Venue and date/time: We meet at 1.30-3.00pm (doors open 1pm) on alternate Wednesdays at Monton Unitarian Church Hall. There is a charge of £1pp to cover room hire and refreshments.

The main focus of the group is the history of the Salford and Manchester region, with occasional forays further afield. All topics are researched and presented by the members of this very popular group.

Past topics have included Haigh Hall, Queen Victoria’s 1851 visit to Worsley, Salford Pals and Joseph Brotherton. Current and previous years’ topics are detailed in the programmes below.

The group has also visited the following historical sites over recent years: Ordsall Hall, Eccles Parish Church, All Saints Church Barton, Chetham’s Library and School, Styal Village and Quarry Bank Mill, the Ellesmere Port Boat Museum, Erddig Hall, the Moravian Settlement in Droylsden, the Avro Museum at Woodford, Bramhall Hall, Saltaire, Liverpool Cathedral and Speke Hall.

Links you may be interested in:

• Cottonopolis – a Greater Manchester u3a network booklet
• Our Salford mills survey
• A gallery of photos from our 2022 trip to the Avro Heritage Museum and Bramall Hall
• Memories from our second trip of 2022 to Saltaire in Yorkshire
• Lots of photos from our great day out to Liverpool in April 2023

Past members of the group have researched and published a variety of books, which are listed below.

1. Church St Eccles by Helen Whickham and other group members
2. A walk around Barton by Doreen and Eddie Rowbottom
3. Industrial History of Eccles by Ronald Britton
4. A Chronological History of Eccles by Doreen Rowbottom
5. Treasures of Eccles, Past and Present by Doreen Rowbottom
6. Pendleton: the Rise and Fall of a Northern Township by Don Lingard
7. A Brief History of Travel in Eccles, Barton and Patricroft since 1628 by Mark Child
8. Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere by Mark Child
9. Places of Worship, Past and Present (Clifton, Swinton and Pendlebury)
   by David Roughley

2023 programme

Date	Name	Subject
11 Jan		Christmas meal at George’s, Worsley
25 Jan	Mark Child	Lord Ellesmere’s sons
8 Feb	Andy Scutt	Manchester’s Market Place
22 Feb	Martin Maynard	Agecroft Rowing Club
8 Mar	Fiona Ellis	Jerome Caminada
22 Mar	Brian Briggs	Sailor, Sinner and Saint
5 Apr	Anne McGarry	Life in Eccles and Salford 1900-1914
19 Apr	Andy Scutt	Spring outing to Liverpool – see gallery
3 May	Beryl Patten	Isabel Heywood and the Manchester and Salford Blind Aid Society
17 May	Rick McGarry	The workhouse system in Barton-upon-Irwell
31 May	Marlene and Hazel	Castle Irwell
14 Jun	Paul Sherlock	Early Salford Mayors part 2
28 Jun	David Roughley	Queen Elizabeth II
12 Jul	Mark Child	Corn laws, free trade and the Anti-Corn Law League
26 Jul	Linda Veasey	Knights, Dukes and Dynasties
9 Aug	Barbara Ashe	Ellesmere Park
23 Aug	George Waterhouse	Sir William Fairbairn
6 Sep	Andy Scutt	Autumn outing (date provisional)
20 Sep	June Lomas	LS Lowry
4 Oct	Ivor Smith	The Scuttlers
18 Oct	Mary McBride	Mrs G. Linnaeus Banks and The Manchester Man
1 Nov	Hugh Jones	Pendleton Co-operative Industrial Society Limited
15 Nov	Anne McGarry	Brenda Dean
29 Nov	Anita Douglas	Wakes Weeks
13 Dec	Sheila Thomas	Christmas in the local news

2022 programme

at the Salford Histories Festival, Oct 2022

You may also be interested in:

Our group is one of several members of the Salford Forum of Local History Organisations. You can access their website here for details of all the groups that belong to this forum, including the Eccles and District History Society and the Age UK (Salford) local history group who meet regularly in Swinton.

Anyone wishing to explore the history of our area may be interested in viewing the extensive collection of books, documents, photographs and newspapers at the Salford Local History Library.