs with appropriate programs.

Definitions ENGLAND and BRITAIN in this study will be used synonomously. GREAT BRITAIN includes England, Ireland, Scotland, and tl]'ales. 3

Leisure: Refers to c: quality of experience \vhich is

recreative or recuperative. The word, derived

from the L~cere, implies a personal, self-

organized experience.

Community: Refers to an active·rather than a passive state,

to people working together for common purposes.

Culture: Pertains to more than a body of intellectual and

imaginative work--rather to a whole way of life.

Puritan or Protestant or Work Ethic: An ethic that

preaches the gospel of work, glorifying work,

and implying that leisure time has got to be

earned.

Social Class: A large category of people within a system

of social stratification who have similar socio-

economic status in relation to other segments of

their community or sbciety. A social class is

not organized, but the individuals and families

who compose it are relatively similar in

education, economic, and prestige status.

Th~ Scope and Significance

Some ~egments of Hanchester's social, political, and folk history were barely covered, because they did not seem to fall within the scope of understanding the people. of Hanchester and their leisure patterns. However, it seemed necessary to place a special emphasis on economic history in this study, as Manchester was the crucible for 4

the Industrial Revoluti6n. The staggering changes from rural to urban settings, agrarian to industrial societies, coupled with the results of the Puritan work ethic, can best be viewed in Manchester history. Unlike the Veblenesque view of the "Leisure Class," with its rejection of work and conspicuous display of wealth and free time (30:47), the leisure class of England responded to the work ethic by organizing and con- ducting leisure societies and associations along work- oriented patterns of operation. M. J. Taylor, Chairman of the Recreation Committee of Manchester, observed in an interview in July, 1977, The deep-seated tradition of clubs, associa­ tions, and societies in Britain were originally class-based. The rich as well as the poor were affected by the Protestant ethic and were expected to work. The clubs and societies in Great Britain were formally organized in a business-like fashion to authenticate the activities of the. leisure class. Membership was passed down from family.to family, establishing a tradition (31). That this English tradition of belonging to organizations and specialized societies has been adopted by all classes is noted in a study in 1973. The evidence suggests that membership of groups outside of work and the family and kin group is fairly widespread. Almost everyone has belonged to some organization during their lives and about 40 percent of the adult popula­ tion currently belongs to one (30:131). Much has been written about the changes in modern English society erasing the demarcated lines of 5

social classes. Taxation of the ~veal thy, the strength of

the Labor and its social legislation, the powers of

the Trade Unions, the growth of the specialist skills of

the working class, the new wave of immigration, modern

forms of communication, and more equitable educational

opportunities have made deep inroads in the English class

structure (30:28~39).

It is not within the scope of this study to debate

the importance of the continuing differences of classes in modern English society. However, there exist observable

psychological as well as economic differences between the

classes; and where they obviously concern leisure habits,

they will be noted (Appendix I) .

It is debated that

In some important respects working class life is still much as it always was--the power not only to resist change but to assimilate, modify, and adapt to traditional ends things which looked at first like major agents of change. There is a strong thrust--or drag--to keep things recognizably as they usually have been, especially in those parts of life which are most personal" (30:31).

Leisure activities and interests of the working class center around the "assumption that home and family are the most important things in life. . . Home means both a refuge and a place of free­ standing independence against an outside world.· . behind this assumption one can see (as behind the belief in "neighborliness") a creative response to economic and social hardship. With "neighborliness," the traits of tolerance, nonconformity, and respon­ sibility are considered the "strengths of the old life11 (30:34). ·

The , the workingmen's clubs, the -rented "allotment gardens," and the parks are extensions of the. home. Parks allow people to impose their 6

o~m idea of social interaction in the part that they use, rather than having to fit in with a previously present group (or planned program). In that sense the park is a surprisingly private space--an extension of the horne (30:39).

Hob 1des have a}JJays been a rnaj or interest of working­ men. Some of them, such as fishing or pidgeon­ fancying (a traditional hobby of coal miners), may take men outside the horne. Many more keep them pottering about in the house or garden. There seems no evidence that this interest has weakened, in spite of the attraction of television (30:86). Evidence also indicates that the English middle- class places a great emphasis on leisure in their lives, as stated in comparative studies between British and American managers in the 1960s. There have been several revealing studies contrast­ ing British with American managers. There emerges an obvious oppo~ing value-system, with the British committing less time to their jobs, more time devoted to their horne and family and freely chosen leisure activities. There would seem to be a noticeable cultural difference here between American and British managers, with the mantle of the Protestant work ethic now being almost exclusively assumed by the Americans (30:111-123). The most personal, independent, and closely-guarded expression in English life for all classes appears to be their leisure, according to Kenneth Roberts. ·Britain has become a society of leisure, in that the activities in which people participate during their"free time play a significant part in the development of their sense of self-identity. Britain, then, is a country in which time available for leisure is reasonably equally dis­ tributed, while opportunities for enjoying leisure retain in large measure a class-divided character (23:31). t-Thile the leisure interests and opportunities of the classes vary, from choice of activities, organiza-- tions, localities, they share-a similar approach to 7 leisure: a serious investment of time, study, and personal devotion. They avoid the anti-leisure approach described by Geoffrey Godbey. By anti-leisure I refer to activity which is undertaken compulsively, as a means to an end ... with a minimum of personal autonomy and v7hich avoids self-actualization, authenti­ cation, or finitude (23:42). English leisure is not as concerned with "immediacy" or fashion change. It is concerned with activities which take some time and effort extended over time. It is ass1.nned that leisure activity skills and interests are taught and therefore education for leisure is promoted" (13:93). The popularity and diversity of the educational opportunities for leisure provided in the societies, schools of further education, and in the parks of

~~nchester will, therefore, be discussed in this study. This study will also attempt to establish a connec-· tion between leisure interest recognition and community identity. Such a concern was stressed at the meeting in Oslo in 1976, of the Council for Cultural Cooperation of the Council of Europe, of which England is a member, ·with this recommendation: . . · . giving attention to such forms of cultural activitie.s as emerge from regional and local needs and traditions and which encourage the community identity" (38:12.4). Much has been discussed in the field of Recreation about the condition of transiency--defined as a rapid turnover of relationships with people, places, and things-­ in today's urban society. Also frequently discussed are 8

the forces at work in today's culture which tear apart membership in familial, neighborhood, and social groups, leaving alienated individuals. It has been suggested that recreation activities within the community can inhibit alienation. Recreation activities operate within the social environment and form a part of the total environment of the community. (38:12.4). Commercial recreation is obviously a part of the social environment, with a long and important history in Britain, as are other popular leisure activities, such as travel·, camping, boating, to name a few. This subject, however, is outside of the scope of this study. Only those leisure activities that fall within the province of the Manchester Show's program will be included here. The study of the Manchester Show will concentrate primarily on that aspect of the· program that provides opportunities for individuals and groups to participate in the. Show and receive recognition and possible reward for excellence in leisure skills. Some emphasis will be placed on the Show's struc­ ture and format where it attempts to meet the needs and expectations of the community, such as custom, tradition, moral code, and laws. The technical organization of the Show, such as the budget, staff and materiel, procedures, and problem­ solving, will not be covered in this study. Where atten- 9

dance and budget figures concern community receptiveness or departmental goals, they will be included. A major focus of this study is the results of a survey of participants in the 1977 Manchester Show. A questionnaire distributed by the author to a sampling of participants at the Show will be presented as an illustra- tion of reactions to the Show and to the attitudes and leisure habits of the participants. In sumnary, the final focus of the study was the results of questions asked at a conference at the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies .at the ,University of Birmingham in 1976. What are the providers of leisure services trying to do? Commercial bodies are trying to make a profit. But what of those working in the public sector? What vision of the "good life" do they have? And how does this relate to the visions of individuals in the community? This, then,will be a study of the leisure interests of the people of Hanchester, England, its Department of Recreational Services, and its annual Show for the com- munity. It wil~ attempt to detennine what is the vision of the "good life" for this community, and to what measure the Department's annual Show contributed to it. But before discussing the Show one needs to under- stand the people of Manchester: the history, the folk and cultural traditions and the social and economic structure that make them a unique community. Chapter 2

HANCHESTER - THE COHr'illNITY

Significance of History

There is a much quoted old adage that "Man­ chester does today what England may do tomorrow" (32: 176).

True or not, it does seem that Nanchester has continually found itself in the forefront of historical change.

The first barons of Manchester, the early burgesses, the powerful textile merchants, the peasant farmers, and the Irish immigrants who flooded into the first factories and united and fought to survive, have all written their page of history and left their indelible stamp on the modern city.

Often called the capital of the North, it is a pro­ vincial city in spite of its long history of international prominence. It is a traditional city. Progress and con®erce are a tradition; the right to independence and to privacy is a tradition; unionism is a tradition; involve­ ment in local government is traditional, as is membership in active voluntary organizations that have brought reform, change, and hastened progress in government.

Home, family, churcl:l, neighborliness, charity, and education are still considered dominant social values.

10 11

Great hospitals and universities, libraries and art, are as much a tradition in Manchester as the yoke of early capitalism that produced the crushing poverty, disease, and ignorance that inspired Marx and Engels to write the

Communist Manifesto.

The upper and middle classes have enjoyed a long history of cultural and recreational pursuits. The textile workers first fought for their leisure in Man­ chester vJi th demonstrations, civil disobedience, unions, and, ultimately, legislation which first "created" leisure in the-political sense. It redefined leisure as a right, independent of or civil justification. Leisure, itself, is a Manchester tradition (30:288).

Pre-industrial Manchester

Manchester is the four.t~ largest city of England, one of the famous cities of the world, and, for a part of its history; one of the most infamous. It has left its impression on the world's history out of proportion to its size and population of approximately one-half million people, and its-location in the northwest of England in the County of Lancashire, about thirty miles from the

Irish Sea.

There are only a few sights and buildings in

Manchester today to remind one of its long history. ~Vhile

Mancunians take pride in their past, commerce and progress have always taken precedence and have left their stamp 12 indelibly on the character of the city (32:176). Because of its strategic location, Manchester achieved importance early in its history. Bordered by the Pennine Hills in the North and East and the Cheshire Plain to the South, Manchester was settled on the relatively flat ground at the confluence of the rivers Irk, Medlock, and the Irwell, a major tributary of the Mersey, where natural trade routes cross (28:3). In 38 B.C., the built a fort called Mancenion, "a place of tents," near the junction of the rivers. In A.D. 79, Agricola's Roman legions conquered the village and built a number of forts, calling the settlement Hancunium. A part of the eastern wall of a fort can still be seen today. The Roman historian, Tacitus, mentions the difficulties of bridging the marshes in the wild country of incessant rains. The Saxons conquered the site in A:D. 620, re­ naming it Mamecaester. It was a flourishing market town by the time the Danes sacked it in 870. From Domesday Book--a survey of English landowners made by order of William the Conqueror in 1085--it is recorded that the district was given by William I to his vassal, Count Roger of Poitou, who granted certain lands to one of his knights, Albert Grelley, in whose family the large estate known as the Barony of Manchester remained for 200 years. 13

For ecclesiastic and administrative purposes the whole area was divided into six districts called "hundreds." Manchester was in the Hundred of Salford and a dependency of the capital manor of Salford. Today the two cities physically merge together, connected by sixteen bridges, divided only by sign-posts to designate separate municipali­ ties (2:.119.). The capital manor was an agricultural community centered around the manor house. The town of Manchester, however, as distinct from the wider manor, was not entirely agricultural. It had become a-trading center where the trade was conducted by fairs. The Manchester Fair was con­ firmed by a royal grant in 1227. The annual trade fair was held at Acres field, novJ St. Ann's Square, in the center of the city (21:12). This historic fair was held annually in the square for six and pne-half. centuries, gradually diminishing in importance until it was finally abolished in 1876 (15:61). Before 1301 the town became a borough when Thoma·s Grelley, the eighth baron, gave the charter, preserved today in the Town Hall, granting limited rights of land, commerce, and self-government to his burgesses. The diffi­ culties of distance and poor administration demanded reform, whic:.h ·was effected in 1422. The lord of Manchester at that time was Thomas Le Warre, who was also a priest. He gave his manor house for a college of priests, and reconstructed 14 the old church, which today constitutes sections of the spacious Cathedral of Manchester (21:21). In the 1600s, Hanchester was strongly divided during the , as many of the prominent local families adhered to the Catholic religion. In the reign of · the first two Stuarts the people of Manchester turned strongly to Puritanism, took the side of Parliament in the Civil War, and withstood a siege by royalist forces. Religious strife continued in Manchester until the Tolera­ tion Act of 1689 legalized non-Anglican Protestant worship, when non-conformist chapels began to be built, and still later, when the Quakers built their first meeting house (4:121; Appendix II). This period saw the foundation of two of Man­ chester's more reknowned institutions. In 1515, the free grammar school was founded; and in 1656, in the building which had been the first manor house, Chethham's Hospital and Library for poor boys was founded. This school con­ tained the first free public library in Europe. School is still being taught today in some of these historical buildings. By 1650, Manchester reached a population of 4,000 to 5,000. The main streets around the market place were inhabited by burgesses. This was the town center, with its water supply from nearby springs, its pillory and stocks, and two-story buildings where the town's business was con- 15

ducted. Around this were fields with a few notable residences. Manchester never obtained the status of a royal free borough, having no higher position than that of a market to\vn or village still under manorial control. The Court Leet, the manor's governing body, comprised of unpaid appointees of the Baron, was the weak body that had to cope with law and order, market and trad2 arrangements, food and water supply, sanitation, and social needs of the

co~~unity (4:123).

Industrial Revolution It is this period in history that distinguished Manchester from other cities emerging from tihe feudal agrarian period. The unchanging factors of location, navi­ gable rivers, natural resource~ such as coal, timber, iron, plentiful rains, the wetl-developed market place, and the enterprising burgesses placed Manchester in the center of the growing textile industry. Long before the 1600s, the weaving and spinning of both wool and linen were predominantly part-time occupa­ tions of "peasant. smallholders and cottagers" living in scattered farmhouses and villages. The supply of raw materials and the distribution of finished goods came more and more into the hands of middlemen in Manchester (5:122). Lancashire in the eighteenth century was notorious for its bad roads raised just above the level of the 16 fields and too narrow for wheeled traffic. Improvement of these roads, and the new construction of canals for food and coal transport, enabled Manchester to draw on a wider area for supplies and trade (8:131). Manchester grew at a phenomenal rate, attracting farmers from neighboring counties and the nearby countries of Ireland, Wales, and Scotland to the new textile factories (4:164). In 1739 an historian of the town noted that the industrious and frugal Manchester textile dealers were always "contriving and inventing something new to improve or sell off their goods." From the 1770s, such inventions as the flying shuttle, the spinning jenny, and the first cotton spinning factory made the manufacture of cotton so efficient that "home-working" came to an end (5:132-133). The first industrial revolution had begun, and with it, the modern problems of urbanization. Where there had been about 10,000 people on 4,293 acres in Manchester in 1717, there were over 70,000 in the same area by the 1801 census, arid by 1840, nearly 250,000 (34:246). The manufac­ turers became men of wealth, assuming great economic importance. Nearby villages drew these prosperous business men seeking the open spaces, cleaner air, and the safety of the suburbs. For the privileged classes Manchester provided many opportunities. Along with the gracious life in the suburbs, there were inns, theatres, horse racing, and 17

subscription concerts. ·There were numerous sporting clubs, riding and hunting, and cultural societies such as the Manchester Athenaeum, at which Charles Dickens presided in 1843. There were newspapers, hospitals, schools, libraries, and the University of Manchester, where John Dalton pre­ sented the first table of atomic weights of the elements in 1810. There was passenger service on the new roadways, canal, and on the new steam locomotives, which were origi­ nated in Manchester in 1830 (8:52). Great numbers of factories and mills were erected during this time. It was believed by mill-owners that the only way to make a profit out of their new machines was by working them for long hours; consequently, the conditions of labor in the ill-ventilated, unsanitary mills were shocking. A fifteen-hour day for starvation wages was comnon; and at busy times, a day of nineteen hours was frequently worked, even by young children. The children grew up weak and stunted, ready to fall victims -to the comnon diseases of typhus, small pox, and cholera. The only education they received was in the Sunday Schools, which provided a few hours of instruction per week (34:241). The years 1837 to 1842 were times of severe economic depression in Britain, and further worsened the condition of the Mancunian workers. In 1844, it was estimated that in Manchester the probable average duration of life of the professional classes and gentry who lived 18

in the suburbs was 38 ye·ars; of shopkeepers, who inhabited the narrow and filthy streets, 20 years only; and of the factory workers and the laboring classes generally, only 17 years. Out of 1,000 infants born in the laboring classes, 570 died before their fifth year (34:239). Three major forces were marshaled to combat this inhumane condition: reforms by private citizens and societies, the organization of labor, and greater authority vested in local government. Dissatisfaction with the weak local government, still functioning under medieval laws, brought about the incorporation of Nanchester as a municipal borough (8:56). Often, when new officials acted too slowly or ineffectually, or in their own self-interest, some of the prominent citizens of Nanchester, out of conscience and necessity, worked and personally paid for early reforms. Some of these initial accomplishments were the erection of dispensaries, the organization of a board of health, street improvements, the building of schools, and the purchase of the first public parks (5:140). During the early nineteenth century, Manchester gained notoriety not only as the exemplar of factory industry but also as the "mainspring" of all the working class movements of the time. ThPre was a widespread strike of cotton spinners in the Manchester area in 1810, followed by unsuccessful attempts to organize a "general union of 19 tra.des" and an association for the protection of labor. When the cotton workers of Manchester attempted in vain to appeal to Parliament to ensure them decent hours and a living wage, they held meetings and marched in a demonstra­ tion that was broken up by the militia, ending in the Peterloo Massacre of 1819, in which eleven persons were killed and 600 injured. In reaction to this suppression, moderate middle-class leaders, such as John Edward Taylor, started working for national constitutional reform. Taylor founded the reknowned newspaper, the Manchester Guardian, in 1821 (5:140). It was during this period that Frederick Engels was sent by his father, from Germany, to study the manufac­ turing skills of Manchester. Engels felt compelled to write The_Condition of the Working Classes of Manchester in 1844. Both Engels and Karl Marx lived and studied for a time in Manchester, and were profoundly affected by the results of the capitalistic factory system on the worker (34:240). Local legislation obtained by the new corporation of Manchester in 1844 formed the foundation of the present­ day social and health administration. This legislation provided for the prevention of the building of back-to­ hack houses, improvement of sanitation, the power to spend taxes for buying land for parks, for erecting public baths, and for penalties against air contaminants. Improvements 20

in the water supply, medical service, and child welfare service were begun--provisions which were in advance of the national legislation of that day (37:9). Cotton was the major industry of this period of Manchester history. The importing of raw cotton from the United States had grown from five bales in 1785 to over two million by 1859, with manufactured cotton exports com­ prising nearly one-half of all British exports. This cotton was grown in the Southern states of America on plantations worked by several million negro slaves. England had, years before, ceased traffic in slaves and had outlawed slavery in British colonies. The Northern states blockaded the Southern ports so that merchant vessels, which had formerly brought them supplies from Europe and had returned laden with cotton, were stopped and often sunk. The price of raw cotton rose rapidly. Factories closed throughout Lancashire, and the years of the "Cotton Famine" brought over 250,000 men with their families to conditions of near starvation (5:141). Unlike the British government, which continued to run the Northern blockade and to sympathize with the South, the liberal leaders and the workers of Manchester, though themselves the most severely victimized, supported the North's fight against the institution of slavery. In 1863 Abraham Lincoln sent a personal letter to 21

the -vmrking men of Manchester in response to their message of support. In commemoration of the unique association of Manchester during this critical period of American history, a large statue of Abraham Lincoln was presented to the city and now stands in the rose garden at Platt Field Park, the site of the Manchester Show (2:215). The manufacture of cotton revived slowly after the American Civil War. Woolens and worsted trades continued to provide considerable employment until the early twen­ tieth century, when man-made synthetics depressed this industry. The manufacture of textile machinery, steam engines, machine tools, and small arms became thriving industries in Manchester (5:142). The need for cheaper forms of transportation became evident during the world-wide "Great Depression" of 1873- 1896, which brought the threat of economic stagnation to Manchester. The Manchester Ship Canal project was originated, and monies were raised to construct a canal over 36 miles to the sea, about 120 feet wide, and 28 to 30 feet deep with over six miles of wharves to accommodate seagoing vessels. The Canal made inland Manchester one of the leading ports in the , freeing it from its dependency on the cotton industry, and making possible the introduction of newer industries such as chemicals, electrical engineer­ ing, and, later, motor cars (8:52). 22

ContemEorary History Manchester approached the twentieth century with thriving prosperity. Outward expansion absorbed the inner suburbs and linked the outlying towns by railway, canal, improved roads, and electric tramways. While the popula­ tion doubled in the suburbs, the number of people living in central Manchester decreased. Development of the heart of the city, without residential property, had begun (5 :1L~4). It has been said that Manchester presents the enigma of many Victorian industrial towns. The·City grew tb its present size all tGo rapidly, increasing six­ fold in the short space of 50 years during the , without the time for planned development. Manchester became crystallized in its Victorian setting and stabilized, so that it is essentially as the Victorians built it (32:254). Slums were cleared ih the 1860s, to create Albert Square, where Manchester's Town Hall, resembling a Gothic-styled palace with an elaborate clock tower and statuary, was erected. The near suburbs changed from being the fine residential quarters for merchants and professional men into flats and a drab network of mean houses, small public houses, and shops. Slum clearance and redevelopment programs were undertaken (14:88-89), The great phase of outv:ard expansion began lvith the incorporation of the suburbs for municipal and private housing developments and roads built for public transporta- 23

tion (34:13). Legislation was enacted \vhich over the years has given local government authority to improve sanitation, factory conditions and health standards, slum clearance, municipal housing, public health, education, social services, parks and recreation, libraries, and cultural opportunities. Because of the industrial importance of Manchester, it was the target of heavy bombing by the Germans during

~.Jorld Har II. This provided unsought clearance and open space (8:53). Great strides have been made in preventing atmos­ pheric pollution, which had caused Manchester's devastating "black fog" conditions. Two years before England enforced smokeless working zones in 1956, Manchester passed such ordinances. The use of coal as a fuel was restricted, and some of the buildings were stripped of their black grime (34:24). There was an exodus of workers from the Northwest in the 1950s to the more modern industries to the South, and, concurrently, an influx of immigrants from Eastern Europe, the West Indies, Pakistan, India, North Ireland, and the Irish Republic, comprising about 12 percent of the city's population. The Health Department undertook, in 1965, to improve the new immigrants' lot and integrate them more successfully (8:47). 24

Manchester, like other cities in Lancashire, is now an area of commercial stability rather than expansion. However, additional problems are presented by the exodus of tlie young and the affluent to the suburbs, leaving more of the poor, the aged pensioners, the unskilled, and the less educated in the Central City (8:48). Not the least of the problems has been the present general economic state in England. In Manchester, cutbacks in public services have been felt in every department. The divisions and pressures between the management and the highly. organized unionized workers have been widening with the rising costs of inflation and the fuel crisis (34:13). Today, the city ranks high in the United Kingdom in • its number and quality of schools, hospitals, museums, and parks. Housing, however, is still a critical problem for Manchester, resulting ip a higher mortality rate than that in England in general (32:256). In 1974 there was a reconstruction of local govern- ment with the creation of the Greater Manchester Corpora·- tion, encompassing an area of 497 square miles, a popula- tion of 2,730,000, divided into ten metropolitan districts with their own local administration. This large urban area, of which Manchester is the center, was developed by the steady growth of houses and factories around a sizeable number of villages and towns which fused the suburbs of neighboring towns, with the provision of transportation, 25 making outward movement possible for people of all incomes (8:42). Twenty~seven percent of the households in Greater Manchester are pensioners. Over 65 percent of the households depend on public transportation and have no automobiles. Almost 50 percent of the married women work, and half that number work full-time. Almost 80 percent of the work force are employed in manufacturing and distribu­ tion services (8:44). One of the main characteristics of the greater Manchester area is the marked individuality of its numerous towns, many of which have their own industrial and cultural significance. They are not merely industrial satellites of Manchester, but rather towns whose relation to Manchester is tempered by their individuality and lasting traditions. Manchester is the center for much of their commerce, services, transportation, finance, courts, , culture, and recreation. Chapter 3

CULTURAL AND FOLK TRADITIONS

Significance

If longevity and popularity denote legitimacy, then the importance of folk customs and traditions in England, and especially in the Northern counties, cannot be dis- puted.

. for customs are not individual but a social matter. Such social customs serve not only obvious or "manifest" functions but also more hidden or "latent" functions as well, and always seem to serve more than one need. If some of these needs are being met the custom may be perpetuated, whether encouraged or outlawed by authority (24:8).

Perhaps Lancashire has clung more tenaciously to its folk traditions because of its more remote location and its proximity to Scotland, Hales, and Ireland, with their- own rich sources of folk tradition. Many of the peasant farmers left their villages in these countries for Manches- ter and the brutal factories and slums. Neighborliness, interdependency, and the perpetuation of their folk customs were necessary for survival.

Many partial and latent needs were met by folk traditions for both agrarian and urban societies. Over and above the excitement and color of the rites and ceremonies, the shared neighborliness, the commensality, the opportuni- ties for temporary reversal of roles and to display

26 27

unacceptable behavior and rebellion, helped improve their lives, if only temporarily.

Moreover, folk customs ~vere used as vehicles for protest, for England is a society which observes tradi­ tional usages as a customary right. Many of the surviving customs outlived their censure and illegality. The tradition of trade fairs and community celebra­ tions, both clerical and secular, is rooted in British history. The dates, locations, organization, and programs of English festivals are often a perpetuation of estab­ lished tradition. Folklore and tradition bridged the gulf between the old and the new religions in England. The familiar rites continued in spite of new beliefs so that today tradition and folklore still help to bridge the gaps between the old and familiar and the ·new and impersonal in the changing English society.

Early History To understand the social composition and tradition of Manchester, or of England itself, it is important to study some of the ritual and ceremony of the leisure customs that have endured throughout history. Their roots lie in local history and the context of the popular be­ liefs, location of such observances, and the social position of the participants (16:12). Early man was inseparably a part of his immediate 28 environment, and many social customs related as often to this environment as to himself. Both were subject to the same overwhelming influences of nature: birth and death, disease and survival, fear and ignorance, evoking crude and superstitious beliefs that merged with religious practice. The simple lives of the earliest society were diver­ sified by a number of communal festivals, rooted in antiquity and involved with the coming of the seasons. The season feasts were pagan in origin and merely overlaid with Christian belief and custom. They were not intended for recreation only. They had a definite religious signifi­ cance, and were regarded as necessary to the welfare of the people. The Spring was intended to drive out the winter (24:13). Sacrifices were offered during the festi­ val to ensure plentiful crops. With the belief that life springs from death, in early times a man was sacrificed for the tribe. Later, animals were substituteci,.but the old notion persisted that human action was necessary for the forces of nature to work as they should (11:72). With the of , the priests found that many of these practices were so deep-rooted, and so hallowed by custom, that it -.;..;ras impossible to abolish them. The Church adapted many of them,. and what formerly had been done in honor of some pagan spirit -.;vas now in honor of a Christian (11:74; Appendix III). 29

Christian prie~ts hallowed the time-honored customs, and many examples of pure paganism which still exist have long since lost their original meaning. In Devont the apple-trees are still wassailed; though tree-worshLp, as such, is forgotten. Until two hundred years ago, sacred fires were still being lit in spring and autumn. The church also adapted popular symbolism, like the use of vegetation to decorate church interiors, such as decorating with mistle­ toe at. Chris trnas, and the hallowing of palms and flowers upon the high altar on (11:79). The greatest assimilation of pagan gods and spirits was within the Christian hierarchy of dieties and demons. In the Celtic calendar, November 1st was the beginning of winter and also the first day of the year. On the eve, noH , the barriers between the world of men and the world of "faerie" carne down for the night and the spirits were believed to be everywhere. On this day, ancestors were worshipped. This association of the season with death was carried over ~nto Christian times. The "faeries and their kindred" carne under a ban as evil spirits, but the old tradition was maintained in the twin feasts of All Day and All Souls Day (11:109). Customs and traditional rites have been passed down involving protection from these threats of evil. Holy water was used against "fiends." For both church·and people, fire and smoke were important antidotes to evil, and could purify the atmosphere of infection. In sixteenth century London, were lit against the plague. Elsewhere, leaping over fires encouraged fertility in humans. These fires were kindled by rubbing together two pieces of wood, because the tree, being the longest lived, 30

was considered the most potent. To ward off evil, green boughs were hung inside and outside of churches, barns, and houses. As time progressed, the trend was from popular communal ritual to private superstition, such as the expression, "knock on wood" (24:15-17). Nevertheless, such practices as addressing trees and wells, hanging boughs, lighting bonfires, complete wi.th·costumes and , are continued today, devoid of their "magical" powers, for the effect of their colorful folk traditions, and are practised in rural festivals throughout Lancashire (2:160). Lasting customs concerning site and location emanate from early church tradition. According to terrain,

the most con~on ritualistic context was the parish. The parish was an administrative unit of the church, the focus of a congregation and a place of residence, work and recreation. The ·church was the nucleus of the center. At one end of the church was the tower or bellcote. The bells did more than announce services, ring curfew, and keep time for the village. They were another method of keeping the demons at bay, particularly when either a death occurred or when "storms needed to be averted." Bells are still used in many local traditional celebrations (24:17). The medieval nave, usually empty of seating, was both a consecrated area and something of a village hall where sacred plays were performed and church ales and the traditional "rites of passage" ceremonies took place. 31

Like the nave, the churchyard represented an area used as much for secular as for sacred purposes. Courts, musters, markets, and.even bear baiting took place within the walls. In summer-time it provided a venue for village games, traditional folk dancing called "morris dancing," and feasting. The most spectacular religious feasts of the year (at Palm Sunday, , and Corpus Christi) were often climaxed by a around the church to the boundaries of the parish (11:103). Roads were frequently decorated for ritual purposes, and exteriors bf houses were hung with boughs and flowers at and Midsummer (24:20). The environment also included the fields, where many social customs took place: eve of Twelfth Day bonfires, Plough Monday ceremonies, Harvest Home, and Hiring Fairs. Hay harvest made available open spaces for village recrea­ tion where there was no "dancing green," suitable "corrnnon playing place," or "camping close." The limit to working and ritual environment was the parish boundary. Wells or were often situated on boundaries, and many customary games such as tug of war or football took place there . . The six-month period from to Midsummer was the. ritualistic half cf the year. The ensuing six months were more secular and were marked by recreation and games, fairs and communal feasting. The stated ideal of 32

these gatherings was neighborliness both within and between cormnunities, with each parishioner contributing money or food to the common stock (11:93). One of the reasons for the importance of holidays in medieval times was that they marked the passage of time by the seasons, irregularly punctuated by certain fixed days such as Saint's days or Wakes, the date of which varied with the dedication of the church. The passage of time was not then regularly demarcated, as there were few clocks or calendars. That festivals coincided with the demands of agriculture is indisputable (24:21). Holidays also brought an opportunity to break the rigid regulations and controls of the church and the social class structure. At certain feast days the presence of a high-table meant the provision of food and drink and, at times, the company of the lord of the manor with his tenants, relaxing the fundamental divisions of society. The landlords at times had to ignore their property rights by right of custom. Villagers "stole" maypoles from private woodlands, "plundered" boughs and flowers for Hay Day and

St. Valentine's Day, and were often permitted to "poach'' private hunting grounds on the first of November, St. Andrew's Day (24:23). Holidays c:ilso meant the permissior.. of unacceptable behavior. Profanity and gambling were the accepted obverse of Lenten restraint. Sexual permissiveness at May-time was 33

anticipated, and drinking and reveling were common at Whitsu.ntide (11:30). In the , the trade of the country was largely carried on at weekly markets and at the great fairs in the towns. The medieval mind saw no irreverence in mixing sacred and business concerns. The fairs were often held, like the Wakes, at the time of the patronal festival, and sometimes took place in churchyards. Three­ day fairs at Midsummer and in the Autumn were corrrrnon. By 1227, the historical Manchester trade fair began on the eve of the feast of St. Matthew the Apostie, at the end of September. Owing to the enterprise of the inhabitants of Manchester, this fair attained considerable importance. Many merchants from distant parts attended this central mart, and the proceedings were originally corrrrnenced by a formal opening of the fair by the Baron of Manchester in person. During the three days no person was permitted to wear arms. The authority of the lord was not acceptable to some of the inhabitants. Consequently, on the first day of the fair, they were wont to assemble in large crowds, many armed with whips, and others carrying large quantities of acorns which they used to pelt the cattle and other farm animals that were taxed by the lord. At a later period, this rough demonstration degenen.l_ted into mere juvenile sport, and was finally discontinued (15:84; 25 :8lj.). 34

Religious and recreational customs were markedly uninhibited, symbolic, and colorful. Traditional food, much drink, music, and dancing accompanied most festivals. The "mo1:ris dancing" was a very ancient activity in which the performers, mostly men and-boys, were dressed in grotesque costumes with bells. Some dancers had blackened faces and wore animal skins over their clothes, a survival of an old pagan practice (27:33). Ancient competitive rural games were popular, such as a grinning match through a collar, catching soaped geese or greased pigs, boxing and wr~stling, running and bag races, horse and donkey races, eating and drinking contests, stool-ball, ten-pins, quoits and bowls, leap-frog and blind-man's buff, archery, football, and all manner of animal baiting contests (25: 126·-127). The rural life of the middle ages was primitive, short-lived, and structured, and the work was arduous.

Rec~eation consisted of the religious and secular festivals and fairs and the release that could be found in daily activities. Work and leisure were part of their everyday life. In no sense was leisure a separate section of the day. It was carried on in the fields within sight of the home or within the home itself along with the cooking, child-minding, the friendly conversations and quarrels, and the business of village life (30:43). Throughout the Middle Ages there had been a steady 35 assimilation of old customs into the ne1;v. Traditional dates had been altered, symbolic embellishments added or subtracted, words distorted in response to the gradually altered needs of the participants. Other changes came about by regulation or suppression by church or state, but in a society which observed traditional usages as a custom­ ary right, even riational religious or legislative authority was often resisted (11:89).

Reformation It was the Reformation in England that marked a decisive break with at least a millenium of evolving and changing ritual activity (1:89). It was the established balance between the sacred and the secular which was radically assaulted. The period

15~0-1660 was cha~acterized by widespread suppression, including the temporary abolition of Christmas. The advent of printing undermined rural traditions, and the years of the English Civil War discouraged tradi­ tional activities. Most important were the conspicuous differences between the Roman Catholic and the Protestant beliefs, with the abolition of Catholic liturgical festivals and the disassociation of the church from many popular beliefs an~ observances. Though certain specific customs lived on, the original temporal context was removed .(24:10). Miracle Plays, which had been used as a popular 36

form of religious teaching, were put down as idolatrous. May Day was greatly disliked by the , who thought it led to immorality. A was an abomination in their sight. "Lifting" (tossing a person in the air), which originally was designed to represent the , was considered an indecent and dangerous diversion (11:83). Permanent seating affected the use of the nave for social purposes. Festival processions around the church­ yard were abolished as the outlawed secular activities on church grounds. Also forbidden were the blood sports: bull- or bear-baiting, badger-baiting, and cock-fighting, the most popular of all amusements in every village and many cities. Though forbidden, and later outlawed by the Cruelty to Animals Act, they continued in secret, as did many of the traditional customs. May Day re-emerged, though often it was the children who wore the garlands and·led the pro­ cession; and the maypoles were not replaced each year but came to be a permanent fixture (24:11). Changes in the approach to time affected the customs, with the proliferation of clocks and the introduc­ tion of time-tabled schedules. The year was regularized in 1752, with January first recognized as New Year's Day. It was partly due to Puritan pressure that the week was sharply demarcated with the.emergence of the English Sunday. Local time was standardized by the introduction of Mean Time in 1880 (11:86). 37

The traditional. ?Opul.ar culture was further frag- mented and weakened by the dislocations of the Industrial Revolution. People left their villages for those tightly- packed working-class communities . . . but they were not simply row on row of shabby dwellings; they were more like interlocking villages.· .. the neighborliness was fed by their Christian background (probably Nonconformist) and . by the feeling that, if you did not help one another, no one outside would. This produced an extraordinarily complicated intenveaving and involvement between members of the "extended family" (30:30). With the suppression of the Saints' Days and church festivals and the application of the ethic of morality of labor by the Protestants, the 40 to 46 hour work week was considerably expanded to over 70 hours. It was this longer or fuller English working week which was taken over as a prescriptive right by factory owners in the beginning of the Industrial Revolution (30:44).

Contemporary Customs and Traditions By the later nineteenth century, and in many places earlier, the farmers and gentry, and, in ancient towns, the civic officers, had discontinued most of the traditional social observances. The repositories of connnunal customs were to be the laboring class--rural employees in particu­ lar--and the children. The early customs continued tenacJ.ous_y• 1 :t.n . t h e v1."11 _B.ges an.d Tn . t h e nort h ern count1.es,. more than in the southern cQunties of England (24:30). Newer holidays were secular, such as 38

night and the modern embellishments of Halloween. It was

the Victorian church which invented the ,

and the Victorian state, the August Bank (11:105).

Today, colorful traditional festivities continue in

the ancient cities and rural areas, for tourism, as well as

for the local inhabitants. In the urban centers, the annual fairs and entertainments in the parks also reflect many of the old traditions (28:40).

Industrial England continues to express many aspects of society through its modern-day rituals, festivam and leisure activities, many of which are rooted in the past. Some of the traditions and customs, now devoid of most of their symbolic context, are continued more in the rural areas and provide both leisure enjoyment and a sense of historical continuity (24:37). Chapter 4

LEISURE AND RECREATION IN MANCHESTER

To its more privileged classes in the 1800s, Hanchester was considered the cultural capital of the North, with a wide assortment of intellectual and artistic activities, sporting events, and amusements (1:198). For the swiftly growing number of under­ privileged mill workers, the contrast was extreme. Here, Manchester had a reputation for deprivation, immorality, and brutal drunken­ ness. Wages of the early mill workers were often paid in public houses on Saturday night. There. vJas no recreation, no parks, no avenues on .,;rhich to walk on Sunday; even the cemeteries were shut, and if anyone ventured outside the town, he found every field enclosed. The Church was not respected by the workers, so what remained but wanton drunkenness in one of the "gin palaces" or "beerhouses"? (27:11). As always, the motives for change are complex. The life of the poor in the slums was inhumane, and affected all the citizenry of Hanchester; these conditions within the city were being publicized afar. The rampant disease and the lawless situation of the workers threatened the health and welfare of all the citizens and the growth and prosperity of commerce (4:9). In 1833, Mr. Kay-Shuttleworth, a Manchester man noted for his efforts to improve the lot of the working classes, w-rote the following to the Select CoTITinittee of the House of Commons on Public Walks, then considering

39 40 legislation for the establishment of public parks in Britain: I hasten to give my testimony in favour of your proposal to connect public parks with our great towns, in order to promote healthful recrea­ tion amongst the working classes. The operative population of Manchester enjoys little or no leisure during the week. . . were parks provided, recreation would be taken with avidity, and one of the first results would be a better use of the Sunday and a substitution of innocent amusement at all other times for the debasing pleasures now in vogue. (15:93). No active steps were taken in Hanches ter until June, 1844, when a requisition, signed by 111 firms and indivi- duals; was presented to the Mayor of Manchester to acquire land for a public park. The Public Walks, Parks and Play- grounds Committee was formed and made an appeal for the purchase of lands suitable for public recreation. In a short time the great sum of ,£35, 000 had been subscribed, and with a Parliamenta~y grant ·of ..£3, 000, 100 acres of land were purchased (15:99). In August, 1846, the administration of the public parks passed from the Committee to the new Municipal Corporation, which appointed a Public Parks Committee of the Council. From that date the city parks have remained under the jurisdiction of the Manchester Corporation (4:11). Queen's Park was the first site to be selected-- about thirty acres of land in the northern part of the city. There were created paths for promenading, rose 41

gardens, a lake, refreshment house, a gymnasium, two archery grounds, and playgrounds (4:13). In many ways, Philips Park, the second to be created, was the most important, as the surrounding district was industrial in character and became one of the most

heavily built~up areas of Manchester. The authorities, anticipating difficulty in controlling the rougher elements of the population, laid down rules of conduct, forbidding alcohol, gambling, improper language in the park, or sports and play on Sunday. The refreshment house was closed during the hours of church services, and males were not permitted to "intrude upon the playgrounds of the females'.' ( 4: 15) . Alexandria Park, with 60 acres, and Ardwick Green, with four acres, were acquired by the Corporation in 1868. The 1890s saw the acquisition of a large number of addi­ tional parks.

Department of Recreational Services In the days before the automobile, the cinema, the dance hall, radio and television and commercial enter­ tainment, celebrations and events in the parks were out­ standing activities for the City -(4:19). The Manchester Guardian of August 24, 1896 de­ scribed the jubilee of the opening of Philips Park. .It included a procession of Sunday Schools and Churches, Trades and Societies, a Grand Cyclists' Parade and 42 with a prize for the best costurne, and a "Treat for the Poor and Aged." There were massed bands, a detachment of Hounted Police, and, in the evening, dancing in the "brilliantly illuminated grounds." During the sun@er months, music was provided in the Band Stands in the parks, with military and brass bands engaged to play throughout the season. Arranged by the Department.of Parks and Cemeteries, local choirs and opera societies presented their programs in the parks. Music and dancing for the children as well as "round-abouts," donkey rides, ·and performances were traditionally included in park entertainment. Horse shows and gymkanas (children's competitive games on horseback), sheep-dog I trials, and ballooning exhibitions were staged regularly. Local and traveling theatre groups presented "open-air" plays. Morris dancing ~ompetitions and other forms of folk dancing were popular, as was ballet (27:33). Manchester was not as fortunate as many cities in England in the matter of gifts and bequests of park lands. Wythenshawe Park, with 250 acres and beautiful historic buildings, was a gift; but Manchester had to pay for most of the land acquired for park purposes. In some cases it involved a very heavy cost to clear open space near the center of the city (14:124). Several disused burial grounds were acquired and were converted into gardens and children's playgrounds "for

•. 43 a breathing space in the centre of the city" (14:126). Heaton Park, the largest in Manchester, with 638 acres and the widest range of recreational facilities, was purchased in 1902 from the Earl of Welton, whose original residence, Heaton Hall, is nmv a museum. During the first World War, the Hall served as a convalescent hospital for Canadian soldiers. This park, like many of the other parks in Manchester, was converted into vegetable gardens during the second World War, for essential food supply, while other parks were used by the Royal Airforce for barrage balloon sites (1:235). Platt Fields Park, with 90 acres, where the Manchester Show is held annually, was acquired in 1908 from • the \l]orsley family, who owned the land since 1625. The Hall, which was built in 1764, is now a museum. The statue of Abraham Lincoln -s·tands in the rose garden in front of the Hall. Along with the boating lake, tennis courts, and bowling greens, there is an Elderly Men's Rest and a Shakespearean Garden, where only plants mentioned in Shakespeare's works are grown (14:128). Throughout the years, Hanchester has acquired 125 parks. Besides parks, the Recreational Services Department also maintains the acreage around the Housing Estates, public buildings and roadways, oversees L~5 garden allot- ments and small holdings, and the cemeteries, amounting to 20 percent of the total 33,500 acres comprising modern 44

Manchester. Another major commitment of resources of the

Department goes toward operating and maintaining three indoor recreation centres, with four more in the planning stage (Appendix IV).

In 1974, local governments were reorganized throughout England. The structure of the existing local governments had not changed since 1894, in spite of pressure for reformation. The objectives of the Reorgani­ zation were to achieve more effective response to local needs, economic and administrative efficiency, and an improved delegation of authority (18).

The results of the Reorganization for the Recrea­ tional Services Department as it exists today were the amalgamation of the Parks Department, Baths and Laundries

(caring for public baths and laundries and operation of swimming pools throughout the city), and the Catering

Department, which administers catering services at public places such as the public halls and theatres that are also run by the Recreation Department. The Director of the former P.8.rks Department, Roy Bee, was appointed Director of the new Recreational Services Department. Bee, like his predecessor, R. C. McMillan, was a well-known horticultur­ ist.

The Department is now composed of three divisions:

Horticulture and Special Services, Sports and Recreation, and Administration. The Director has his power delegated 45

from the 18-member Recreation Co1nmittee. The Recreation

Committee is appointed from the District Council, of which

there are- 99 members. The District Council has ultimate

control of funds.

There are about 1600 employees in the Department,

which is now considerably under-staffed due to the effects

of reorganization and to the tight money situation in local

government in present-day England. As a result of these

problems, the major objective of the Department is to maintain its st·andards of service, with little growth

foreseen at the present time.

Within the Sports and Recreation division in the

Department, the Entertainment section is in charge of entertainment in the parks and indoor recreation centres

throughout the year, as well as the organization of the annual Manchester Show.

Other Municipal and Private Leisure Programs in Manchester

Many of the leisure activities available outside of the Department of Recreational Services, such a13 the museums, the libraries, the Halle Symphony orchestra, the sporting facilities, specialized clubs and societies for sports and hobbies, and continued avocational education, have been available to all classes of people in Manchester, in some measure, for a surprisingly long period of time. 46

Art and Crai'ts Art and crafts in Hanchester were closely related to industry in the 1800s, with exhibits and trade fairs held in the late 1840s. Victorian architecture with its emphasis on ornate plaster, metal work, wood, glass, and embroidery resulted in a large number of expert artisans in the City. There were museums of ornamental art for students,and public education, a Hunicipal School of Art, and art guilds (16:81). The links between craft guilds and Socialism, that proposed crafts and hobbies as leisure activities for the working class, was credited to Robert Blatchford, a journalist who had endured a childhood of poverty and who founded the Socialist newspaper, The Clarion, in 1891. He encouraged the formation of associations such as Glee Clubs, cycling clubs, and Holiday Camps. His papers and leaflets sold over three-quarters of a million copies and encouraged laborers to strive for a higher quality of life through cooperative effort. The Clarion Guild of Handicraft held annual exhibi­ tions from 1901 to the 1904 exhibit, with over 1000 entries. Although the products were generally criticized for amateurism, it helped establish crafts as a suitable leisure activity for working people. Although the Guild ceased to exist soon after, it is thought to have stimu~ lated the founding of other organizations, such as the Workers Educational Association in 1903 (16:84). The Red Rose Guild of Design Craftsmen originated from an exhibition held in Manchester in 1920. Twenty artists-craftsmen formed the guild, and took, for its symbol, the Red Rose of Lancashire, inasmuch as it was based and continued to exhibit in Manchester. The Guild has retained its provincial character in the sense that it has focused its efforts on presenting the crafts of the North-West, in spite of the fact that its membership is widely spread over the country and is a part of the British Crafts· Society (26).

Adult Education

Manchester has had a school of adul~ education since the 1820s, necessitated by the requirements of the sv1iftly changing industrial technology. The Hanchester Literary and Philosophfcal Society, which was founded in 1781, was a forerunner of the Mechanics' Institutes, set up in most of the towns of South East Lancashire between 1824 and 1850. These Institutes provided a wide range of classes and lectures, libraries and newsrooms, and some­ times concerts and exhibitions. Another institution for clerks, shopkeepers, and merchants was the Manchester Athenaeum, established in 1838. Manchester also led the way in the provision of Lyceums, institutions. for unskilled working men (women were also admitted on equal terms--a rarity in the Victorian era). Among its low-cost provi- 48

sions were newsrooms, lectures, concerts and coffee , classes in vocal and orchestral music, and some elementary class teaching (36:227). The Working Men's College opened in Manchester in 1858, and merged with the evening classes of Owen's College in 1862, ten years before University Extension began officially in England. The Workers' Educational Associa- tion was founded in 1903 to improve the organization, funding, and caliber of classes for working men, and succeeded in obtaining the first State grants for non- vocational adult education in Britain. Evening Continuation Schools have been established in Manchester since the 1880s, but it was the Education Act of 1944 that stated that the Local Education Authorities must provide facilities for further education, including the provision of non-vo_cational" study and activity. These centres minister to the desire for pleasant and useful leisure-time pursuits; they . teach languages, arts and crafts, gardening, music, drama, physical education, and a bewilder­ ing variety of other subjects. By 1962 there were almost one hundred of these non- vocational centers, which included common rooms, canteens, and libraries (36:231). Local authorities also provide continuing educa- tion classes through the libraries, museums, and art galleries. In 1974, the Manchester Education Committee estab- 49 lished a new branch called "Corrununity Education." The aim was to bring together the work of Adult Education, Com­ munity Centers, Careers Advisory Service, Junior and Senior Youth Clubs, Play Centers, and Holiday Play schemes. Particular stress was placed on supporting those activities carried out by the large number of voluntary associations, with the provision of teachers, equipment, facilities, and funds, when necessary (6).

Voluntary Organizations Voluntary organizations have had a long and honor­ able history in Manchester. Many of these voluntary organizations are general in nature and operation, such as the Cooperative Women's Clubs, Trade Union Clubs, business men's clubs, the Y.M.~.A., and the Y.W.C.A. I~ 1962, 24 Community Associations in the Manchester and District Federation had as their goal bringing neighbors together to enjoy social, recreative, and educational activities. There are hundreds upon hundreds of special interest clubs and societies in the Manchester area, representing such diverse interests as wine-making and bee-keeping hobbies, societies and clubs for all aspects of gardening, breeds of animals and birds, different sports, and guilds and associations for avocational pursuit of art, science, and the broadest range of academic subjects. These associations provide not only social inter- 50 p '

change of shared interests, but informal education and che opportunity to participate in competitions and exhibitions held under nationally approved rules, with accredited judges, thereby encouraging excellence in avocational interests and recognition of accomplishments. Some of these societies sponsor their own Shows, such as the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show, sponsored by the Royal Horticultural Society. Other regional societies support and help organize the Shows in their areas, whether they be flower shows, folk festivals in rural areas, agricultural shows, horse shows, or urban, community­ sponsored shows, such as the Manchester Show.

§_um.mary The author had the opportunity to visit many of the parks and indoor centers in Manchester, to observe their programs, and to interview members of the staff. The English passion for gardening is in full evidence in the parks in Manchester. The major thrust and staff of the Department are concentrated in the horticul­ ture section, from the expansive greenhouses to specialized gardens in the parks, to raised allotment gardens for the handicapped, or a colorful small bed of flowers by a bus stop (Appendix V; 20). ' ' Sports fields and equipment of all kinds for all ages are made available at a minimum fee to individuals at certain hours and to clubs or schools at other determined 51 hours, as are the indoor swimming pools. Recreation staff in Manchester respond to the requests of the individuals or societies, but generally do not plan ongoing programs for them. The Department does plan special events in the parks and halls, in conjunction with community associations, local clubs, schools, and churches. There were no visible recreation programs planned especially for the ethnic groups in Manchester. The ethnic population appeared to be more integrated, partially be­ cause of the extensive public housing, which discourages "ghetto" situations, and partially because innnigrants seem to be "expected" to adjust to the language and traditional English life-style while also feeling free to maintain their own ethnic identities. Traditional forms of leisure interests and enter­ tainments are still evident in the Department of Recreation­ al Services. Much of the entertainment in the parks, as in the Manchester Show itself, has not changed throughout the years. While there is flexibility within the accepted framework, the basic forms of entertainment remain, such as the flower shows, brass bands, military and police tattoos, horse shows, hobby competitions, Morris and other folk dancers, police and sheep-dog trials. More contemporary forms, such as folk and rock music, modern art and dance, radio, film and television, all seem to be welcome, or at 52 least tolerated, but not given preeminence over traditional forms of entertainment. These traditional leisure interests in Manchester are reflected in other programs. Classes and information on gardening or bee keeping, for example, are given in parks, on local television, in the newspapers, in continu­ ing eduction classes, and in local societies, thus producing a continuity of shared interests throughout the community. Chapter 5

MANCHESTER SHOW

Introduction The Manchester Show was first organized in 1951. Its purpose was to bring together leisure-oriented horti­ cultural organizations. During the succeeding years, other leisure groups were included as the Show grew in size and interest. When the author arrived in Manchester in June, 1977, she was assigned to work in the Entertainment division of the Department of Recreational Services, which was now concentrating all of its efforts on the corning annual Manchester Show, scheduled for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, the 21st through the 23rd of July. The Show created a major interest and shared effort throughout the Recreation Department. Many members of th-e staff, along with their families, were planning to work at the Show~ as they had in the past. In Platt "Fields Park in central Manchester there was a display of growing activity. Banners spanned the boulevards, advertising the coming Show. Dozens of park workers were erecting fencing and were unloading sand, cin­ ders, and feed, ordered months earlier for the animal competitions (Appendix VI).

53 54

Over 60 of the 90 acres of the park were to be used for the 1977 Manchester Show. Fifty-one marquees, from single tent size to the huge marquee where the flowers would be displayed, were to be erected. Four fenced rings would be built for the horse and mounted police shows, and two rings for the dog show. Two large grandstands were to be put up, as well as stabling and pens for the animals. Ninety outside trade stands would line the walks. All these preparations were being made to welcome over 8,000 entries, which would be judged in over 30 categories or "sections" of competition. In the Entertainment office, last-minute correspon­ dence was being handled. For example, a judge for the rabbit competition section canceled and was replaced; late entries were arriving; questions about staging arrangements were being answered; and selection of stewards, ticket­ takers, and program sellers were being decided. For the first time the Show was to be covered by national television. The BBC was filming several flower clubs' and individual growers' preparation for and parti­ cipation in the Manchester Show. This would become the subject for a special documentary to be shown the coming September on nation-wide television. Planning and arrangements for this filming were extensive, and involved Director Roy Bee and other members of the administrative staff. 55

Publicity in the Manchester Evening News for their competition involving allotment gardeners and entitled "Vegetable Garden for Survival" was receiving media coverage, as were the department publicity releases. The Entertainment office staff was preparing to move their office to Platt Fields Park, days before the Show was to open. Hot meals for the staff and for the park workers were to be provided by the Department's Cater- ing division. The pervasive feeling that the author experienced was the calm atmosphere of expertise in handling this extremely complicated and detailed operation. It came as no surprise to discover that most of the key staff of Platt Fields Park and the Recreation Department had been instrumentally involved with the Show since its inception in 1951. There was an air of proprietary pride among the staff as they- awaited their 27th Show, feeling sure of success if the always unpredictable weather of Manchester proved to be favorable. Minutes of the proceedings of the Show were kept from 1951 to 1977 (29). The information contained in this chapter comes from those minutes. In the April 19, 1950 minutes of the Recreation Committee, it was suggested that the often-inclement weather was one of the reasons that Manchester had not had a Show before 1951. The national organization arranging 56

the traveling exhibits for the Festival of Britain in 1951 refused to stage a local festival in Manchester, as they were doing in 23 other provincial centers. Mancunians, overcoming their fear of inclement weather, decided to organize their own unofficial local festival at their own cost, approximately£ 2000. With organizational help from the Royal Botanical and Horticultural Society of Manchester and the Northern Counties, the first Flower Show was held at Platt Fields Park for two days in July, 1951, comprising three marquees on less than one acre of ground. The procedures established at that first show have persisted through the years. A Show Committee is estab­ lished, headed by the Lord Mayor of Manchester, the Chairman, and members of the Recreation Committee. Repre­ sentatives of those local flower and pet societies parti­ cipating in the S·how, plus the Town Clerk and City Treasurer, comprise the membership. The first Show Committee determined the planning, ordered equipment, decided on the types of entries and prizes, costs of admission, which subsequently established the Show's image and the direction they hoped to project. It was decided that the Manchester Flower Show would be for the family and it would "bring the country into the city." It would showcase the displays and competitions of indivi­ duals, societies, and professionals involved with horti­ culture. The entry sections for the first Flower Show 57

included vegetables, women's preserves, bee-keeping, and dog, cat, and rabbit sections, though the animal sections were later dropped because of insufficient time for organi­ zation. The precedent was established to keep fees for entry, prizes, and admission tickets purposely low, to encourage wider participation. Other precedents were open classes for individuals and amateurs in all of the sections. Local entertainment was included. Although there were only 128 entries and about 2, 500 spectators at the first cold and rainy Show, the Committee determined that Platt Fields Park, with its excellent staff, utility hookups, location, and excellent drainage \·wuld be the site for the second annual two-day Flower Show (November 7, 1951, Show Committee minutes).

Phase I - The Little Show The years 1951 through 1959 constituted the era when the Parks Department established the basic precedents for the Manchester Show. The growth and development were meticulously docu­ mented in the minutes of the Show Committee meetings. The descriptions of this growth were taken from these minutes. It was a period of slow growth, patience, with more investment of time and·effort than visible success. Several times during this era, the continued funding for the Show was questioned, as the costs always exceeded the 58 $ '

income; the number of spectators remained small; and local hobbyists seemed to prefer participating in other Shows outside of Manchester. It was an era of experimentation to determine what kinds of leisure interests would elicit response and parti­ cipation in the Show. The goat section became popular, while the Aquarium Society's section did not. Honey-making was included, while mushroom-growing did not maintain interest. Different caterers were tried, many types of entertainment, prices, prizes, and dates were all assessed in the evaluation meetings of the Show Committee after each Show. Each Show produced innovations. In 1952 programs were printed for this Show; local tradespeople were asked to offer trophies and awards; neighboring communities entered non-competitive floral exhibits; a pipe band with dancers was.hired,and two new competitive sections for allotment gardens and eggs were added (minutes of 2/7/52; 7/21/52; 9/11/52). In 1953, the Manchester Show became affiliated with the national organizations of the local participating societies, using their rules, regulations, and accredited judges to govern each section. A new section for poultry was added. Over the protestations of local temperance societies, the sale of alcoholic beverages began at that Show (minutes of 12/15/52). 59

In 1954 the formal opening ceremonies with the Lord Mayor and visiting dignitaries were enlarged, with a specially catered luncheon. Catering for the Show was upgraded. BBC Children's Hour was broadcast live from the Show. Traditional Sheep Dog demonstrations were added as entertainment for the Show. As the rain had plagued each previous Manchester Show, the 1955 Show date was changed from July to September. This entailed drastic changes in the types of flowers and vegetables exhibited. This change proved to be futile, as it rained during this Show, also (Ninutes of 12/55). From 1956 through 1958 the Manchester Show, now held again for two days in July, continued without major changes. The average cost of the Show (around £6, 000) rose slowly, while the income trailed at about £1,000. The attendance held at approximately 7,000, due to a variety of reasons: rain at least one day during the Show each year, a bus strike another year, and a bad year for growers, another. The number of participants continued to rise, to almost 2,000. Caged foreign birds, pigeons, rabbit;s, and goats sections were added. The Manchester Mounted Police riding competitions were now a popular part of the Show, as were children's gymkhanas (riding and jumping events, sponsored by local riding clubs). A number of Manchester artists were now involved with exhibiting at the Show. 60

Other local city departments, such as the Bureau of Fisheries, Education, and Libraries had information booths and exhibits. The year 1959 was a pivotal one for the Show. As the gymkhana had been rained out the year before, it was decided to invest in covered grandstands. This decision now allowed for the future inclusion of horses and the Riding Societies, and created a period of growth for the next decade. k1other growth decision concerned the permission to allow the Alsatian Dog Society) which had performed as part of the Show's entertainment for two years, to stage a small dog show. This decision encouraged other breed societies to compete, and this section grew in popularity. Interest and appreciation for the Show were appear- ing in the community, as expres·sed in the Committee Minutes of October 4, 1956. Arising from the Show a Manchester Branch of the Flm.ver Lovers' Guild is being organized. The main interest of this organization is Floral arrangement in the home. There were also a number of inquiries from allotments for the first time from people who had visited the Show. The Lancashire Community Council, Food Production Committee were very satisfied to the splendid response and active interest by the public to their collection exhibited at the Show. (29).

Phase II - The Middle Years - 1960-1969 In addition to the established fopnat of the Manchester Show, the first horse show was proposed in the 61

Committee meeting of March 11, 1960.

MANCHESTER FLO~JER SHOW HORSE SHQliJ The Director requests authority for the affi­ liation fee of 7, to be paid to the British Show Jumping Association for Horse Jumping and Gymkhana events to be held in connection with the Flower Show on Friday and Saturday, 22nd and 23rd July, 1960. It is necessary to be affiliated to the British Show Jumping Association if the Show is to be run under orthodox· rules and conditions, with approved Judges. A number of competitors would nqt enter classes if the Show were not affiliated (29) . There were over 500 entries in the 1960 two-day horse show. By 1962, the Parks Department had built their own jumps and equipment to use in the Show. By 1963 the Show was conducted in the most important section of Platt Fields Park, in a fenced ring with the covered grandstand. Special prizes and cups were offered, but not commensurate with the entry fees, ·stakes, and prizes of other horse shows. around Britain. It was still more of a local affair, but a growing source of pride for Manchester. Teams of Mounted Police representing nearly a dozen cities all over Great Britain competed in events in another fenced ring with another newly covered grandstand in another section of the park. Police dogs and other trained dogs performed there, as well. These were exciting years for the Platt Fields Park and Recreation staff workers. There was growing evidence that the Show they helped to create was becoming an important .and accepted entity in Manchester, in Britain, and internationally. 62

These figures are very ·~ncouraging as it does prove that despite the weather, the attendances are greatly improving and the Show becoming more widely known . . . this year we were favored by an exhibit of the Dutch Flower Growers Association . . . Australia was also represented by a display of their fruit, flowers, and wines (October 29, 1964 minutes). A Russian delegation visited the Show in 1969, and were guests at a specially arranged High Tea (October 28, 1969) . Notes from this era frequently mention the "number of visitors fromfar afield" and the Show's effect on summer tourism. In 1966 the Show had over 18,000 persons. This growth and its effect on the exhibitors at the Show was discussed at the November 8th, 1966 meeting. Over the past two years alone the attendance figure has increased by 40 percent. This is very encouraging as it proves two things, firstly that the Show has become accepted in every sphere of Show life and secondly, becoming accepted, it is now a necessity looked forward to by more and more people each year, not only by the public in general but exhibitors of all classes throughout the Schedule.- Further evidence of the interest of the·exhibitors is seen in the committee report of October, 1967. The weather on both days 'tvas ideal and the Sho.w attracted a record number of people. The paid attendance was 30,599 against 19,891 in 1966 which was also a record. With Complimen­ tary and Official Passes the total attendance was well over 33,000. In 1965 the total attendance was 16,261 so that in two years the figure has increased by 102 percent and 49 percent over 1966. This is very encouraging indeed as it proves without doubt that the Show has become estalished and is eagerly looked forward to each year, not only by the general public but by Exhibitors as well, as during the Saturday afternoon of the Show, thirty odd of the Exhibitors present 63

requested reservation of space for the 1968 Show, 1his is something which has not happened before.(29). The Show came of age when it was officially recog­ nized by the Federation of Show Societies. An invitation has been received from the North West Federation of Show Societies for the Manchester Show to become an Affiliated Member. The main purpose of the Federation is to present an organization to unify the Summer Shows and attempt to minimize the trouble arising from all matters in respect of Shows and to be an effective watchdog at all times in the interest of Member Societies. The affiliation fee is 50/- per year. The Royal Lancashire, Liverpool, Blackburn and Warrington are.some of the Shows which are affiliated members (29) . With costs rising in England at an alarming rate in this period, other Shows raised their prices, while many other Shows closed. But the Manchester Show committee refused to raise their prices, even lowering the rates for school children and old age pensioners, and continued to schedule their Show (October, 1967 minutes; Appendix VII). This_statement by director McMillan in 1961 de­ scribed the unique character of the goals of the Manchester Shov7:

This is our eleventh year, and Y.7e 1 re hoping to make a profit for the first time. It depends on the weather and the gate money. But the profit-making is not our main conc·ern. The show is more of an educational venture to encourage people to grow things ... the annual occasion for the local gardeners to show off the fruits of their labours has almost become a huge shop window for the city 1 s Parks Department (Minutes 1961). In nine years the Show grew from 16 acres to over 50. Gore Brook, which dissects Platt Fields Park, was 64 bridged, to give added room for more and more marquees. Where there had been about 2,000 entries in 1960, there were over 3,500 in 1969. Rabbits, budgerigars, and wine .. ·making were additional sections, with special classes added for school children and for the handicapped (October 21, 1968 minutes).

Phase III - The Big Show - 1970-77 R. C. McMillan retired in 1969 as Director of the Parks Department. Roy A. Bee, another noted horticulturist, became the new Director and, therefore, the new Secretary and Show Manager. It was decided at the October 20, 1969 meeting of the Shm•J Committee to ex tend the Manchester Flower and Horse Show to three days and change the name to the

"Manchester Show.~' Extra classes were to be added to the Horse Show for Thursday, and new sections for cats, cavies, and handicrafts were added. Cookery and photography were considered for a future date. With the attendance over 30,000 and the Shmv extended to three days, the Show Manager was authorized to engage more spectacular entertainment. The Royal Greenjackets Skydivers, the Royal Corps of Signals Motor Cycle Display Team, and a display were planned for the 1970 Show. The Committee notes of November 6; 1970 stated that the "weather on all three days was atrocious." Only 65

20,000 persons braved the storms, and both the motorcycle team and the skydivers had to cancel their performances. During the 1970s, publicity for the Show was

enhance~ by live coverage by local radio and television, both before the opening of the· Show and on the showground itself, becoming part of the entertainment. It was during this period that the reorganization of the city departments brought the amalgamation of Sports within the Parks Department, now renamed the Department of Recreational Services. This reorganization provided the opportunity to introduce sporting activities in the Manchester Show. The Manchester Show of 1974 featured two new events: "It's a Knockout" and a "Knockout S-A-Side Football Tournament." These activities were organized in conjunc­ tion with the Greater Mancheste·r Youth Association and i.ts 32 Youth Clubs. Because the more desirable locations and time slots were traditionally filled, the new sporting events were held at off-hours and were less successful than anticipated (Noyember, 1973 minutes). In the early 1970s, space was becoming a serious problem. The car parking was moved to nearby Birchfields Park. There were additional financial problems. The Committee was instructed to increase those charges which were subject to the new Value Added Tax. Due to inflation­ ary costs plus V.A.T., expenditures for the 1973 Show would 66 be approximately£27,500, almost twice the outlay for the 1970 Shmv (November 28, 1972 minutes). Two years of ideal weather brought record atten­ dance, around 50,000 in 1973 and 60,000 in 1974, with over 8,000 entries. Everything pointed to 1975 as a banner year. It was to be the 25th Manchester Show--the Silver Jubilee Show. H.R.H. The Princess Margaret was scheduled to attend and plant a Mountain Ash Tree in the Rose Gardens to commemorate her visit. Because of the extra expense of special marquees, staging, and additional attractions, the 1975 Silver

Jubilee Show cost over~SO,OOO, while income was small, as it rained all three days (November, 1975 minutes). Howeve~ this disaster did not deter the Committee from scheduling the 1976 Show. Maurice Hamblett, the Assistant Show Secretary and possibly the most instrumental individual in the success of the Manchester Show, retired in 1976. He was replaced by John Curtis, experienced in Show production. At the same time there ensued an evaluation meeting on the lOth of November, 1976, concerning problems, changes, and future plans. The possibility of opening on Sunday was again dis­ cussed, and was again turned down. It was suggested that the exhibitors wanted to have Sunday at home, that plants and flowers would not be fresh, that animal sections 67 would also oppose the idea. Another problem was that Marquee Hirers and Electric Contractors would have to shift their strict timetables. Further, Show Jumping personali­ ties would not like to have to travel so far on a Sunday. Lastly, the Lord's Day Observance Society would not look kindly on the Show's being open on a Sunday, and it would be awkward for the Committee. Though it was pointed out that many Shows were open all over Great Britain and proved most profitable on Sunday, the idea was rejected. Changing the venue of the Show to one of two other larger parks in Manchester was also rejected. Though ex­ pansion had reached its limit at Platt Fields, all the essential services and improvements were there, as well as good drainage and central location. Changing dates to August was shown to be imprac­ tical; as exhibitors were involved wih other Shows, the Horticultural section of the Schedule would have to be completely rearranged, and it would upset the Societies. When it was suggested that other Departments might be given more encouragement to further participation in the Show, it was pointed out that in previous years, letters of invitation were extended to other Departments to display their works and only a few responded. Now, the problem of lack of space and cost of canvas made their further parti­ cipation impractical. The problem of increased pilfering was discussed. 68

Additional fencing, improved security patrols, and more stewards were agreed upon, to be implemented for the follow­ ing year. It was at this juncture that the author arrived in Manchester to work in the small office with Mr. Curtis. She planned to meet and interview those working and retired staff members who had been with the Show from the first. When the staff moved on to Platt Fields Park to work on the 1977 Manchester Show, she moved with them to the temporary trailer parked in a vital place in the park (Appendix VIII) . Over half of Platt Fields Park acreage appeared to be involved in the Show. Inside the newly erected marquees the appropriate equipment was being assembled to stage the various sections: pens and cages in one marquee, niches for flower arrangements, long tables, and beds and platforms for garden displays in the huge flower marquee, honey and wine and handcrafted items in another area--all constructed to official specifications of the societies. Along the designated paths, the smaller trades people were setting up their booths, selling such items as pottery, tack for horses, homemade fudge. These booths were interspersed with the booths of voluntary societies displaying information about their programs. Large horse trailers were beginning to roll in throughout the day and night. Program and ticket booths were erected. 69

Just before opening day, the participants arrived, bringing their entries. Stewards, mostly volunteer members of the Recreation Staff families, were given their assign- ments. When the Show officially opened, with the Lord Mayor of Manchester in formal attire, wearing the chain of office, escorting the visiting dignitaries, the rain began to fall in earnest, and continued sporadically for three days. .The horses competed; the mounted police paraded; the Punch and Judy show·s were enjoyed by all ages; para­ chuters jumped; fireworks exploded; a hot-air balloon ascended; dogs, cats, birds, goats were exhibited and • judged; a mock army battle was staged; bands played; exquisite flowers of all varieties were judged; prize money and cups were awa~ded; and the rain fell intermittent- ly. There were approximately 50,000 paid admissions over the three-day period. However, the Show cost about

~60,000, and earned £44,000, continuing the economic pattern previously established. Over three dozen park workers dismantled and cleaned and re-seeded Platt Fields for weeks following the Show. The Entertainment department balanced books, and completed records for the Recreational Department, sending the re- sults of the competitions to the various societies to be 70

The Show Committee and advisors met and discussed and evaluated the Show, on October 21, 1977. An increase of prize money in most sections was instituted. Entertain- ment for the 1978 Show was discussed, as well as complaints, compliments, and reports from each section manager. One of the items evaluated was the data from the questionnaire distributed by the author to a sampling of the participants in the Manchester Show. Some of the suggestions by the participants, noted on the questi·onnaJxe, were discussed and accepted by.the Corrrrnittee for the 1978 Manchester Show. As the author felt privileged to work with and learn from the staff of the Department of Recrea- tional Services, it was gratifying to know there was this opportunity for reciprocity. The survey of participants was designed to identify (1) the attitudes toward their leisure involvement in the Show, and (2) their assessment of the Show Committee's responsiveness to their needs. The questionnaire was set up as follows: After the initial identification questions, the participants were asked questions designed to determine how they valued their leisure activities, both by their own judgment and by their expenditure of time and study. They were asked how the Show contributed to their leisure activities and to them, as members of the community. 71

Assisting in the construction of the questionnaire were members of the staff of the Department of Recreational Services. TI1e author was unable to obtain assistance in the distribution and collection of the questionnaires during the Show. For this reason there ,..;ras an uneven distribution among the participants and, therefore, a failure to procure the necessary cross-section for a more varied sampling. Below is a partial summation of the data presented to the Show Committee.

Participant's Questionnaire Manchester Sh---ow,---r9'77 The following figures and comments are based on the results of 110 collected questionnaires from approximately 350 questionnaires that were distributed personally from Wednesday through Saturday of the Show, July 20, 21, 22, and 23. It was not intended to draw precise information from this study. Under the title "participant" are amateur hobbyists, amateur entertainers, tradespeople, and uquasi" professionals such as breeders and judges, with their various motivations for participation. It was the inten- tion to get a fairly wide cross-section of these different types of participants, but problems of distribution and collection produced uneven results. Because of difficulties in distribution, the Horse, 72

Police, and Cat Sections are not·· represented. The Dog Section and the Flower Arranging Section responded in large numbers, partially because of the ease of distribution and partly because of criticisms the participants wished to express. Morris Dancers also fall in this category. The absence of responses to the questionnaire could, therefore, have various meanings: (1) unsuccessful distribution; (2) no problems in their section; (3) no interest in the questionnaire. Regardless of these problems, some of the general information for which this questionnaire was intended is relevant. In addition to the questions, participants were encouraged to write in any ideas or criticisms concerning the Show. Almost half of the questionnaires contained some comment. From the answers to the questions and from the comments, some broad conclusions can be derived. Criticisms were obviously meant to.be constructive, as an overwhelming number (100, Question 17) planned to participate in the next Show, as they had in the past (74, Question 16). Although an overwhelming majority (95, Question 19) participated in other shows, only 9 rated the Manchester Show "poorer." In all categories of Question 18, rating the organization of the Show, four-fifths of the partici­ pants ma.rked satisfactory or better. In response to Question 20, 86 participants felt the Show was very impor- 73 tant to the City of Manchester, and no one felt it had little importance. The majority of the participants who responded were very involved in their avocational interests, experienced competitors, married, shared their interests with their families, and placed a high value on their leisure activi- ties, stressing enjoyment and social motivations over winning or profit. Attached to this smmnary statement was the frequen- cy distribution for each of the questionnaire items.

Questio_p Results Question Results 1) Male 45 2) Single 25 Female 57 Married 64

Under 20 9 Widow 5 20 40 47 (write in Divorced) 3 40 60 34 Over 60 13 3) Number of Children 4) Town of Residence (49 towns listed) None 44 Manchester 27 One 11 Greater Manchester Two 24 County (20 towns listed) 40 Three 14 Within 50 Four and over 7 miles 20 Over 50 miles 7 74

Question Results 5) Have you ever lived in Hanchester? Yes 54 No 46 6) Occupation Professional (Medical, legal, executive) 9 Science (including engineers) 8 General Manual 16 Self-employed (private business, artists) 15 Education (teachers, administrators) 9 Housewives 25 Retired 8 Students 6 General (clerks, sales, civil service, etc.) 16 7) Education

Secondary 37 Grammar 42 Comprehensive 8 Private 15 College 16 University 11 Further Education 20 8) What Events Are You Participating In at the Manchester Show? Cavies 11 Dogs 28 Flowers (flower arrangers, vegetables (only) 7 Handicrafts, wine, honey, additional flower entry· 11 Foreign Birds 8 Horses 1 Goats 3 Poultry and pigeons 4 Rabbits 3 Morris entertainers 7 Trades (exhibitors and stands) 23 9) How Important is Winning This Event to You? Extremely important 27 Moderately important 45 Not important 18 75

Question Results 10) Would you consider yourself . Novice 14 Intermediate 35 Expert 45 11) How Hany Years Have You Been Involved with Your Leisure Activity? 1 - 5 24 5 - 10 21 10 - 20 20 over 20 28 12) How 11any Hours Per Week Do You Spend on Your Leisure Activity (on an average) 1 - 6 hours per week 26 7 ·- llt 35 More 34 13) Do Other Members of Your Family Share This Interest With You? Yes 70 No 21

14) Why Did You Choose This L~isure Activity? (tick more than one if appl·icable)

For enjoyment 86 Education 20 . Profit 7 Social 36 Health 12· Other (Please specify) Mental health, status with others, love of animals, meeting people, help underprivileged, helps family, winning, married into it, excitement (Generalized) 15) Do You Have Other Leisure Activities Besides the Ones Stated? Yes 64 No 23 Sport, squash, caravanning, floral art, handicrafts, cricket, horses, golf, music, cards, travel, garden­ ing, theatre, spectator, car maintenance, reading, cooking, swimming. 76

Question Results 16) How Many Years Have You Participated in the Manchester Show? First year 30 2 - 5 37 6 - 10 16 11 - 15 12 16 - 20 5 Over 20 4 17) Will You Plan to Enter Next Year? Yes 100 No 2 ("Maybe" - write in) 18) Do You Participate in Other Shows?

Yes 95 No 12 A) If "Yes," how do you rate the Manchester Show with other shows? Better 28 The same 56 Poorer 9 B) If you ticked "poore_r," which shows do you prefer? Southport (3), Shrewsbury, Liverpool (2), Salford, Harrogate, Nantwich, Flint, Denbigh. 19) Do You Believe the Show Is Important to the City of Manchester? Very important 86 Moderately important 20 Little importance 0

Comments were a.lso a part of the summary statement. The following comments are examples of the type of criti­ cism added to the questionnaires. Included among these were compliments and praise, as well. 77 ' '

"Alternate groups of dogs on successive years. Gundogs have been regularly scheduled on the Friday every year for .at least 5 years. This is Morally Wrong and Unfair, among the reasons are l) Gundog exhibitors who can't get away from work on a Friday are excluded ever* year, i.e., a selective and exclusive entry only ... t e Saturday Public never see half dogdom. 2) Gundog entrants are excluded from obedience. 3) Gundog exhibitors cannot demonstrate that their animals are dual purpose (breed and obedience) as can exhibitors in other breeds." (Changed for '78 Show)

"I do feel very strongly that all the Flower Arrangement Classes, the Club entries as well as individual ones, · should be judged by people connected to N.A.F.A.S. A knowledge of horticulture does not necessarily include an appreciation of Flower Arranging, the expression of ideas, and the actual arrangements." (Changed for '78 Show)

"I use my car to bring or remove exhibits for myself and Daughter on an average of at least, 30 (entries) each year but I find I have great difficulty in being able to park my car on the competitor's car park. In fact, I have to walk and carry these exhibits quite a long way. Can additional space be found, or can a section be set aside for GAP's PLEASE. As a show secretary for over 15 years at Swinton and Pendlebury I appreciate your problems."

Personal r1ote: This is an elderly gentleman. Many of the participants in these sections are older and had difficulty getting their exhibits to and from the floral marquee extension. (Unchanged)

"Present layout creates three separate shows anci from exhibitors' point of view, too many separate activities happening at same time in 3 different areas. And, if you must have firework display, then schedule it for Saturday Night only after exhibitors have finished." (Unchanged)

"Myself and other rabbit fanciers would like to see the pet class judged first, to avoid children having to wait in the marquee for several hours." (Changed for '78 Show)

The Show personnel received the report and were

pleased with the type of information it encompassed. They

acted on some of the participants' comments and made some 78 changes for the 1978 Show, based on the participants' requests.

Significance of Manchester Show It is the impression of the author that one of the most successful aspects of the Manchester Show was the amateur competitions. The results of the judging (though the prize money was seldom much more than the entry costs, and more often than not the prize was a rosette or a card) were very popular with the spectators. The quality of the entries, whether a pedigreed animal or a single rose, was excellent, with little differ­ ence between the professional classes. Fellow participants were usually sociable and helpful to each other. They were pleased if they won, put all generally displayed humor and good sportsmanship in any event. This author had a feeling that one competed more with oneself to do the best than to win. Even in the dog, cat, sports, and dance competitions there seemed to be less of an accent on winning. Only the horse show displayed a keen sense of competition. The riding and jumping competitions featured many championship events, with sponsors and big prize money, and were very popular in the Show. There was an interesting span of ages in most sections, with only school children and handicapped indivi­ duals placed in special classes. All other age groups from teens to pensioners socialized and competed equally,with 79

a cormnon interest in their hobby. There were some leisure interests that attracted only men--such as wine-making-­ while only ~;vomen arranged flowers. Similarly there were some st·-ong ;;lass divisions. With a few exceptions with some kinds of pets, the traditional patterns prevailed, with the upper class persons showing horses and the working class participants raising small, inexpensive pets. There were many ethnic groups represented among the spectators and in the trade stands, but not among the amateur/ professional competitors. · The key to the success 9f the Show was the opportu- nity to participate, which seemed more important than winning, in most of the sections for the amateur competi- • tors. This appears to be the value of the Hanchester Show for these people--to have a showcase provided for their entries, with judges and rules· and regulations as strin- gent as those utilized for the professionals.

Suminary Regional and local needs and traditions which encourage corrnnunity identity are given close attention by the Department of Recreational Services as well as by other departments and agencies that are involved in leisure services in Manchester . The individual does not go unrecognized. It is assumed that the individual and the 80 community are inseparable. It is for this reason that the original format and goals of the Manchester Show have not been modernized. As discussAd previously the Show Committee continues to main- tain its basic format of the original intent of "bringing the countryside to the city." Modernization of the Show's format does not meet the needs and traditions as valued by the people of this community. l'he inhabitants of Manchester are very conscious of their history. The Industrial Revolution that shook the foundations of government, chu~ch, and social structure began in Manchester. Here, the problems started and, in many cases, the first solutions emerged, as vJell . • Modern Manchester was early in the fight against pollution, inner-city decay, and reclaiming open space in the city. Still, while grappliRg with modern problems and challenges, the community of Manchester remains traditional, using the folk and cultural mores to bridge the gap between the old and familiar and the new and impersonal in the changing English society. ·The traditional traits of strength and values of the con~unity remain the home and family, tolerance, privacy, and independence. Parks are an extension of the home, with gardens for strolling and with private areas. Playing fields and courts are available for an organization to reserve for its competitions, and a time is also set 81 aside for individuals. The Recreation staff does not initiate the program; it only responds to expressed needs. Similarly, if a society wishes to have its leisure interest represented at the Manchester Show, it works with the Recreation Show staff and helps to organize the new section. If others in the community respond sufficiently, the new section is then incorporated into the Show, in accordance with official rules and regulations, and is open to competition by everyone. The Show could possibly make money if it changed some of its policies and stayed open through Sunday, as many Shows do throughout England. But arguments such as the wilting of flowers by Sunday and the objection of the Lord's Day Observance Society made the Manchester Recrea­ tion Department reject the idea. The following comment is found in the Show·committee minutes of December, 1975: The Committee will recall that it has always been their policy to look upon the Manchester Show as being of great community value. It is a participatory show with much of the showground being devoted to the efforts of the individual in the various sections which go to make up the Show. It gives the people of Manchester the opportunity to have a day out in glorious sur­ roundings and to identify themselves with the Show. It is not a commercially biased Show, such as may be found in other areas, and extreme care has been taken over the years to ensure that its non­ commercial image has been preserved.29 Again, the sensitivity of the Committee to respect the wishes of the community, in light of a continued finan­ cial deficit, reflects the connection between leisure 82

interest recognition and community identity of its citizenry .. The Department also responds to the leisure needs

of the ~omrnunity. One is impressed with the thoroughness, dedication, and untold volunteer hours contributed by department staff and their family. While outside the scope of this study, it is recommended that this depart- ment is a case study of effective leisure delivery. Recognition and encouragement of the leisure interests of the community are the goal of the Department of Recreational Service's annual Show. Agreement seems evident in the speech given by Princess Margaret at the 1975 Show: This is a Show for the community. ·Indeed, it could not take place without the enthusiastic support of the amateurs who love their hobbies and recreation. The theme is to create -something of the atmosphere of the old village show, bringing people together and, at the same time, a touch of the countryside into the city. It brings to the urban dweller, especially the children, a new awareness of the simple pleasure of growing things, of arts and crafts, of animals, and it informs in a recreative way. Our environment, with which we are concerned, is, in the end, the responsibility of the indivi­ dual in the community, and a visit to a Show such as this, can bring an added dimension to the quality of life in our cities. (29). BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Blacklock, Henry. Report on the City Parks and Recreation Grounds. Manchester Parks Committee, 715 Alberts Square. 2. Bruton, F. A. Histora of Manchester and Salford. Yorkshire, Englan : S. R. Publishers, Ltd., 1927. 3. Burns, Tom, and Guy Chapman. Leisure in Industrial Society. London: Cope, 19 4. . Centenary of the First Public Parks in ----M~an--ch~ester, 1846 - 1946. Municipal Information Bureau. Town Clerk's Department, Tovm Hall, Manchester.

5. Chaloner, W. H. Late Hist0~y - The Birth of Modern Manchester. Bulletin of the John Rylands Library XLII #1, September, 1969. 6. Community Education of South Manchester. Manchester: Public Relations Offic.e• on Behalf of the Education Committee Department of Administra­ tion, 1977. 7. Department of Recreation Services, Manchester, England. Minutes of the Show Comrnittee Meetings. · 8. Freeman, T. H. "Greater Manchester." The Conubera­ tions of Great Britain. London: University Press, 1961. 9. Glasser, R. Leisure, Prize or Penalty? London: Macmillan, 1970. 10. Gray, David E., and Donald A. Pelegrino. Reflections on the Recreation and Parks Movement. Dubuque, Iowa: W. C. Brown Co., 1973.

11. Hale, Christina. Traditions -~nd Customs of Derbyshir~.· London: Williams and Morgate, Ltd., 1937. 12. Harland, John, and T. T. Wilkinson. Lancashire Legends. London: John Hey-wood, Publishers, -1"882. 13. Haworth, J. T. and M. A. Smith. Work and Leisure. Princeton~ N.J.: Princeton Book Co., 1976.

83 84 14. Hill, Roland H. (Ed.). "How Manchester is Managed." The CitL_Qf Manchester. Town's Clerk Department. Publishearor the Corporation by the Town Hall Committee, 1935. 15. . "His tory of Recreation in Manchester," Handbook of the City Parks and Recreation Grounds. Manchester Parks Committee, March, 1929. 16. Jeremiah, David. "Craft, Leisure, and Industry in Manchester, 1895- 1920." Leisure in the 20th Century. London: Design Council Publications, 1977. 17. Lance, Jean and Stephen. · The Showman's Directory. Surrey, England: Brook House, 1976. 18. . "Local Government in England, Government Proposals for Reorganization." London: ·Her Majesty's Stationery Office, February, 1971. 19. Los An,eles Times (Los Angeles, California), May 6, 19 9. 20. August 5, 1979. 21. "Manchester for Children." The Redcliff Press Guide. : Burleigh Ltd., 1977. 22. Murdock, G. "Education and Culture and the Myth of Classlessness.". Work and Leisure. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton Book Co., Pubirshers, 1976. 23. Parker, Stanley. The Sociology of Leisure. London: George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1976. 24. Phythian-Adams, Charles. Local History and Folklore - A New Framework. London: University of Leicester Bedford_Square Press of the National Council of . Social Service, 1975. 25. Porteous, Chichton. Ancient Customs of Derbyshire. Hanley, England: Wooa, Mitchell and Co., Ltd. 26. . Red Rose Guild of Designer Craftsmen - Guild Booklet.

27. Shercliff, ~.J. H. "Entertainments,''· It HapEened Round Manchester Series. London: University of London Press, Ltd., ~. 85

· 28. Shercliff, W. H. Manch~ster, A Short History of Its Develo..12ment. Tmm Hall, Manchester: Publicity Department, 1972. 29. Show Cormnittee Minutes of Department of Recreational Services, Manchester, England, 1950- 1977. 30. Smith,Michael, Stanley Parker, and Cyril Smith (Eds.). Leisure and Society in Britain. London: Allen Lane, 1973. 31. Taylor, M. J., Chairman of Recreation Committee, Manchester, England. Personal Interview, July, 1977. 32. Taylor, Wallis. "Local Statistics and Social Condi­ tions of Greater Manchester." Late History, the Birth of Modern Manchester. John Rylarids Library, 1969. 33. The Financial Times. London. Every July 22nd from 1951 to 1977. 34. The Guild Journal (Manchester Municipal Officers' Guild). Charter Centenary Issue, 24:11: May, 1938.

35. Theodorson, G. and A. Modern Dictionar~ of Sociology New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1 69. 36. Waller, H. D. Adult Education in the Manchester Area. Manchester: C. D. Legg, 1962. 37. Warburton, Edith. City of Manchester Centenary Festival Program, 1853 - 1953 for the Halle Concert Society, Manchester: Richard Bates, Ltd., 1953. 38. Williams, Raymond. "Minority and Popular Culture." Leisure and the Community- Conference Papers. Birmingham: Centre for Urban and Regional STudies, University of Birmingham, 1976. APPENDIX I

,_:/. -s Part IV-sun .. Mays. 1G79 &s.Aur,~irt~ &inte0 BY THEH~ SPEECH YOU SHALl KNOVI THEM

------r~~~.' ~ • f'r$ ;!"'if'·~ nl 1(-'.1':;1, ~ ~ ~ if_ fe:, /~:~g.~~ ~;,.&~ r~n,g:~ ~ IFi" .~r-··" !lf'cil .df}r_ 0-~~.. """ B,~ ~ "'~~~ ru~ ii:"·~~\ik.$~""' lill ~ ._,f.j~ ill •$- ~~t~-~~ 011 ~~~~

LONDON (UP I) -Social scientists class attitudes is the fact that more nition about 65% cf peopie in Britain asked Britons how they rated a man's people in the middle class now vote are working class and about 35% _ standing in the community. Clothes? labor. (Traditionally the middle class n:iddle class. Life-style? Job? Recreations? votes conservative). This suggests "What used to be thought of as the None of th.-:se, the consensus said. that vvorking class families may move upper class-the old landed gentry A man was judged by his accent. upward in the social scale, but that and aristocr~cy~ for -e:v.n1ple-is nov: : In every other westernized country the movement does not affect the gei1er?.ily assumed. to :have merged 1n the world an accent simply indi­ way they view themselves or where with the upper reaches of the middle , cates the geogmphical region of ori­ they conceive their interests lie. class." gin. But in Britain it remains the ac­ The magazine recalled the recent And New Society said the wor!rlng cepted label of social standing despite case of a 14-year-old girl bullied to class is H~:df divided. all the efforts of educators and labor the edge oi a nervous breakdown by "There is ;" good deal of evidence governments to erase the lines divid­ working-class schoolm2tes because that peor1e in the upper working ing the classes. her accent was regarded as "posh"­ clas:: want to maintain their status According to a study paper on the upper class. Emotional reactions such relative ~.o those below them. Ar· current status of the British c.! ass sys­ as l.his make it difficult for sociolo­ guments d.•cut pay differentials be­ tem in the magazine New Society, ef­ gists to put their continuing research tween craf;.srnen and the les:; skilled . forts to make a man's job the arbiter into the class system on a scientific are good e:>•amples." of his status have failed. basis. The rcpcrt f

co 0'1

a 87

APPENDIX II CHRONOLOGY OF ENGLISH HONARCHS AND DATE OF REIGN NORMAN TUDOR William I 1066,...1087 Henry VII 1485-1509 William II 1087-1100 Henry VIII 1509-1547 Henry I 1100-1135 Edward VI 1547-1553 Stephen 1135-1154 Mary I 1553-1558 PLANTAGENET STUART Henry II 1154-1189 James 1603-1625 Richard I 1189-1199 Charles 1625-1649 John 1199-1216 Henry III 1216-1272 COMHONWEALTH Edward I 1272-1307 Edward II ' 1307-1327 Long Parliament 1649-1683 Edward III 1327-1377 Richard II 1377-1399 PROTECTORATE LANCASTER Oliver Cromwell 1653-1658 Richard Cromwell 1658-1659 Henry IV 1399-1413 Henry V 1413-1422 STUART Henry VI 1422-1461 Charles II 1660-1685 YORK James II 1685-1688 Mary & William of Edward IV. 1461-1470 Orange 1688-1702 Anne 1702-1714 LANCASTER HANOVER Henry VI 1470-1471 --- George I 1714-1727 YORK George II 1727-1760 George III 1760-1820 Edward IV 1471-1483 George IV 1820-1830 Edward V 1483-1483 William IV 1830-1837 Richard III 1483-1485 Victoria 1837-1901 88

APPENDIX III A SELECT CALENDAR OF DAYS WHICH WERE VARIOUSLY OBSERVED BY DIFFERENT COMMUNITIES (Movable observances capitalized) 25 Dec. Nativity (Mid-winter Day) 26 Dec.-6 Jan. 28 Dec. Holy Innocents (Childerrnas) 1 Jan. New Year's Day 6 Jan. (Twelfth Day) 7 Jan. Rock Day 7 - 14 Jan. PLOUGH MONDAY 25 Jan, Conversion of St. Paul 30 Jan. Martyrdom of King Charles 2 Feb. Purification of the B.V.M.() 2 Feb.- 9 March 4 Feb.-10 March lLt- Feb. S. Valentine 24 Feb. S. Mathias 1 Mar. - 4 April Mid-Lent Sunday (Mothering Sunday) 15 Mar.-18 April PALM SUNDAY 19 Mar.-22 April SHERE THURSDAY () 20 Mar.-23 April 22 Mar.-25 April DAY 25 March Annunciation (Lady Day) 30 Mar.- 3 May HOCK MONDAY 31 Mar.- 4 May HOCK TUESDAY 23 April S. George 25 April S. Marks 27/28/29 April - 31 May/ 1, 2, June ROGATION DAYS 30 Apr. - .3 June ASCENSION (Holy Thursday) 1 May May Day .1 May S.S. Phillips and James 89

CALENDAR DAYS (continued)

2 May Rowan-tree Witch Day 10 May - 13 June WHITSUNDAY (for one week) 21 May - 24 June CORPUS CHRISTI 29 May Restoration of King Charles 11 June S . Barnaba·s 24 June Nativity of S. John the Baptist (Mid-summer Day) 29 June S.S. Peter and Paul 2 July S. Swithin 7 July Translation of S. Thomas Becket RUSH-BEARING 25 July S. James 1 Aug'ust S. Peter AD VINCULA (Larnmas) 15 August Assumption of the B.V.M. HARVEST HOME 24 August S. Bartholomew 21 September S. Mathew 29 September S. Michael the Archangel (Michaelmas) PARISH WA~ES 18 October S ..Luke 28 October S.S. Simon and Jude 1 November All Saints (Hallowrnas) 2 November All Souls 5 November Guy Fawkes 11 November S. Martin (Martinmas) 16 November S. Edmund 23 November S. Clement 25 Novenber S. Katherine 30 November S. Andrew 6 December S. Nicholas 21 December S. Thomas 90

APPENDIX IV F£CREATIONAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT Statistical Information ('74 - '75)

Staff Officers -- 217 Manual -- 1550 (approx.)

Finance Expenditure 5.23 million (approx. 13 million dollars) Income 2.62 million (approx. 6.5 million dollars) Capital (approved programmes '73/4 to '76/7 -- 6.10 Million (ap­ prox. 15 million $) ResP.onsible for the following facilities: FACILITY No. Acreage Parks .. 125 Playgrounds 105 Public open space 60 2990 Woodlands and Farms 16 Cemeteries/Crematoria 6 360. Allotments/Small holdings 45 235 Land managed f~r other committees 3130 Restaurant/Cafes . . . . . 6 Total acreage managed . 6715 (over 20% of the land in Manchester) Swimrning pools 42 Laundries 20 Sports Centres 3 (4 more in progress) Recreational and Public Halls . 9 (including Free Trade Hall and Forum) College Sport Centres 1 91

APPENDIX V

Los Angeles Times - Sunday, August 5, 1979 Part I - page L

'·' t' 1,000 YEARS OF GARDENING

Is BY WILLIAM TUOHY Times !i'aff Writer LONDON-The national pastime iri and profusion of flowers in the cities Britain is neither cricket nor rugby. It -and the countryside. is gardening. This summer thousands of visitors. Brit"ons have been gardening for have flocked to an exhibit at London's more than 1.000 years. Every other Victoria and Albert Museum titled man and woman seems to have a "The Garden: A Celebration of 1,000 green thumb. . ·Years of British Gardening." To celebrate what amounts to ana­ Roy Strong, who is the director of tional institution, the English Tourist the Victoria and Albert and tends 31h Board has decreed 1979 "The Year of acres of garden at home, said of the the Garden." Historic floral parks and superbly designed exhibit: "One thou­ · formal gardens-among them Blen­ sand years of British gardening is a heim Palace and Henry VIII's Hamp­ helluva subject, even for the Victoria ton Court-have been restored, and , and Albert." about 3,000 private gardens have No one knows quite why the Bri- · been opened to the public. tish are such uniquely determined The British penchant for tending and gifted gardeners. Certainly the flowers has produced gardens that. temperate climate helps. Few other range from window boxes to the clas~ countries of comparable size can sic plantings of· country estates. grow, in the open air, such a wide American visitors are invariabiy de­ variety of species--nnging from the lighted at th~ richness, brightness Please Turn to Page H, Cot ,1 ,

··:. --~ -··· J :: APPENDIX V (continued) Los Angeles Times SUTILray, August 5, 1979

' .,., -...... ·~·'Y ~.,;_, ..... ~··:····""· ·' Co"C~Hnue1Hrom First Page' cy that bad recently 'cmiqueted Nature tamed by art in a garden came atclic and alpine to the subtropical. southern Italy a.nd Sicily and brousht increasingly to be regarded as a set- ' 7 "\\ ll3.tever the reasons, there are few back a knowledge of advanced Arabic ting for the sovereign's residence." Bt·1tons who would not subscribe to gardening. Geometric patterns became impor­ tht~ .-;er.tlments expressed by poet -The Crusades, which opened up tant, and many gardens in England A.btabam Cowley in 1664: '"I never Western Europe to oriental conc;;pts today are still divided by radiating · had any other desire so strong as that of what a well-kept garden should walkv.'ays into flower beds, groves I might be a master, at last, of a small look like, and introduced scientific as­ and omamental areas. • ,;.·house and a large gn. .tden.H pects of horticulture. By the mid~ 18th century, however, · It w<:s the Ronwr;s ·who started it VTt1ile the abbeys tended to con­ classical concepts gave ·way to gar· ~ all. Durinz th;,ir occupation in the 1st centrate on more practical plants, the dens that se.:;med more 1:atutal and· ; .century, they broL1g.ht in almlmd, bishops, follmved l!y the noblernen, less artificiaL ~. chen-y, chestnut, fig,. mulberry and took more of an bterest in plants <.liJd The Lndscape artist Wilii&:n Kent l "pea.ch trees, ,g1'"ape vir!es, radishes, flowers grown for purely aesthetic designed Claremont to suggEsi. t!1at it r• .~lettud: and mtdlcirul. herbs. purposes. had not been ~cuched by JvJman · ·· GaderJng l:mgms}.;ed in the Dark British nobl.;;s began cnciosing their ,. Ages, hut horticu!ture was kept alive deer parks and planting them with . ·~· :.in mon;:steries a:c.d nunneries. The shrubs a!!d trees-the beginning of Explorers combed the .\ landscaped gardex}ing. ~.monks a.'1d mms grew medicinal world and ret1.4rned ~~·ith ~ }lerbs and plants. By the 16th century, the British :; English gardening is credited with hacl b:x;owed heavily from French exotic p/ani·:s. and ltalian pleasure gardens and the 1 coping. into its ovm ar?~nd t?e y~ar .1000. h had been predicted tMt ~ne garden came to be viewed as an ex­ .::::::: :;:;.; ;:;:;: ·:.;:;:::;:,. :=.~::·:. :::=;:::::::;:;::~;.,.. ·. -:}~~:?~;~:=:~~:~::: ·~t:: :::·: :::::::::;:::::::::::::;::~:=~= 'world was coming to an end and, tension of royal, noble or ecclesiasti­ ha'1ds-with an irregubr lake sur- .. when it did not, there was a resur­ cal power . roJnded by grassy knolls. ' .:gence of human activity. This concept continued into the The naturat:stic trend reached its :: At that time fewer than 100 varie­ 17th century. The palace and sur­ high point under the land::>eape gar~ ties of plants were being cultivated in rounding grounds came to be viewed dener Lancelot Brown.. one of the Britain. These included the madonna <.\~ ,,,ymbols of power-power that was major flgures in Eng!i:::h gardening. lily and the rose, as well as the iris, ctblc to subject nature to its will. Brown is known to pos~.erity as "Ca­ the poppy, sage and sweei bay. ''The pleasure garden," museum di- · pability Brown" becau::;e of his habit • Two historic events contributed rectot Strong said, "entered English of looking at a site and announcing :greatly to the advancement of gar­ cultural history as an adjunct of regal that it had "eapabilit!es." .All his gar­ dening in Britain: . magnificence . . . under the impulse dens took on a back··W· nu:ure look. -The Norman concuest in 1066, of the new fashions from Renalt;sance with broad tapestries of lawn. streams ·Which bn:mght m a military aristocra- Italy as a conscious symbol of puwer. and woods · · ..:~1

1.0 1'.:> APPENDIX V (continued) Los Angeles Times ~ ' . : ~---; Sunday, Meimwhile, British explorers try estate. In. i.he '2<~-JilllaiD:IIol.>~ ~ re;·, Sit Jc~:eph Banks, '\Vho traveled Between tl:e w·2.rs the great ki.dl· 1979 en gardens began to appear. Any · pmt, said. "The dirnate is mild. there , · th:: world with Capt. James Cook, re~ is pienty of rain and the sun is not too 1 turned :o Eng!and with 700 species. house in the country, large or small, . I Th,; plant trade survived even the depended· on its kitchen garden for_ strong. ., Napoleonk: wars. A special diplomatic vegetables and fruits. But later many · "The French a.s a nation don't seem arrangement permitted a London of these gardens 'Nere considerably to care much about gardening- :: . 3::edsmun · to continue to supply . reduced. Some were turned into or~ though there are some notable gar- 1 ·. France's Bmpress Josephine. the pa~ chards. Now the average vegetable dens. The Germans are keen but they 1 · tnmess of French gardening. garden is of a size that one person can don't have much room. The Dutch Botanists, horticulturists, plants- man2.ge. concentrate on grGwing things in- • men, seedsmen, nurserymen-ail F,'ine, velvety lawns remain a chief . doors rather than outdoors. Of course, contributed their talents to the insti- characteristic: of many of the larger the ccntinental (Ninv~rs are harsh and j . tution of gardening. And many gar­ ~~:i:t~:::~=~~=~=~~=!~{:tr~:~j:; :~:t: ==::===:= =~i==~:;:i:!:r~:~~::(:i:i:~:~:~=~=:t:!=~:;:::~:~:;:;:~:~:j{:~:::~:~:~ . · the same is true in America. ~ den impiements we,·e developed in · "The Americans have a keen inter- '~: Britain, including the lawn mower, 'The Frend1 as a na­ est in gardening and arc very good at : which was designed in the eariy 19th • d r it-despite the problems with the by the hon on t seem to care century an engineer who got ·! • d . , weather-:too much cold in the East ·. idea from watching a spiral- blade muet' ;:.uJout gtir enmg. and Midwest, and too much sun and ·l machine cut fabric in a textile factory. little V/J.ter in the SoutlTvvest ~"? In the k.te lDth ;;enturv. the cot­ :j:~:r:t:~:f~:::::~ .... =~=~:!::=~;~:;~:)~:~= :=:::::=::::~:;::: ~=: ==::=:::·==::::;.; ·=~:;:_::::::=· · ::;.;:;:;.~:~:;::{:;:;:~:~:~:i:~:~:~ "But even in the climate of the tage garC:.en 0eveloped and became a British gardens. Generous rainfall fixture. In the words of horticulturist Southwest, I think it is possibie to keeps them deep green throughout create a garden-what we would call Gertrude Jekyll: "I have learned the summer. much from the little gardens that a dry garden--in which something , Although there are still large gar­ ca!l flower aE year. 1 helped make our English waysides dens on the great estates, many of the prettiest in the world." them administered by the National "But it takes planning and knowl- ~ In the 20th century, the cottage · Trust and open to the public, the edge of what plants are best suited to : ·· garden has moved to the city, as E1e avera.ge British garden today is no irrigation and can withstand the ; front or back garden. Vegetable and !a!' gel.· than one-tenth of an acre. strong Southwest ~un. ·• j fruit gardens have also sprung up, Still, gardening is more popular So, in the year of the garden, mil~ ; ·· and lndoor gardens have been de- than ever. The best-attended events lions of Britons will contentedly tend ! signed for office buildings and hotels. in the nation are the flower and gar­ their plot.z anci. take to heart the ; , Before Worid War I, gardening ex­ den shows. words of F'ran,~is Bacon. ·who wrote in· : pert Russell P;:;ge said, "It was not "We are blessed c.s a nation by a 1625: "God aJmighty ftrst planted a.' • rare for half a hundred gardeners to wonderful climate for gardening.·• garden, and, iudeed, it is the purist of' (rnair.tain the gardens of a great. coun- Antvony, Huxley, a horticulture ex- hu1nan pie.;sures."...... __ .'~ -- "

'-.0 lu CITY Of MANCliESTER

APPET\DlX VI

r I I ,.. I I I I I

I : • I ,I wtEI I

j

: - @) Football PLI'~IT PI!::I-DS Sailing ~ Golfing .C)! Fishing X. Min Golf + Boating 0 Cricket Rugby -0 Bowls!rennis/Putting ~. . Cycle Speedway Track MAIN PARKS ue em Kirkur;ark D Netball <> Hockey !I II flunning Track 95

APPENDIX VII A COMPARISON OF THE ENGLISH POUND AND THE AMERICAN DOLLAR- 1951 - 1977, on July 22, 1979

(The Financial Times, Lond.on) .

1951 - $2.79 1965 - $2.79 1952 - $2.78 1966 - $2.79 1953 - $2.81 1967 - $2.78 1954 - $2.81 1968 - $2.39 1955 - $2.78 1969 - $2.38 1956 - $2-.79 1970 - $2.38 1957 - $2.78 1971 - $2.41 1958 - $2.80 1972 - $2.44 1959 - $2.81 1973 - $2.53 1960 - $2.80 1974 - $2.38 1961 - $2.78 1975 - $2.17 1962 - $2.80 1976 - $1.77 1963 - $2.80 1977 - $1.71 1964 - $2.78 96

APPENDIX VIII THE MANCHESTER SHOW 1977 (Advertising from Department)

For the past twenty-six years the Manchester Show has be­ come knmvn to many thousands of visitors throughout the length and breadth of Britain. Over the years the face of the Show has gradually changed to keep in line with the times - new classes and sections have been added, more Ring Attractions for the visitor to enjoy, consequently the Showground is now over 60 acres in extent. The most modern span-type Marquees have been enlarged to bring more sections under one roof, thus providing more undercover protection in the event of wet weather. In the past the Show was purely Horticultural, however, at this year's Show, whch takes place on 21st, 22nd and 23rd July, which is to be the subject of a T.V. Documentary to be screened in the Autumn, there are Budgerigars, Foreign Birds, Poultry, Pigeons, Rabbits, Cavies, Goats, Dogs, Cats, Handicrafts, Bees and Honey, Jams, Squashes, Wines including Beer and Stout. All these plus Sh9w Jumping, Ponies and Police Horses, Police Dogs and Trade Stands. Radio Manchester and Piccadilly Radio will also provide live entertainment and broadcasts from the large Marquee Theatres throughout the Show period and visitors will be asked to take part. Additional Ring attractions during the three days include "The Red Devils 11 Skydivers, Army Competition, and a Mock Battle by Army Units, Balloon Flights and demonstrations, Entertaining Troupe and Morris Dancing Competition, Fire­ work Displays, Music and Marching Displays by the Bands of the 14/20 Hussars, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, and the Band and Corps of Drums of the King's Regiment. Music will also be provided throughout the Show period from the Floral Bandstand by Greater Manchester Police Band.

For the Children - the.re will be Children's Entertainment, Roundabouts and Swings, Donkey Rides. The.re are fully licensed Bars and full Catering Facilities. ALL THIS AND MUCH MORE ...... APPENDIX IX CITY OF MANCHESTER RECREATIONAL SERVICES DEPARTI1ENT QUESTIONNAIRE: PARTICIPANTS STUDY

A ·survey is being undertaken to assess the Manchester Show from the point of view of the participants. Your opinion wil~ be greatly ·appreciated. Multiple choice questions. Please tick on appropriate line. Straightforward questions. Please give answers, comments, 'Or ideas as appropriate. 1) 1:1ale __Female __ To age 40 40 - 60 Over 60 2) Single___ Married ___ Other ______3) Number of children 4) Town of Residence 5) Have you ever lived in Manchester? Yes No 6) Occupation 7) Education 8) What events are you participating in at the Manchester Show? 9) How important is winning this event to you? Extremely important Moderately important Not impor------tant 10) Would you consider yourself a Novice? · Intermediate Expert?- 11) How many years have you been involved with your actTvity? 12) How 1nany hours du you SRend on your leisure activity (average)? 1 - 6 hours per week___ 7 - 14 hours per week more 13) Do other members of your family share this interest with you? 14) Why did you choose this leisure activity? (tick more if applicable) For enjoyment Education Profit Social___ Health ___ Other (Please specify)===------15) Do you have other leisure activities besides the ones stated? 16) How many years have you-participated in the Manchester Show? 17) Will you plan to enter next year? Yes No 98

Quest:_ionnaire continued. (reverse side)

18. Do you participate in other shows? Yes No If "yes," how do you rate the Manchester Shovv with other Shows? Better The same Poorer 19. Do you believe the Show is important to the City of Manchester? Very important __Moderately importan_t__ Little importance __ Participants were then asked to use the remainder of the page for any additional comments if they wished. Almost one-half of the questionnaires contained comments. 20. This was a long, technical question for the depart­ ment's edification concerning forms and information, and was omitted from the results because it does not contribute to this study.