Stamford Belle

The "Stamford Belle" moored up in the middle of Stamford Park Boating Lake, Darnton Road. The "Stamford Belle" is a trip boat that takes customers around the island on the lake. Sadly, it was not operating on the day the photo was taken.

Meeting Place

In one corner of the new garden on Cambridge Street is this area of curved seating, which provides local youngsters or adults with a pleasant place to sit and talk. The modern houses in the background are in a new street called Community Street.

Old Bus Garage

The old bus garage on Mossley Road was opened in 1902 as a tram depot when Ashton Corporation took over the lines in the town that had been run by Manchester Carriage and Tramway Company and added new routes of its own. The building was extended over the years and housed the trolleybuses than ran between Stalybridge and Manchester until 1966.

It continued to house Ashton Corporation's buses until they became part of SELNEC in 1969. A few years later, a new depot was opened on Whitelands road to house the buses from the Ashton and Stalybridge garages and the Mossley Road garage was closed. It is now used by a number of commercial businesses.

Council Offices

Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council offices on Wellington Road, Ashton under Lyne, seen from Henrietta Street across the Camp Street car park. On the left is the old fire station, now home to Cordingleys estate agents. On the right is the Ladysmith pub, originally the Railway Tavern.

Alphabet Friday - Holy Trinity

"H" is for Holy Trinity Church, seen here from Bentinck Street. The church was built by mill-owner George Heginbottom and opened in 1878.

Oldham Skyline

A dramatic evening view towards Oldham from Hartshead Pike. The tall building just right of centre is the Civic Centre - the offices of Oldham Council. To the right of the cranes can be seen the tower of Oldham Parish Church. Below that you can just make out the spire of the church at Glodwick.

Green Space

A new area of green space has appeared in the West End of Ashton with the creation of this square containing a small public park at the junction of Rycroft Street and Cambridge Street. This was part of the regeneration of the area. Ryecroft Mill is seen in the background.

Backwater

Possibly one of the narrowest roads in Ashton, this quiet backwater is called "Ashlynne", which retains its cobbled road surface. It runs between Penny Meadow and Mossley Road and overlooks the railway line, although some of the houses that make up "Ashlynne" are at right angles, facing onto Penny Meadow.

Old Town

"Welcome to Ashton Old Town" proclaims the sign as you enter Stamford Street from the Scotland Street roundabout. I don't know of any definition of what "Ashton Old Town" actually is, but the name seems to be a sort of re-branding of the Stamford Street area.

In fact, the area seen in the photo really was the old town as the old market cross stood somewhere on the right, around the junction of Old Street and Crickets Lane. St Micheal's Square was the original market area, in the shadow of the parish church.

Alphabet Friday - Goslings

"G" is for "Goslings" and there were plenty of those at Chadwick Dams, behind Tameside Hospital, in June. No wonder they are pushing out ducks and white geese!