Water Street

Today's photo is looking along Water Street towards Oldham Road from the roof of The Arcades shopping mall. The No. 330 bus from Stockport has just turned out of Gas Street on its way to the bus station.

In the middle distance, Holy Trinity Church is clearly seen. In the far distance the Beetham Tower in Manchester is just visible in the haze.

Water Street and Gas Street took their names from the corporation-owned utilities that had premises nearby. A cotton mill once stood where The Arcades now is, with Charlestown Mission Chapel on the right hand side of the road. Behind the chapel were narrow streets with rows of small early terraced mill-workers' houses that formed Charlestown.

It is hard to believe that, around 1800, Charlestown was separated from the small town of Ashton under Lyne, then spreading along what is now Old Street, by open fields!

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Mossley in the Rain

This photo sort of sums up the wet and windy wintery weather of the last few days!

It shows Stamford Street in Mossley, with the Market Place and the library to the left. You can also see some of Mossley's Christmas illuminations (the stars on the lamp posts).

Mossley, being a fair bit higher up than Ashton, usually seems to have wetter and windier weather than Ashton, even though it's only three miles away!

The camera wasn't too keen on the driving rain and the lens began misting, which produced the slightly interesting effect around the street lights, in case you thought I'd used some sort of technical wizardry!

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Market by Night

These are the shortest days of the year, so it seems appropriate to include plenty of night-time scenes here. The photos have the added colour of the humble Christmas lights that have been put up.

Today's photo shows Ashton Open Market with the re-opened Market Hall floodlit in the background. The Town Hall is just visible on the left.

Alphabet Friday - Zoo

"Z" is for "Zoo" and this is the nearest thing you're going to get to a zoo around Ashton!

This is the animal corner in Stamford Park, between Ashton and Stalybridge. The range of animals in the enclosure is not huge but it provides additional interest for the children visiting the park.

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That concludes this series of Alphabet Friday. Next Friday is Boxing Day and will see the start of a new Friday feature here.

Indoor Decorations

The Christmas lights on the streets of Ashton might be a bit understated, but at least The Arcades has pushed the boat out a bit with some rather impressive decorations. Some of these were seen here last week, along with the festive yeti outside WH Smith. It all helps to give a nice seasonal feel to the shopping mall.

Christmas Illuminations? Well, sort of...

A little bit of festive cheer is brought to you from Tameside Council with the addition of Christmas lights around Ashton's Market Ground. But it is just a little bit!

I suppose the council has to keep an eye on its purse strings these days but it would have been a bit jollier to see more of an effort with the lights! However, this is still much better that the lights in Mossley!

Ladysmith Lights

Today's photo shows the current Christmassy look in the Ladysmith Centre, Ashton.

The Ladysmith Centre, between Old Street and Katherine Street, was originally known locally as "The Precinct" but in recent years has been brought up to date with a modern look and feel.

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That's The Wonder

Who doesn't remember the advertising slogan "That's the Wonder of Woollies"? The wonder at the time this photo was taken a couple of days ago was that there was anything left on the shelves!

This is the Woolworth store in the Arcades shopping mall in Ashton.

On the news it had been reported that Woolworth stores up and down the country were crowded with shoppers hoping to grab closing-down bargains, but Woolworth's in Ashton has always seemed crowded, although how many of those people were browsing and how many were actually buying, I couldn't say. Woolworth's have not been receiving deliveries of new stock for a while now so, as customers buy up the bargains, the shelves get emptier.


Mind you, the big signs that were in the windows and all around the store were a bit misleading - you had to look carefully to spot the words "up to" in the corner!

Market Hall By Night

In contrast to yesterday's photo of the Market Hall from the Town Hall steps, today's photo, from nearly the same position, was taken as darkness falls over the remaining shoppers hurrying towards their buses and cars.

Floodlights illuminate the Market Hall's facade and the globe on top of the finger post is lit up.

I had hoped to take this photo from the exact same spot as yesterday's but a floodlight next to the canon that was lighting up the Town Hall was shining straight into the camera!

Market Hall

A view of Ashton Market Hall from the Town Hall steps. Christmas decorations attempt to cheer up this chilly winter's day.

The space in front of the Market Hall, until recently a builders' site has been cleaned up and new paving laid. The new roof of the Market Hall, which some people have criticised as looking too modern, can be seen.

The decorative canon is aiming at the nearest doorway!