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The Apollo
Twelve months before the outbreak of the Second World War a new picture house was opened at Ardwick Green. The Apollo, opened in August 1938 by the Deputy Lord Major of Manchester and the popular English film star Margaret Lockwood, was a huge picture palace; it opened to a showing of a George Formby film, and its 2,600-seater auditorium made it one of the largest and most advanced cinemas in the north-west. The foyer stretched along the cinema’s frontage on Stockport Road. From it one entered a vast auditorium, with stalls and a circle with steeply-raked seating and side walls decorated with hundreds of shapes – like figure sixes on their sides.
The picture being shown here in 1950 was Fury at Furnace Creek starring Victor Mature.
Ardwick Green was a bustling place in the interwar era, not just in terms of industry and commerce but also socially in the evenings and at weekends. The theatre and cinemas have remained in the memories of generations of Gregorians.
Old Gregorian Association membership card
The card contained a number of extracts from the Rules of the Association.
Teacher training and recruitment to 1939: St Mary’s College, London
Over half of all teachers appointed to the school in the 1920s and 1930s had been trained at St Mary’s College, London. In origin, St Mary’s was a college whose sole and specific aim was the training of Catholic men to serve as teachers throughout the country. It was founded in 1850 at Brook Green in Hammersmith, west London, where it stayed until 1925 and then, from 1925, relocated to the more spacious and elegant surroundings of Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, south west London.
Other St Gregory’s teachers graduated or qualified from various universities and training colleges across the country.
Example of a Teacher’s Certificate awarded by St Mary’s College, Twickenham, 1938
Although the clarity of this document has been diminished with the passage of time, it is still of historical interest. Peter Francis O’Brien, who was born in 1916, trained at St Mary’s College from 1936 to 1938. Among the General courses studied were English, History, Art and Handiwork. He taught at St Gregory’s from 1964.
NB. Mr P.F. O’Brien is not to be confused with Mr H.H. O’Brien, B.A., who taught at the school from 1938 to 1951.
The former Ardwick Green Old Cottage, March 1939
Situated at numbers 9 and 11 on the west side of Higher Ardwick, this was one of the township’s ancient properties, closed and boarded up as it awaited demolition. The Manchester Guardian reported in September 1937 that four areas in Ardwick would be cleared of slum properties and Compulsory Purchase Orders were to be delivered to houses, businesses, shops and cottages, all of which were to be razed. Once again, the windowless east wing of the school can be seen in the background.
West side of Higher Ardwick just before demolition, 1939
This interesting photograph, taken on the same day as the previous one and looking north towards Union Street, captures a poignant moment as it shows a row of historic shops and cottages awaiting demolition before the outbreak of war.
This site contained some of the township’s most ancient properties and some well-remembered retailers, such as Vincenzo Papa’s ice-cream parlour and Wand’s, the latter claiming to be a ‘Royal Butcher’. Wand’s business, seen here under the signboard “WAND MEAT”, was founded in 1840 when Ardwick was still a select residential area. When Queen Victoria visited Manchester, her meat was ordered from Wand’s butcher shop. Later the shop served King Edward VII and George V when he was Prince of Wales. Below its front window was a mosaic device which read ‘Patronised by Royalty’; in August 1939, the little shop was demolished.
Just to the left of the signboard at Wand’s was Vine Place.
Other properties and businesses along this stretch and in this area included various types of shops, dining-rooms, a saw-maker, a horseshoe pad-maker, a blacksmith, a firewood director, a ladies’ hairdresser, a butcher monger, a turner and various householders.
After this row of buildings was completely demolished, it became a brick croft and was sometimes used as a lorry park, the lorry drivers obtaining overnight accommodation nearby. At one time the cleared site was used at lunchtimes as ‘football pitches’, the older boys having the ‘smoothest pitch’, that is, the area with the fewest potholes.
Again, note the tramlines on the cobbled road and the posts supporting the overhead electric wires that powered the trams.
Usually there were three forms in each of the four years, making a total of 12. Class names were written in Roman numerals, such as IA, IIB, and IVA etc.
Other miscellaneous points of interest, 1930s
Mr Norman Fitchett, from the Manchester Education Committee, began instructing the boys in physical education lessons.
Manchester Schools’ annual sports were held at Belle Vue.
Mr Ambrose Rocca, a future headmaster, began teaching at the school in 1932.
The school’s Annual Sports continued to be held at the M.A.C. Ground, Fallowfield, in July of each year. The school closed for the afternoon.
The Lord Mayor of Manchester paid a short visit to the school in December 1934 and addressed the boys.
Annual religious inspections.
School closed on the occasions of royal events, such as weddings, deaths, Coronations and visits to the city.
From 27th November until 3rd December 1934, the school was closed for the royal wedding between Prince George (son of George V) and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, and for the visit to Manchester of the Duke of York, the future King George VI.
Visit to the Coliseum Picture Theatre to see Safety First, 1936.
Distribution of Coronation Souvenirs and closing of the school for the Coronation Festivities celebrating the Coronation of King George VI in 1937.
School closed as boys were taken to view the procession of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, who were opening the Manchester Town Hall Extension in 1938.
Mr Rocca and Mr Waldron took 50 boys to Liverpool one afternoon in 1938 during which they visited the whole length of the docks.
38 boys were taken to camp at Ludworth, near Marple Bridge, at Whitsun in 1939.
Headships:
1932 Mr W. Clift became headmaster of St Cuthbert’s Senior School, Withington;
1932 Mr W. Froehlich became headmaster of St Clare’s R.C. School for Juniors;
1932 Mr H. Avery became headmaster of St Ambrose’s School, Chorlton;
1937 Mr E.R. Hanlon became headmaster of SS John & Thomas, Wythenshawe;
1938 Mr J. Lovelady became headmaster of St Hilda’s (renamed St Aidan’s in 1945), Wythenshawe.
Although the school had only been in existence since 1923, it was becoming an excellent breeding ground for potential headmasters.
Parents’ Open Days.
School closed for the Entrance Examination to Secondary and Central Schools.
School closed for celebration of various feast days.
Staff, 1930s
Among the staff who taught at the school in the 1930s were:
Teacher Year first engaged
Messrs
Wilfrid Holmes (Headmaster)* 1923
Edward Corney* 1923
Walter Clift* 1923
Joseph Clark 1923
William Froehlich 1923
Daniel Whealing 1924
James Ashworth 1924
John Francis Lovelady 1924
Leo Anthony Fitzgerald 1925
Henry (Harry) Avery 1925
Francis Cassidy 1926
John William Kerr 1926
James Merrick 1927
Lawrence Traynor 1927
Thomas Hudson 1928
John Bill 1929
Frederick Andrew 1929
Edward R. Hanlon 1930
John White 1930
John Henry Gilchrist 1932
Ambrose Joseph Rocca 1932
James Patrick Waldron 1932
Gerard Curran 1933
James Swallow 1933
Cyril Kerrigan 1934
Norbert Murray 1934
John P. Walsh 1934
William Hannon 1937
Henry (Harry) O’Brien 1938
Physical Training Instructors:
Mr B. Kemp 1925
Mr Norman Fitchett c.1935
(Sent by Manchester Education Committee)
* Denotes original staff.
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