SALIAN

September 2012 Welcome It is about nine months since the last newsletter was sent out and that is not because I’ve become lazy but it is for the simple reason of lack of content, pictures or stories. You will be aware that I ask for your help in every newsletter and a number of you have responded. Many thanks for that but many of you seem shy to relate information of either what you are doing now or tales of your time at SGS. Please give it a try, after all most of you did ok at English Lit or Lang. Put pen to paper please This month I am indebted to Geoffrey Stone (Herr Stein) who was a form and German Master at SGS from 1948 to 1952. He has passed on a file of interesting happenings during this period and following is a letter sent out to parents of pupils who were about to embark on a trip to the French Alps in the Summer of 1950 for the princely cost of £22.10.0 !! The list of items to be taken is in itself an insight into the immediate post war years and rationing. Only two shirts and two pairs of underpants for a two-week trip seems to be a bit under provisioned but remember you needed a lot of clothing coupons to buy more. Current Health and Safety would have something to say about having a box of matches and a candle in a tent People on that trip were, M.Chadwick R.D.Hall, P.HIghman, M.Highwood, M.D.Holder, R.A.Lee, M.Menzies, A.Mitchell, F.Nelson, D.Nettles, C.R.Oldham, J.Saunders, H.Stirk, F.A.Swain, T.Swindell, B.Williams. Now then some of the above must have a tale to tell about the trip so come on. Share it with us.

So here is the letter

FINLAND 2012

Honeymoon Suite in the Ice Castle

So you are off to Finnish Lapland but why!! This was the comment of all our friends when we told them we were going to Finland on holiday in February. Hearing the temperature had plummeted to minus 45 degrees the previous week we too wondered what we were about to experience. However knowing we would be provided with snowsuits and thermal boots made packing a bit simpler. Of course we were hoping to see the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights as they are more commonly known. On landing in Kiruna Sweden it was a relief to find the temperature was only minus 17 degrees. A coach took us into Finland to our destination for the week, the Davvi Lodge Hotel in Karesuando. Blogs on the internet can be very useful so we were aware the hotel was basic, however it was warm, comfortable, food was satisfying, although not cordon bleu and all activities were well organised. As the lights only appear at night and the only place to visit was a small village over the bridge in Sweden, which we walked to on a few occasions, we all appreciated the daily activities included. Mushing the husky dogs was a memorable experience , even Graham’s weight couldn’t curb their enthusiasm. We also rode on a reindeer sleigh and discovered how the indigenous Sami herding people lived, some still living in the traditional skin tents. Cross country skiing was also on offer as well as visits to an ice castle (no we were not tempted to stay the night as the rooms were not en suite) a museum and a knife factory. The latter the least interesting of our outings. But what about the Lights. Every evening we all walked up to the top of the hill behind the hotel and waited cameras in hand or for the more enthusiastic and knowledgeable cameras on tripods. The first two nights the Lights were visible as a green haze which

arced across the sky, Graham decided photos would not show much, however on seeing the photos taken by other people it was obvious what we saw with the naked eye was not the same as the image picked up by the camera, the haze was in fact a brilliant green. So we now had seen more than most people visiting the previous weeks. However the best was yet to come. Thursday night was our turn to ride on the snow mobiles. We set off across the frozen river stopping half way and turning off all the lights so it was pitch black. We all stood stunned by the spectacle above us. The lights were arching across the sky, spiralling up and down, moving across, disappearing and reappearing around us and all in not only green but pink and orange. We heard later the local people said they had not seen such a spectacle before. So what about Finland in February. Well we would thoroughly recommend it, the hotel was good, the activities provided were very enjoyable and as for the Lights they were stunning.

The Northern lights

Finnish Swedish border

Graham Howe (Class of 47) Editor’s note. Many thanks for that Graham and just to think that it all became possible by me transporting you to and from the airport !!! ALTRINCHAM VISIT 2012 Bernie Abbott (Class of 52) now living in Canada, made a return visit to his home town and met up with one of his old school friends. This is his account of his visit and the changes he saw. Too bad that we didn’t get together when I was in Altrincham in May. I would liked to have met you but I did meet up with Peter Crawford and his wife Jill, a wonderful couple. We met up in the bar at the Cresta Court Hotel on Church Street, incidentally this was the spot where my best mate used to live in the 50’s before they pulled it down to build the hotel; We had just returned from a day trip to York which was very good as the weather co-operated with us and it didn’t rain. Peter and myself spent a good couple of hours reminiscing about our SGS days and our teenage years around Altrincham including all the pubs we used to visit and old girlfriends. Although we

travelled in the same places, dropped into the same pubs on Saturday nights we never crossed each others paths until we met up 56 years later in a bar in Altrincham.

Bernie and Peter in that Altrincham bar

I was born in Broadheath 25th December 1940, the Manchester Blitz was in full swing and how Hitler didn’t manage to bomb our house I just don’t know, Broadheath got hit once and a sweet factory was blown up on Sinderland Road. Back in those days it was a one penny ride to Altrincham Baths where I spent quite a lot of time but unfortunately now all gone and some god awful building in it’s place. Gone also was the Stamford Hall, oh those Saturday night dances! Gone also the Picture Theatre and the little sweet shop next door to it where I used to buy my girl friend of the time a box of Maltesers to enjoy on the back row. I found George Street depressing, gone were all the shops that I remembered, their place taken by a wide shopping precinct, overflowing rubbish bins and a Merry-go-round! At Altrincham railway station I noticed that they were removing a very large concrete overpass that spanned the road. Thank goodness that someone decided to remove this monstrosity. On the way up to The Downs I did notice a lot of boarded up premises where once stood thriving shops. The only place that I visited that hadn’t changed thank God was from The Downs up to Bowden Church where we enjoyed a pub lunch in the posers pub that we knew as The Griffin back in our younger days. I took a walk from our hotel down to where I used to live on Manchester Road in Broardheath which is now known as Altrincham, they have even changed the plaque on Broardheath Bridge to Altrincham Bridge. I suppose that you get more money for your house if it’s in Altrincham.Passing over the canal bridge I walked down Woodfield Road to where I started work when I was 15 years old. The Linotype and Machinery was once a large factory employing 1500 people making printing and linotype machines which were exported all over the world. Buses lined the street from top to bottom to bring and take home the workers who came from near and far. Gone are the sounds of a busy factory now just the noise of the wrecking hammers as they pound the factory to dust! I was very moved by all of this as I thought back to the happy years that I spent there. In summary, I enjoyed my visit to my home town and to visit with old friends but I left on a sad note seeing how desolate the old place has become.

Editors note. I understand Bernie that the stretch of boarded up shops between Goose Green and The Downs have been purchased by a Developer with plans to build shops and offices but when the work will start heaven knows. Just up the road from there now stands a Sainsburys Supermarket and the house in which I was born and raised has been replaced by the Fruit and Veg department. Much has changed but not always for the better and I really do think that planners seem unable to see beyond the end of their noses. As an example terraced houses at the top of The Downs were scheduled for demolition as part of a “slum clearance” programme in the late1960’s. When Sainsburys wanted to build their supermarket in the John Street/Lloyd Street area there was a change of heart and the “slum clearance was switched to John Street area and The Downs houses were saved. These terraced houses are now selling for over £400,000.00. How much the houses that they did knock down would be worth would be interesting as they were larger properties. Progress…Humbug !

Keith Sibbald Email salian.sibbald@gmail.com