Friends of Clayton Park

What an amazing afternoon, it was lovely to see you all.

Thank you to parents and grandparents who gave permission to use photo's

Our thanks, as usual to all of you who braved the weather and came
along to support our project. We are a group of volunteers with no external
funding and every penny taken on this and all other open afternoons goes
towards the upkeep of the museum and allows us to offer school and group visits.

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas
and a happy, healthy, peaceful New Year.

We look forward to seeing you at our first open afternoon
of 2012 which is on Saturday 21st January from 1pm till 4pm.

Open Afternoon, 19th November 2011

Another very busy afternoon with lots of young visitors

Lovely to see you all, hope you enjoyed your visit .

Hope to see you on the 10th December for our Victorian Christmas.
Come in costume and take a step back in time.
Visit Father Christmas and have your photo taken in the dining room,
then enjoy a chat and a cuppa in our cafe/gift shop.

Stan's childhood

Brian Worthington, a Wigan business man, has a passion
for the story of Arthur Stanley Jefferson, better known
as Stan Laurel who was born on the 16th June 1890 in Ulverston.

Brian dreamed of making a film about Young Stans early years.
Many years passed by and towards the end of 2009 Brian
and his wife Julie set about writing the script for the film.
Shooting began early this year and is still in production.

On the weekend of 12th, 13th November, Clayton Hall became the
location for Stan’s grandparents’ home and the film crew moved in.

After two very long and tiring days the final shots were in the bag
and our Hall returned to her usual sleepy old self.

Thank you to Brian, Julie and all the team who treated Clayton Hall
with such respect. We met some really lovely people, made new
friends and got a glimpse into the business of film making.

Stan's Childhood will be out on DVD early in the New Year.
for more info. visit www.stanschildhood.com

5th November 2011

We were pleased to welcome, deputy to the Lord Lieutenant,
Mr. Paul Griffiths

Paul visited to present a cheque from the Duchy of Lancaster fund.

4th November 2011

Another group of lovely young people from Manchester Universtity came
along to Clayton Park today to help with installing a new pond, clearing
leaves and mulching the flower beds along side the bowling green.

After wrestling with the Flag Iris which had taken over the area, the boys eventually revealed the old
lining and several layers of carpet and felt which needed removing before the hole could be dug.

Adding water to check if the pond is level.

A brilliant job boys, well done.

Meanwhile, over in the park th girls were busy mulching the beds and
sweeping the leaves, with Chris keeping a watchful eye.

The end of a busy and very productive day. Our thanks to all involved with
the Manchester University Leadership Programme, especially the students
who volunteer their time and to Chris for his help and uspport.
As always it was lovely to meet you all.

Aren't young people wonderful.

24th October 2011

This afternoon we have been redecorating the wash house
thanks to an offer of help by No. 1 grandson Sean, which
spurred us on to tackle the job we have been putting off
for the last 6 months.

Now it just needs a good clean and a little reorganisation and it will
be all ready for our next open afternoon on Saturday 19th November.

Thank you for your help Sean.

Tuesday 18th October

No photo's this time just news of a very special afternoon
spent with Mrs. Turley and her class of lovely, happy
young people, from Camberwell Park school.
Thank you so much for coming along to see us, it was lovely to
meet you all. Hope you enjoyed your visit to Clayton Hall.
Our best wishes to you all, from Jenny, Alma and Lynn.

Saturday 15th October

What a lovely sunny day and lots of lovely
sunny visitors to our open afternoon.

Reminiscing in the memories room.
Thank you Diana for making everyone feel so welcome.

Our resident little maids taking a break from thier work.

As usual, thank you to all who came and especially to those
of you who gave permission for photo's to be used.
Also a great big thankyou to Tom who did a brilliant
job mending our sewing machine belt.

Hope to see you all at our next open afternnoon on the 19th November.

Friday 14th October

another group of lovely young people from the
Manchester University Leadership Programme
came along to work in the garden

This week we split some of the perrenials
and transplanted them around the garden
and park.

some of the plants were transferred to Phillips Park
where a group of children from Ravensbury School
planted them in the valley.

It is difficult to explain just how much this help means to us,
we all love the garden and enjoy working in it but the enormous
amount of work that needed to be done was an impossible task
for our small group. The students tackle it with such enthusiasm
they make it look easy. Our thanks, once again, to Kirsty the Manchester
University volunteer leader, all the young people and to Manchester
Leisure warden Richard.

Friday 7th October

Manchester University student volunteers spent
the day working in Clayton Hall garden.

We were so lucky with the weather.
It turned out to be a beautiful day.

This was just the first group of young people to give their time.
The groups will be coming on Fridays over the next few weeks.

Manchester Leisure warden Martin tidying one of the beds.

The end of a busy day. A very big thank you to these lovely young
people and their leader Kirsty, we really appreciate your help.
It was lovely to meet you all.

Saturday 17th September 2011

Another lovely open afternoon, not so many photo's this time.

Our thanks to all of you who braved the atrocious weather to pop in to see us

Hope to see you again soon.

Heritage open day Sunday 11th September 2011

What a really lovely day with lots of very special visitors from near and far.

How lovely to see you, come in, sit down, make yourself at home.

Well, that was our very first Heritage open day and we loved every minute.

Hope we can do it again next year.

Thank you for coming, for giving permission to use photo's
and for your kind donations and lovely comments.
We really appreciate your support and hope to see you again soon.

Our next open afternoon will be on Saturday 17th September from 1pm till 4pm.

Saturday 27th August 2011

We were delighted to welcome the Clayton, Droylsden and Openshaw
Facebook group, to Clayton Hall.

Look out, there's a celery thief about.

Ladies who lunch.

Pressed into service

Mad as a hatter

Potty the pair of them.

Thank you all for coming and for your kind donations.
We had a lovely afternoon, hope you did too.

Group visits can be arranged by contacting our secretary at
info@friendsofclaytonpark.org.uk or leaving a message on our guestbook.

Open afternoon, Saturday 20th August 2011

What a really lovely afternoon with lots of new faces

this is Iris who is over on a visit from her home in New South Wales, Australia.
Iris used to live on Vale Street and also on Vera Street.
It was so nice that she found the time to pop in and see us all.
Safe journey home Iris and hope to see you again in the future.

Celine and Paul made pop up puppets with our younger visitors.

Our little maids were kept busy in the cold store room.
Thank you all for coming and for your generous donations.
Hope to see you all again soon.

On Tuesday 19th July 2011

we were pleased to welcome the Newton Heath History group to Clayton Hall

Such a lovely group and what a treat for us to meet them.
Thank you for coming, hope you all enjoyed your visit as much as
we did and that we will see you all again soon.

Open afternoon 16th July 2011

The weather outside was frightful but the visitors were delightful.
as you will see from the photo's below.

Celine, below, helped the young visitors to make peg dolls.

Thank you all for coming, it is always such a pleasure to meet you and
thank you also for allowing us to use these pictures.
We hope to have different craft activities at future open afternoons.

Saturday 2nd July 2011
Our special visitor

It was so nice to welcome the Lord Lieutenant of Manchester, Warren Smith, to Clayton Hall today.

After a cup of tea and a chat with the Friends he was given a
tour of the Victorian rooms starting with the bedroom.

On to the cold store room where Kay explained about the food replica shortage
that Friends hope to be able remedy with a little imagination and a lot of paper mache.

Then into the dining room

and the kitchen, followed by a peep into the washhouse
and visitor's centre before taking a stroll around the garden.

It was lovely to meet you Mr Warren Smith,
hope you enjoyed your visit and will call again soon.

Saturday 18th June 2011

Open afternoon

Following Barbara's wedding we had our usual open afternoon and were thrilled and delighted
to, once again, welcome old and new friends to Clayton Hall.

The children made friends with little Marguerite in our new bedroom.

A little flour girl, you should have seen her when she finished weighing it out.

A past resident of the older part of the Hall, photo's on our memories page.

A master baker in the making.

Another lovely day, hope you all enjoyed your visit, please leave a message on our Gurestbook.
Thank you for allowing us to use these photo's, shame we have to limit the number we can publish here
but more will be on display in the cafe next open afternoon.

Hope to see you then.

A Very Special Occasion

Thank you Barbara for sharing your special day with us, we all had a really lovely time.

Manchester University Volunteers

On Wednesday 8th June a group of students, accompanied by thier
leader Kirsty, visited Clayton Park to help us with gardening work.

The Young people worked in Clayton Hall garden taking out and relocating Bluebell bulbs
and on the raised beds which run along the side of the bowling green.

After lunch we all enjoyed a tour of Clayton Hall's Victorian rooms

and then it was back to work, despite the rain, to finish the job.

What a transformation

We would like to say a great big thankyou to all the young people who came along,
their leader Kirsty, Karen and GMP officers. It was a real pleasure to meet and work with you all.

Open Afternoon 21st May 2011

Lots more new faces this afternoon, it is so nice to meet you all.

Feeling at home in the kitchen.

The whole family cutting out ginger bread men in the cold store room.

A very cheery young man.

Relaxing by the fire in the dining room.

A lovely young couple who promised to come back to see us again soon.

And last but not least, this group of visitors who all lived at Clayton Hall in the past.
The two young people were actually born at the Hall.
Thankyou for coming along and for allowing us to use your photo's.
Special thanks to past residents who shared thier memories and photographs
which can be seen on our Memories page soon.

Next Open Afternoon will be 18th June
hope to see you then.

A group of students from Manchester College have been working on the outside of the wash house.

First they prepared the brick by scraping off all the loose paint

Then they pointed the whole thing.

And finally they cleaned the yard.

Our thanks to the boys and thier tutor Derek.
You did a great job despite the rain, cold and wind.
We really appreciate your help.

Open afternoon Saturday 16th April 2011
Lots of new faces today, it was so nice to meet you all and of course to see all our old friends as well.

One of our lovely new visitors with one of our latest donations, a lovely old sewing machine.

And one of our other recent donations is this family bible.
We really appreciate your kind donations, thank you for helping
us to make Clayton Hall so interesting.

Learning how to polish clogs.

See comments from our visitor's book below:

I love it. All the work to get it together is well worth the effort.
I have waited 60 years to actually get inside and have traveled from Salisbury especially.
Bernice Booth

It was absolutely briliant. I am only 11 and it was great to see how it was in the olden days.
Comparing the rooms to my house showed just how much it has changed.

Had a lovely time, enjoyed every room especialy the dinning room.
Brian and Sue

Well done to the Friends, excellent job.
Gary W.

Thank you all for your kind comments and your excellent company,
we hope to see you again at our next open afternoon on
Saturday 21st May

Open afternoon Saturday 19th March 2011
Here we are again and so were you. Lovely to see you all,
especially our old friend Sean 'the sink' who we haven't seen for
a couple of months. We missed you Sean.

This old Claytonian regaled us with tales of the 'good old days'

We met three generations from this family.
Little sister was busy in the cold store room (below)
making a whole team of tiny gingerbread men.

Thank you to all that gave permission for us to publish photo's,
they really bring our web site to life.

We have had some lovely comments written in our Visitor's book, just a small sample below:

What an amazing house, well done to all the people who have achieved so much. I will be coming back. J. Howarth Congratulations on all your hard work. It is so well preserved, decorated and loved. I will be back on the 18th June with my brother and we will have a lovely time reminising. Barbara Heydon. A joy as always, I brought my partner for his first visit and he was as impressed as me. Danielle. We like it very much, interesting and fun. Luke and Erin

Don't forget our next open afternoon is on
Saturday 16th April hope to see you then.

Outhouse happenings

As you saw a few weeks ago we cleared out the outhouse in readiness
for work to begin on our new cafe, shop and classroom area.
We can't believe what has been happening to our dirty old outhouse.

First the electrician came in to shed a little light on the subject
and then Jim, Paul and James boarded out and plastered.
Thanks lads, it's beginning to look like a real room.

Once the team from the Care and Repair/Valuing Older People
programme arrived it was all systems go.

The scheme was called Generations Together and every one learnt DIY skills

And here is the fantastic result of all the hard work.

Thank you to all the team, expecially Jim and Paul from Care and Repair, who ran the course.
In the words of one of our members 'WOW! from shed to incred.'
The new centre was used for the first time today, 19th March, for our open afternoon
and everyone was truly amazed at the tranformation.

Now, how are you all fixed to come round to my house, I have a few little jobs I need doing.

Open Afternoon 19th February 2011

It's that time of the month again, how time flies.

Our first visitor of the afternoon helped to chop the vegatables for the soup.

Special thanks to those who gave their time to help out
this afternoon, mend broken pieces and donate objects.
Another nice afternoon with lots of new visitors and old friends.
It's always lovely to see you, thank you for coming.

Our next open afternoon will be on Saturday 19th March

Open Afternoon 15th January 2011

A quiet but none the less, lovely afternoon.
Visitors included young men who entered into the spirit of the Hall,
dressed in costume and rolled out the pastry for the pies
and chopped the vegetables for the soup.

Thank you to Mum's who allowed us to use these photo's.

The young man below used to live at Clayton Hall when he was
'nought but a lad', watch out for photo's of his childhood
coming soon to our Memories page.

Don't forget our next open afternoon will be on Saturday 19th February.

8th January 2011

This is our first workday of the New Year and we spent it 'mucking out' the outhouses.
As usual we were that eager to get started we forgot to take
'before' pictures but this one is about half way through.

It was dirty and dusty, full of all sorts of rubbish and lots of creepy crawlies.

This is what we have been waiting for, a new roof, doesn't look too pretty
at the moment but who cares, it doesn't let the rain and snow in.

Can you tell which one is the dummy?

Just thinking that we should break for lunch before the final push.

Nearly there, just look at the space in here.
When it is all cleared the walls and ceiling will be plaster boarded,
the floor tiled and it will be ready for us to decorate.
Another item ticked off our long list of things to do.

Christmas at Clayton Hall

11th December

Another really lovely afternoon with lots of children who came along to see Father Christmas
arrive on his special transport and visit him in our Victorian dining room.

Our thanks to Titan who as usual transported Father Christmas to Clayton Hall

This crafty little elf helped the children make Christmas bags.

Our Victorian little helpers

In true Victorian style, the children were put to work in the kitchen

Sharing a joke with Father Christmas

And here we all are, the Friends of Clayton Park, at the end of a perfect day.
Thank you to all who attended, especially the children who made the afternoon so very special
and to all our friends and family who give their time to help us at all our open afternoons.
If you have photo's that you would like to share or if you would like to be involved with this
amazing project please leave a message on our guest book and we will get back to you.

A very merry Christmas to you all.

Our next open afternoon is on Saturday 15th January from 1pm till 4pm.

Royal Horticultural Society In Bloom celebration

Friends won an RHS It's Your Neighbourhood, Developing award
in this years round of In Bloom.
We all enjoyed a lovely evening at Manchester Town Hall.

Open afternoon 20th November

What a lovely afternoon with lots of visitors from far and wide
coming to chat and enjoy the friendly atmosphere at Clayton Hall.

It's so nice to meet you all and share memories
of grandma's kitchen or great aunt's living room.

Thank you all for coming and making our afternoon really special
we really appreciate your support.

Don't forget, Father Christmas will be visiting Clayton Hall
on Saturday 11th December,
hope to see you then.

We will remember them

This year the Remembrance day service was conducted
by Father Leonard from St. Cross church

As usual Beavers and Cubs from Hewlett Johnson Scout troupe
formed the Guard of Honour and played a very moving last post.

Open afternoon16th October

This was no ordinary open aftennoon as we were
joined by Zest who provided an apple pressing activity
and funding for our delicious Leek and Potato soup

and the sun shone for the planting of our new orchard.
Species of apple, pear and damson which would have been
grown in Victorian times were planted in Clayton Hall garden.

East Area Parks manager, Steve Downy, Park warden Martin,
Manchester Leisure staff, Friends of Clayton Park and
our two resident little maids, all helped with the planting.

Plus, lots of visitors young and old came along to take a
step back in time in our Victorian rooms.
As usual, it was lovely to see you all, hear your
stories and listen to your memories.
Everybody says that Clayton Hall has a lovely friendly
atmosphere and it is you who make it that way.
Thank you to Father Leonard for opening St. Cross church
in co-operation with our open afternoon.

We look forward to seeing you all on Saturday 20th November

Bishops visit, 23rd September 2010

As part of his pilgrimage around the Diocese of Manchester,
Bishop Nigel McCullock, popped into Clayton Hall

A Mrs. Beeton recipe

Saying Hello to Jemima

Tales of wash days in Grandmas house

Lovely to see you Bishop Nigel, hope you enjoyed your visit
as much as we did, come again soon.

Open afternoon, 18th September 2010

Another really lovely afternoon at Clayton Hall with lots of new faces,
return visitors and new friends, made last week at Victoria baths.

As usual the children enjoyed playing in the kitchen.

Fr. Leonard, our next door neighbour from
St. Cross church, popped in to say hello.

This young lady really looked the part, sat by the kitchen range.

Thank you to all visitors who gave permission to
use photo's, they really brighten up our site.

Once again there were lovely comments left in our visitors book, just a few below:

2nd visit for us but brought all the grandchildren who were dressed up and really
loved their time here. We will visit again as we all enjoyed it. Hilary and family
I think this is very good and well thought out. It is very interesting
and a credit to the Friends of Clayton Hall. Ann Mason and family
Really enjoyed my first visit, my favourite room was the dining room. It was lovely
to see so many children enjoying their Saturday afternoon. The whole
atmosphere was fantastic, will be back again to read more of the book of
memories that I didn't have time to read. Thanks for a lovely visit, Joy Ward.

It is so hard to find the words to tell you all, how much we appreciate your
wonderful comments and good wishes. Knowing that you enjoy visiting this
very special building gives us so much pleasure.

Thank you.

Local History Day at Victoria Baths.

Saturday 11th Spetember 2010

We visited Victoria baths to spread the word about Clayton Hall

what an absolutely amazing building

This was before the public opening time and after setting
up we had the opportunity to take a look around.

The tiling and stain glass windows are fantastic.

You know they say there is 'one' in every group.

Well this is our 'one'

We had a great day and chatted to lots of lovely people.
If you get the opportunity, go along to one of Victoria Baths
open days, you will be amazed, as we were.

Tuesday 31st August 2010

Young people from Ash Road Resource centre visited the Hall

We had a really lovely morning with lots of laughter, lots of chat
and lots of vegetable crops, donated by the centre, planted in our raised bed.
Our thanks to you all, we really enjoyed your visit.
Special thanks to Gari who organised it all.

Hope to see you all again soon.

Open afternoon 21st August 2010

Young visitors making soup

mincing meat

rolling out pastry, patting butter,

learning about wash day in years gone by

and enjoying a well earned rest after a busy afternoon.

Here are just a few of the many lovely comments left in our visitors book:
Great job - Joseph from Cyprus
The house is absolutely amazing - Cheryl from Audenshaw
Great visit, will be back - Madeleine from Droylsden
Was always wondering what was inside the 'mysterious Hall'
thoroughly enjoyed our investigations - Joshua and Mummy (Katherine)
Fantastic building and the kids really enjoyed dressing up. - Helen, Lily and Dan

Thank you to all who came and special thanks to Mums
who allowed us to publish these photo's.
Hope to see you all at our next open afternoon on

Saturday 14th August, 2010

This lucky chimney sweep, visited Clayton Hall garden
with a wedding party taking photo's.

if you would like to know more about the sweep
visit www.weddingchimneysweep.com

Friday 20th July 2010

and playing

in the garden.

Here comes the water, this hosepipe ban is a real nuisance.

Learning how to strip twigs to make natural supports.

Wednesday 14th July 2010

Watch carefully Ashley, this is the way to do it.

Quick somebody, get him a fishing rod and sit him by the pond.

Call out the search dogs, looks like Ashley's lost in the jungle.

Great job lads.

Wednesday 7th July, 2010

Gardening 26th June 2010

Another day working in Clayton Hall garden.

Kay planting pansy seedlings in front of the Hall

Pauline, playing with water. O'h and watering the garden.

We have made a start putting perennials and Summer bedding
in the bed near the wooden bench. Thanks to those who have donated plants.
We still have a long way to go so, if anyone out there is splitting
perennials we would love to give them a new home.
Leave us a message on our Guestbook and we will get back to you.

Open Afternoon, Saturday 19th June

Yet another lovely afternoon with lots of visitors, especially lots of children who
brought along Mums and Dads, Aunties and Uncles, Grandmas and Grandads.

It was really nice to meet you all.

Our thanks again to all who came along to see us, special thanks
to the children who gamely put on costumes, you all looked fantastic
and helped to make Clayton Hall seem even more Victorian.
We did take lots of photo's, but unfortunately forgot to ask permission
to include them on here, luckily our very special, resident
little maids were on hand to pose for the camera.

There will be no open afternoon in July due to refurbishment of the toilets.
Hope to see you all on the 11th August for our Activity Afternoon
and 21st August for the next open afternoon.

Open Afternoon 15th May

Thank you all for coming and for your kind donations.
Hope you enjoyed your afternoon as much as we did.
See you all again soon.

1st May - Workday at Clayton Hall

Friends workdays take place each week and now that most of the big
jobs are coming to an end we are turning our attention to the
finishing touches that will make all the difference to Clayton Hall.

This week we have been making simple costumes
for our young visitors to wear.

This makes a change from the painting, decorating, woodwork, plastering
bricklaying etc., etc., that we have been doing over the last 12 months.
And you can sew, sitting down, Yippee!!.

We had a really nice day, it's not often that we are all together in one room
and can chat while we work. I was there too but I'm always behind the camera,
some people would say it's just as well. That's Friends for you.

Open Afternoon 17th April 2010

Another lovely afternoon with lots of visitor's.

We're really glad we don't have to do the washing this way, today.

Children and adults helped create the atmosphere by dressing up.

Young ladies rolling out the pastry in the cold store room.

And a young man putting stitches in our tapestry.

Here's Sarah black leading the stove.

After visiting the Victorian rooms everyone enjoyed sitting in the
garden with their refreshments.

Thank you, once again, to all who came and special thanks to
those of you who made donations to the Clayton Hall project.
We really appreciate your support.

Scrapbook Our scrapbook page will contain things that happen at Clayton Park which we would like to share with you

Saturday 4th February 2012

Just a normal Friends workday at the Hall with lots of things going on. Our two new volunteer helpers, Alison and Anna making mobcaps.

Pauline in the 'wardrobe department' or, up the corner with the costumes.

Kay and Alison. Yipee! at last we have enough mobcaps for a full class of children so we are making more pinafores and waistcoats.

Open afternoon - 21st January 2012

Thank you to all of you that braved the awful weather and came to see us today.

Next open afternoon will be on the 18th February.

Victorian Christmas at Clayton Hall

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy, peaceful New Year.

We look forward to seeing you at our first open afternoon of 2012 which is on Saturday 21st January from 1pm till 4pm.