Town Hall and Father Christmas

Manchester Town Hall dressed up for Christmas and the German Market

Side View Of Father Christmas

Some of the Stalls in the German Market plenty of things to buy

Another Black and White Building

Part of this Black and White building is the Triangle Complex offices and a Shopping Centre

German Market

In the Previous Picture the Tipple Gluhwien Christkinsi was mentioned. The recipe for the drink is Dark Red Wine, sugar and favoured with cloves, cinnamon,orange,lemon peel and spices. It is served hot. Much loved by Alpine Skiers

The Big Wheel

The Big Wheel lit up against the night sky

View from the Big Wheel

A view from the Big Wheel at sunset

Giant TV Screen

This Giant TV screen is mounted above the Triangle Shopping Centre Entrance

Shopping Centre

This is the Entrance to Manchester's Main Shopping Centre called the Arndale

The Big Wheel

This massive big wheel is back in the centre of Manchester. Great ride and with stunning views from the top.

The Duke of Wellington Pub

Very near the Big Wheel there is a very old pub. The Duke of Wellington. Very picturesque.

German Market

More stalls selling German Beers in Steiner's and Gluhwien Chriskinsi. Which is a Hot Mulled and Spicy wine, Very Potent

German Market

More stalls in the German Market. The weather does not people off.

German Market

This picturesque Windmill and at the front a Bavarian Apple Strudel stall

German Market

Anybody want to buy a Christmas Tree?

German Market

Part of the German Market selling Christmas Decorations

Father Christmas at the Town Hall

This is Picture Father Christmas outside the Manchester Town Hall where the Annual German Christmas Market is held every year.

The Steam Engine Planet

This is full size working model steam engine based on Stevenson's Rocket. It's fired up occasionally and runs well.

Liverpool Road Station

Another view of Liverpool Road Station Platform. The platform is a lot higher than the street below, because it goes straight over a bridge which crosses the River Irwell.

Punch and Judy

Punch and Judy booths were nearly at every seaside resort. The children loved the shows. I all ways thought that they were quite savage. Mr Punch wielded a big stick and hit all and sundry and all ways got eaten by a crocodile. (What do you think?)

Co op Prewar

Co op is an early prewar super market. When you joined them you got a personal number and anything you bought points were awarded. The public saved the points or dividends and spent them at Christmas time. They are still in business today but know dividend

1920s Kitchen

The 1920s Kitchen with baking implements on the table. Notice the tub and dolly on the right hand side.(for washing). Below the bread bin is the food safe with a fine mesh to keep the flies from the food.

A Kitchen Range from the Twenties

This is a 1920s Kitchen notice the lack of any thing electric. Baking was done in the coal fired oven, and the kettle was kept boiling on the hob. Toast was toasted on the fire with aid of a extending toasting fork. Smoke from the fire was part of the taste.

1960s Kitchen

The 1960s Kitchen is becoming more sophisticated with the advent of electricity.

1960s Living Room

In the sixties electricity was much in use. Television was new and had started to make an impact (if you could afford one) One the dinner wagon there is an early toaster the sides came down to see if the toast was done. Pop up toasters hadn't been invented.

1950 Sitting Room

With advent of cheaper electrical goods the 1950s living rooms started to evolve. Early television and electric fire. Note the wall to wall carpets. The one carpet in the middle has gone. If I remember rightly Cyril Lord started this trend off

Kitchen of the 50s

As you can see Electrical Appliances start to appear an Iron on the table Fridge also an early hoover but note the Ewbank is still being used

The Knocker Upper

As alarms clocks hadn't been Invented a Knocker Upper was employed to wake workers up. He was paid small sum to do this by the person. He did this by tapping on bedroom windows with a long pole that had fine wires attached to the end of the pole. The noise was deafening. He didn't stop till you moved the curtain

Early Gas Street Lamps

When street lights started to appear in towns to combat crime Gas was used as it gave good light and was cheap to run. A man called a Gas Lighter used to switch the gas on and light them with a long lit taper

Automatic Flushing System

This automatic flushing toilet was invented

around middle of the 19 th century It used the Ball and Cock system. Which is still used today.

Victorian Sewers

This a Victorian sewer which was constructed because of the out break of Cholera in the early 19th century. The sewage before that was just thrown out in to the streets and contaminated the drinking water and helped to spread the disease. These sewers are still in use today.

The Worlds First Railway Station

This is the first railway station in the world and is in Manchester. The rocket ran from here to Liverpool. There is replica of the Rocket Engine called Planet.

Early Washing Machine

This is a very early washing machine an electric motor has been added to run the rotor and work the mangle by belts. Looks very dangerous. Old advert for washing powder Rinso says no boiling needed. This is a one up from the Dolly Tub and a Wooden Dolly hand revolved

Pegasus Computer

This is a photograph of the Pegasus showing the still huge size an the operator sat looking at the Cathode Ray Tube using an early keyboard the very large printer is not their

Atlas Computer Poster

The next series of computers were the Pegasus and the Atlas. They started to be used commercially. I went for a job as an operator on the Atlas and spent the afternoon with the computer looking at the job it was doing. It was printing out the results on to concertina type paper. The pay was poor so turned down the job.

Second View of Baby Computer

This another view of this replica Baby Computer. The Cathode Tube is just above the red knobs in the middle of the picture. This replica was built 50 years after the original from the old plans. It worked fine on the 21st of June 1998 before a distinguished audience.

The Baby Computer ( World's First )

This a replica of the world first computer. It was called The Baby. The machine ran the world's first stored program June 21st 1948. at Manchester University. It used a Cathode Ray Tube to read the information. A big step up from the adding machine The original was 17ft long and 7ft 4 inches high and weighed 1 tonne.

Three Veteran Cars

These three veteran cars are in wonderful condition and are credit early engineering. Note the wooden spokes on the wheels also solid tyres.

This Kite is called the Cody Kite

This is a Man Kite as used in the first world war for gun spotting. It was designed by a man called Cody who was the first man to fly motorised airplane in Britain in 1908. he was an American who changed his name to Cody after Wild Bill Cody. As you can see it was almost sudden death. They went on to use balloons which were a little safer but not much. Spotters the started using aeroplanes. The Royal Engineers Balloon Squadron became the Royal Flying Corp and in 1918 became the Royal Air force.

An Experimental Jet Aircraft

The white model jet you can see is North American XB-70 Valkyrie (1964) Made from stainless steel. Flew 3 times the speed of sound. The skin Temp was 330c on this experimental aircraft when it flew at 2000mph at the height of 70,000 ft

Experimental Airplane P+1

This Experimental Airplane was the first British Plane to fly faster than sound in 1954. It went twice the speed of sound and eventual ended up as a fighter in the RAF called the Lightening.

Early Hang Glider?

Is this an early hang glider? No engine so looks like you have to run down hill to get it off the ground.

Shackleton Double Props System

The Shackleton had four turboprop engines each with two propellers per engine. The contra-rotating propellers were powerful and fuel efficient but incredibly noisy

Shackleton Bomber

I remember flying back from Cyprus in one of these after the Suez Fiasco 1956. There were just boards on the floor in the body of the plane we just lay on them and we almost froze to death but it didn't matter as were going home Christmas.

Helicopter

This is an Early Military Type Helicopter note the Aeroplane Type Undercarriage

The Delta Wing Jet Plane

This is the Experimental Jet Avro 707A with Swept back Delta Wings first flew in 1949

One of the First Swept Back Winged Jet Fighter Plane

Another view of Delta Winged Jet Fighter

Kamikaze

These Japanese Kamikaze Rocket planes were used in the 2nd world war. They were dropped from aeroplanes and had 25 second burst from the rocket engine which sped it towards its target. There was up to 800lbs of high explosive in the nose. 800 were made. They were called OHKA which means Cherry Blossom.

A Gyro Copter

This is a Gyro copter they were used in one of the James Bond Films. The propeller on the back is motor driven and the one on the top which you can't see revolves round when the machine gathers speed and takes the copter off the ground.

The Flying Flea

This very small aeroplane called the Flying Flea First Flew in1935. A lot of amateurs made them in their garden sheds and were made of plywood and powered by motorcycle engines. There was a spate of fatal accidents when flying due to the movable back wing which when in a negative angle caused nose dives into the ground. It never got popular again.

Air and Space Museum

Both Markets now house the Air and Space Museum of Manchester and have extensive exhibits