Treasure

A one thing after another day. First of all into Manchester. I met friends A and C for a catch up over a coffee, and then at lunchtime attended a book launch at the Friends Meeting House.

On the way from the car park I passed students in mortar boards and gowns at the Bridgewater Hall for a degree ceremony. This is a day they will treasure.

The current Friends Meeting House on Mount Street was built in 1828. It is simple, and one of my favourite Manchester buildings - a treasure (extra).The only remnant of its predecessor, erected in 1795, is sections of the perimeter wall. Directly adjacent to that building were St Peter’s Fields, where in 1819 hundreds of unarmed protestors were killed and seriously injured by cavalrymen. Many of the injured were taken to the Friends House, the floorboards were soaked in blood which was impossible to remove.

And the book was commissioned by the Trust I am a trustee of. It’s been a labour of love for the author David Solomon, and is a fascinating read, a treasure indeed. The Mersey catchment was perhaps the most polluted river system in the world, mills and dye works existed right up to the headwaters at Irwell Springs in the Pennines. The system was dead and people turned their back on it. The recovery so far has been remarkable, and the Trust has ambitions to see that improvement go much further. The extra is the author, the painting behind showing the events of 1819.