Newtonhurst from the air, 1922, 1935.

This image from 1935 is © English Heritage from Britain from the air.

In the foreground is the former Newton Hurst cricket ground around which are five blocks of terraced houses built in 1920.

A front view of the two blocks facing Victoria Road can be seen on Hyde Daily Photo and on Hyde DP Xtra.

Victoria avenue runs across the middle of the photograph with Cartwight Street leading off at a sharp angle to meet Talbot Road which runs across the top of the photograph.

Most of the open space between Victoria Street and Talbot Road continues to be a recreation ground for the area.

This image from the Roots chat forum shows the ground in 1922.

According to the play-cricket website

Newtonhurst began life in the early part of the twentieth century as the Newton Mill works team, and played in a variety of leagues, including the Hyde & District League, the Glossop & District League, the High Peak League, and for a short period in the 1950s they even competed in the heady heights of the North Western League.

In 1972, the cricket team metamorphosed from Newton Mill into Newtonhurst, and similar to their forebears, competed in the Glossop & District League for a short period. This was followed by an even shorter exodus to the Denton & District League, before joining the Ashton Cricket League in 1980. The Ashton Cricket League merged to form the Ashton & Oldham Cricket Alliance in 2005, though sadly folded following the completion of the 2011 season. Thus, Newtonhurst are now currently members of the Saturday section of the Greater Manchester Amateur League (GMAL).

I'm not certain where they play their matches now. New houses were built on the site of the former ground in about the early 1980s with the roads bearing sporting names including Charlton Avenue, Perry Avenue, Stathom Fold and Mallory Road so retaining a reminder of yesteryear.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday.

Hyde Lads Club

On display for the Heritage Open Day at St Thomas the Apostle were some memorabilia collected by Harold Greenhalgh, Honorary Secretary (1972-92) of Hyde Lads Club.

The club was founded in 1928 by the then Chief Constable of Hyde, J W Danby. The club first started in Hyde Town Hall in a room over the adjoining Police Station yard but quickly moved into Water Street Sunday School. A public appeal for funds allowed Mr Danby to purchase the premises on Beeley Street which had previously been the local Police Station and Courthouse. A plaque outside the club commemorated the fact that Judge Thomas Hughes, author of Tom Brown's Schooldays used to preside there as a Circuit Judge.

The club was officially opened in 1930 by the HRH The Duke of Gloucester. Catering for boys from the ages of 13 to 21, it contained a large gymnasium used for gymnastics, boxing, five-a-side football and basketball, a snooker room with three tables and a canteen area on the ground floor. On the first floor was an assembly room used for table tennis, a smaller table tennis room, a library where chess and board games were played, a darts room and two small rooms used for hobby activities such as photography and leather work. Located at the rear of the club over a garage which had once been used as the town's mortuary was a woodwork room.

At its peak the club, a voluntary organisation, ran four football teams, a gymnastic team which gave displays throughout the area, a boxing section, a champion winning table tennis team and a "Black & White Minstrel Troop" who travelled around local towns giving shows. In later year girls were allowed to join a judo section with some members taking part in international competitions.

In 1992 the building was declared electrically unsafe and with no funds available for the necessary repair it was forced to close and was demolished.

Only the signage and plaque to Thomas Hughes were saved and are on display in Beeley Street car park as can be seen on Hyde Daily Photo.

St Thomas The Apostle (1920)

This painting, dated 1920, of St Thomas the Apostle on Lumn Road was on show at the recent Heritage Open Day.

St Thomas' church was built in 1868. The architect, Medland Taylor was a Manchester architect who produced a number of fine if quirkish buildings. Locally, he designed St. Anne's, Denton, St. Mar'’s, Haughton Green, Holy Trinity, Hyde and the Library and the Post Office in Stalybridge. At the time when many architects were designing churches in a style they believed to be a copy of Gothic Architecture, Medland was producing an inventive mixture of architectural styles and motifs. For example, St. Thomas' has brick buttresses and window surrounds with stone infilling. Most would have followed the convention and used stone with brick infilling. According to Pevsner, the roof is an example of his humour, having a quirky additional pitch to it. The proportions of the church are such that St. Thomas' appears to be quite a small building, whereas it is fairly large.

Also on show were this piece of crockery celebrating the 125th anniversary of the church in 1993.

See Hyde Daily Photo for a current view of the church.

Visit the church website.

A contribution to Inspired Sundays.