Hatts Chats and Giggles

From Salford to Hattersley: A Poet's Journey Through Change

• PAC Media • Season 1 • Episode 2

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Have you ever wondered how a childhood move can shape your entire perspective on life? This week's episode brings you heartwarming stories from local poet Roy Page, who vividly recounts his family's transition from the crowded streets of Salford to the spacious, green plains of Hattersley in the 1960s. Roy shares a poignant poem that captures the essence of moving to a newly developed estate, highlighting the stark differences in living conditions and the blossoming sense of community spirit that greeted them. His reflective journey takes us through the historical backdrop of the era, including the miners' strike and economic recession, painting a picture of resilience and evolution in Hattersley.

Our conversation offers a detailed glimpse into community life in Hattersley, juxtaposed against the industrial atmosphere of Salford. Roy's memories of attending a modern secondary school with state-of-the-art facilities compared to the old Victorian school of Salford provide unique insights into the challenges and excitement of adapting to change. We also explore the everyday experiences and subtle prejudices that shaped Roy's early years in the workforce, revealing the profound impact of cultural differences and technological advancements on social dynamics. These anecdotes offer a deeper understanding of how communities adapt, persevere, and thrive through transformative periods.

Wrapping up, we celebrate the rich history and vibrant culture of Greater Manchester, through Roy's poetry and personal reflections. From iconic historical figures to modern cultural landmarks, the essence of Manchester's identity shines through. Hear how creativity flourished in Roy's life regardless of age or educational background, becoming a powerful outlet for expression and connection. This episode is a heartfelt tribute to the enduring spirit of community, the power of creativity, and the ever-evolving landscape of Greater Manchester. Join us for an episode filled with nostalgia, reflections, and a deep sense of pride in our shared heritage.

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Roy:

In 1966, when I was only 10 years old, we moved from a house in Salford that was cramped and damp and cold, up Hyde Road and past Bellevue to where the air was fresher out in the country, on a new estate called Hattersley, hyde, cheshire. A brand new house that had just been built number 8, callington Close with underfloor heating and a log effect fire to keep us warm as toast. Three bedrooms, a bathroom, a separate loo and gardens back and front luxuries that we'd never had or even dared to want. But when Hattersley was still quite new it got off to a bad start with Hindley and Brady's horrific crimes leaving a terrible scar. Most people came from the Manchester slums that needed knocking down to start a new life on a new estate in a different part of town. The people of Hyde were not too pleased and made their feelings clear. But their shops were full of customers and their pubs sold lots of beer. The chippy van came round at night. There was even a mobile shop, heard a chink-chink of the Alpine man when he brought your mobile pot. And in the summer, when we were kids, we'd walk up Werneth Low and count the seven sisters in the valley down below. Well, they built new shops and they built new pubs, a community centre too. They built new schools with playing fields and the community spirit grew. The four in hand the Underwood, the Hostage and the Senate, the British Legion. On a Saturday night, good times had by many.

Roy:

So the 80s brought the miners' strike and Thatcher's fight with Scargill, the three-day week and power cuts and candles on the table. Jobs were scarce and times were bad, and we struggled. For a while the country was in recession and Hattersley lost its smile. But things have changed over the last few years and times are moving on. The Seven Sisters have been knocked down and the Comprehensive's gone, but they've been replaced with better shops, new housing and a station, a brand new hub, the Ken Ward Centre, and a brand new generation. A brand new hub, the Ken Ward Centre, and a brand new generation. So if you live on Hattersley, take a look around at the countryside around you and the grass upon the ground when children can play and have room to run free. It's a special place called.

Roy:

Hattersley. Hello and welcome to another episode of Hats Chats and Giggles podcast. I'm your host, mark, and you've just been listening to a poem written and recited by local lad, roy Page. He'll be joining us in the studio today and we'll be chatting about his poetry and what it was like to move up here in the 60s. Hi, roy, you alright.

Roy:

I am, yeah, I always like to have a chat about the old days Do you still live in. Islay. No, I still live in Tameside, but in Denton. So yeah, just down the road really. But yeah, originally I'm from Salford and we moved up in the 60s. I was a little boy of 10 when we moved up here. It was brand new. You know, if you were going straight into the chat about Hattersley, it was brand new when I was a kid and it's got some good memories for me.

Roy:

What part of Salford was it?

Roy:

It was just down near the docks or facing the docks where I lived. You know Little Cobble Street, good memories, to be honest, of being a little boy. You know a little kiddie in the street. Me and my brother have got some good memories and All right.

Roy:

well, we can read a bit of your poetry and it'd be great to listen to some. But getting back to Salford, like what was the living? Can you remember what the living conditions were like then?

Roy:

Well, yeah, but it was like Obviously it was single-glazed windows. You know, like I say a little street. You just played out in the street, always cold, when you were a kid. So, it was we were loved and looked after. You it's cold when you were a kid, so we were loved and looked after. That was the main thing really, if I look back on it now. So it was nothing like up here. When we moved up here it was totally different. So when we were kids we just took it for granted.

Mark:

In what way then?

Roy:

When we moved up here it was all brand new Everything, the house, everything was brand new. They hadn't finished most of it. Obviously, when I came up in 66, it had been going a few years and our houses were just still being finished and we looked at them. You know, with me and, like I say me, brothers and sisters, we were playing around in brand new house. The gardens weren't finished, so it was all new and it was all grass. You know, everywhere you looked the hills, beautiful hills that you take for granted really now you know, when you live on the estate you kind of don't look at what's round you, but it was so different from you know Salford and parts of Manchester, what we're like in the 60s they had to be knocked down and that's why they built estates like Attersley and Horton Green and places like that. You know.

Mark:

Yeah Lang states like Attersley and. Horton Green and places like that.

Roy:

You know, yeah, langley and Wythenshawe. Most people on Attersley came from like Gorton and Hardwick and places like that and there weren't as many people from Salford. It was just I think the story goes where my dad went into the housing office and he played hell with them and told them you know he was threatening them with the papers and all that and they give him a key for Hattersley.

Mark:

What was your first impressions when you arrived in Hattersley?

Roy:

I know you've just said some of it, yeah well, everybody was kind of, you know, in a little kid's world of 10 and 11, I'd just finished 11 plus. You know I'd failed me 11 plus in Salford. So it was time to move up to a new school and it was like it was dead strange and a good job. You got brothers and sisters because you weren't on your own then, you know, and everybody was in the same boat, a little bit really like trying to get to know each other, even the mums and dads, you know, coming from all over the place. So it was a little bit of a scary thing as a kid, but you soon settled in, you know. I think we did. Anyway, even if he was a bit of a shy kid, you settled in a little bit.

Roy:

You know we had to wait for the school to be built at the time. You know the actively secondary school it was at the time and it went to be the comp and that's gone now, isn't it? So we was waiting. I think it was a year. I think we were in demountables, this uh, you know prefab school, for about a year before we we moved into the comp.

Roy:

And that was one impression that I can always remember when we went to when I was in Salford we was in an old Victorian school, you know, tiled walls and stuff like that. But when we went to the comp, when they opened the comp, it was just something out of this world. You know, it was kind of to me. They had gymnasiums and all the sports facilities. Classrooms were brilliant, they had labs and bunsen burners and all that sort of stuff. You know, I'd never seen that like that and that was what we went into. That. That was a big eye-opener when you think about it. Now that's gone. That school's gone. In my lifetime it was the main school just off Fields Farm Road.

Mark:

It's not there now. It's a new estate now, isn't it?

Roy:

When you're a kid at that age and you go from what I call the juniors to the, it's always daunting, isn't it? But to be a stranger as well, and in a different area, you know, when you went off the estate down into Hyde it was completely different to where you was brought up, you know yeah even though it's an old town, it was, and it's only six miles from Manchester or seven miles, whatever it is. It was a different feel In them days. It was like bloody hell where am I here?

Roy:

When we was coming up to have a look at the house, me dad had a Reliant, like a lot of blokes did in the old days, and coming up Hyde Road past Bellevue.

Mark:

Robin Reliant.

Mark:

Yeah, he's five kids or something like that. I know you can laugh now, can't't you, because it's old Del Boy stuff, but in them days that's how it? Was coming up and thinking, blimey, where is this place? You know, I thought he was going for miles and miles and yeah, it was just new, just brand new.

Mark:

I bet it was mad because you get a view over the city. I mean, I don't know what the city was like then.

Roy:

I imagine there was a lot more chimneys and I should imagine yeah, I never noticed when I was a kid to be honest, there's probably a lot more smoke as well. You probably couldn't see this yeah, yeah, and what you couldn't?

Mark:

know. So what kind of amenities and facilities was there? You know you was waiting for your school, oh yeah so up here there was no shops really.

Roy:

There was, like everything was still being built and the pubs were being built and I can't think where the nearest shop was, to be honest, from where we were. Eventually they got built, but they used to have vans that would come round mobile shops, mobile chippy and all that sort of stuff and you'd wait for them to come you know the spud man and all that and I'd be waiting. You know, waiting for the, and that's how it was.

Mark:

So them people was they like local people?

Roy:

They must have been people who were already here, businesses already here, yeah yeah, from Hyde or wherever, Mottram, they'd obviously see an option where they can make some money and get in there because people needed shop. Yeah, and the pubs eventually, when we got a bit older in the pubs there was loads of pubs on Assisley At one point, the British Legion, four in Hand, you know. There were a couple of older pubs on the edges, the New Inn. That's gone now, isn't it? All these pubs have gone now. But it was good to be young when we were going into teenagers. It was good to be young when we lived up here.

Mark:

Right, it was the 60s, wasn't it the 70s then, really?

Roy:

know 70s, all the kind of glam rock kind of gear and everything, yeah it was great to go into british legion at the weekend. You know proper old-fashioned british legion, really good times. Yeah, we had some good times when it was new.

Mark:

We got to know one another so when you got up here, did you feel a sense of community with your new neighbors, or did that take time? Do you know? Like, because obviously you was younger, weren't you?

Roy:

Yeah, I was just a kid, weren't I playing about? And that there was a good community. I mean, you know the people that have lived on Hattersley neighbours for years, you know together. Well, obviously a lot of them are gone now, aren't they? But our parents made friends and you know, and had some good times with the friends and that, yeah, there was a community.

Roy:

The community did grow, meeting in the pubs, because it was obviously now people are different nowadays but it was more of a pub life for the weekends. You know People went to the pub at the weekend, didn't they? With the wives, blokes with the wives, and that it was that era of the 70s and the 80s. You know, place like Hyde and then having all this built on your border, it, you wouldn't have liked it yourself, would you and all them people from Manchester and, like I say, in them days it seemed like a long way away Manchester. You know people didn't travel like they do. I know it's only the 60s and they had cars, but it it was still not the way it is nowadays and they didn't like it. You know they were a bit hostile when you went to hide at first, but, and especially the older people, but you know, over the years.

Roy:

It's part of it. It's part of Tameside now.

Mark:

I mean the other thing is it came up in the last show about the Moors murderers, kind of tarnished it. I think your poem highlighted it.

Roy:

They had a house on the bottom of the estate. We didn't know. Again, we didn't know. We'd heard a little bit about things happening and obviously we were told to be careful. When it came out in the open, you know that kids were going missing, it frightened us, on our parents, I think more than anything. It was a little bit before my day, really right, but I do remember it. That was one of the main things that happened in this area that you can't shake off. Yeah, it's a shame.

Mark:

That kind of tarnishes the reputation really of something like that, because it is a great place it's like saying about the 80s.

Roy:

There was, you know, over the years just recently they talk about recessions well, in the 80s it felt like there was a recession because I was working in them days. You know I was a young fellow working but it was like right, you know the cult, you know margaret thatcher and you know all that era and you know three day weeks and stuff, and it know all that era, and you know three-day weeks and stuff, and it felt like there was a recession, whereas now, like people still have laptops and iPhones and stuff like that, there's a recession going on. They tell you there's a recession going on, but people seem to have everything, whereas in them days it was quite a different feeling. You know, I remember being it was exciting when you were as a kid sat around the table with candles. You knew, you know there was going to be a blackout or something, so you kind of got the candles out ready and all that. You know yeah and yeah.

Mark:

So you need technology nowadays don't you yeah. You can't even pay a bill really nowadays? No, no, and if you try and pay a bill. They're like can you get online? Yeah, bill they're like can you get online? Yeah, making it difficult for older people, aren't? Yeah? Yeah, it's difficult for older people, everyone needs a phone don't they so, even though we are in a we're in a recession recession everyone still needs an internet connection yeah a phone, because you can't actually do anything nowadays without no, it's a different world.

Roy:

Yeah, so what we're talking about it's a different world, yeah when you're thinking back to them times.

Mark:

do you think there was a lot of discrimination to the folk who To the people on that as well, like I should imagine.

Roy:

yeah, they would have been really.

Mark:

Yeah.

Roy:

The only time I felt it a little bit was when I was 15, I left school, yeah, and I went to work in Hyde, went to James North.

Roy:

There was a factory on the top of Market Street, a big factory, big factory, and I got myself a job. I didn't want to stay at school, so I got a job and I left at 15. And when I got into the big factory some of the older blokes had been working in that factory all their lives and they were old blokes then, you know, and it just felt like a different culture with them, you know, and they knew you as off-hatties, they're off the estate and all that. So there was a bit of discrimination and they even talked a little bit funny in them days like I'll see thee and all that kind of thing, and I used to stand there with my mouth open, 15-year-old kid thinking what's he on about. So there was a difference in that and I noticed it when I went to work as a little as a young fella, you know, I noticed it. That's the only time really, but we were kind of insular up here as kids we didn't really go wandering off down at it and that you know.

Roy:

So we was. That's how it was. As little kids yeah, but there was definitely a bad feeling about, you know, having this lot on the doorstep, you know.

Mark:

That's what happens, doesn't it? Yeah, Do you know what I mean? I mean, I suppose it's even happening now with the new houses that are getting built in. I suppose the original comers in us are like well, there's all these lot moving in and out of state.

Roy:

I should imagine.

Mark:

so yeah, it's a funny thing because it is changing. I mean the Hattersley that you're speaking about and the Hattersley today are just different ends of the spectrum. Really, it's an interesting one about the pubs.

Roy:

Yeah, they've all been and gone. They're all gone now, aren't they In my lifetime again? Yeah, they've all got the big tellies now, haven't we Everything at home, haven't we?

Mark:

Yeah.

Roy:

So you don't really need to go out for social, you know and the social media thing. You don't need to go out to socialise like that. I mean, I still enjoy doing that. There are people who still enjoy doing that, but it's not as it was.

Mark:

The thing is is if you want to be nosy now, you can just go on Facebook and stuff like that and nosy everyone's.

Roy:

See what they're having for their tea.

Mark:

Yeah, see where they went on their holidays. Oh, were you with technology. Do you manage with technology?

Roy:

Yeah, I do. I'm not great, but for the last 20-odd years of my life I worked with DAA the company, so I had to keep up with it a little bit.

Roy:

I wasn't a mechanic. I was a truck driver for them, a recovery driver, but it was all technical. You had to keep up with that side of things, so it kept me flowing a little bit. But as you get older you'll probably find out yourself as you get older you want to leave it behind a little bit. You don't want to keep running with technology, and that's just a natural thing about getting older. You can't keep up with it. I know my message is struggling a little bit to keep up with stuff, apps and stuff like that, whereas I keep trying keep going with it to keep us both social and on the ball if you like, but it is difficult.

Roy:

It's expected, I suppose, these days, isn't it? You've got to force yourself and you've got to have a reason to do it, or you just let it go by and then, once you let it go by, it's like too late, you know.

Mark:

But it's like when you want to do any banking or when you want to pay any bill or anything you want now it's like recording message saying go to our website. Yeah, and I struggle with it and I just think how are these pensioners?

Roy:

older people. Yeah, we, yeah, we're, we're pensioners, but we we say about the same thing. How about people who can't get about and, you know, older than us?

Mark:

yeah, like 80, 90 years old. How are you gonna? And you and?

Roy:

they're taking the alternative away, aren't?

Mark:

they. Well, I suppose it's a sign of the times really, but it's a difficult one.

Roy:

So well, it might come full circle, but you never know, do you?

Mark:

let's talk about you, some of your creative side. So what about your poetry? When did you start your poetry and stuff?

Roy:

only really started my poetry that I mean, when I was a kid I was a bit of a dunce. I wasn't really good, you know, I think I had a little bit of dyslexia, but in them days that wasn't really because my son's got a form of dyslexia, quite severe form, these different levels. You say yeah. So I kind of think I think I've got a little bit of that.

Roy:

But I didn't know at the time, so I wasn't really well educated. I went to the comp but I wasn't daft. You know what I mean. So I've always been quite artistic, a bit of a drawer, so I've always done a little bit of that along the way over the years. But it was only probably eight years ago I'm 68 now, so probably coming up to 8, uh, 60 that I started really writing poetry stories.

Roy:

You know, somebody might want you to write them in the family story or something like that. So you've got to get the information together and know about the person and then you can. You know, I found myself I could write a little poem about it. And then obviously, um, when I was based in, so I was working down in salford for a long time, seeing the changes there over the years, being a truck driver, and so I've written a lot about that sort of thing. The Salford changes, how the docks changed, you know again from the 70s and 80s when it was doing nothing, it was dead, and then what it's like now Salford Quays. So I've got poetry, I've got a little book actually about that sort of thing.

Mark:

And I've got a copy of that here. That's called 50's Child.

Roy:

Yeah, yeah.

Mark:

Is it available anywhere? Is it just available through you?

Roy:

It's just available through me. Really, I ordered so many copies of it and it's only a small little booklet kind of thing with about 15, 16 poems in it, but they all relate to the changes growing up in Salford over the years, yeah, and I think little stories about stuff, me mum and me dad and all that kind of thing.

Mark:

Are you going to do another? Have you got another poem you're going to do?

Roy:

Well, this next poem about Hattersley. It's not my poem. I've got a friend whose mum still lives on Hattersley and she's 87 years old and she's a bit of a writer. I correspond with her a little bit over the years and she's called Mavis Miles. She brought her family up to Hattersley in 1963 and she wrote this poem. She sent it to me and she wrote this poem in 1977 after they'd been up here 14 years. So if you don't mind, I'll read this. No, no, I heard it good. So this poem's called Reflections and it's Mavis Mines.

Roy:

Fourteen years ago, next month, like a band of refugees, we came to live in the country, midst the flowers and the trees, not certain if we'd like it, not sure we'd want to stay. We lived so long in Manchester and this was miles away. The scenery was beautiful, the air so fresh and clean, the hills looked like a patchwork quilt, all different shades of green. But our houses were our pride and joy and everyone, brand new, held things we'd only ever dreamed of, like a bathroom and an inside loo, hot water for the taking. Till now we'd used a kettle, electric plugs in every room. Oh god, please help us to settle. We have a garden, front and rear and a garage for the car. Now, suddenly, we realise how fortunate we are. It's taken 14 years, but time has truly taught us Hattersley was the perfect place to raise our sons and daughters.

Roy:

So that's by a lady called Mavis Mines. I think she still lives on the estate and she's 87. I'd like to speak to Mavis Mines. I think she still lives on the estate and she's 87. Oh, I'd like to speak to Mavis.

Mark:

She'd be a good contributor for the show. I bet she's got loads of stories.

Roy:

Oh you wouldn't believe it.

Mark:

Loads of stories to sell. So with your poetry do you join any part of any poetry groups?

Roy:

Yeah, so quite a popular thing now thing now poetry on the open mic scene. Yeah, you know, since uh, covid, it's one of the good things actually, people go to the pub and they with a guitar and they play a bit of music and stuff. But the open mic scene now has introduced poetry and spoken word. So there's lots of places now that you can check out and just go and just go on a nightly basis and read your poetry. Do your stuff if you think you're check out and just go on a nightly basis and read your poetry. Do your stuff if you think you're any good. And there's loads of stuff on now. So I keep myself busy being retired now. Maybe once a week, twice a week, I'll go somewhere in the car and I'll go and read my poetry. It doesn't always go down well with your kids because you know they don't think it's very savvy. You know, being a poet, you know they've got their own opinions, aren't they?

Mark:

so I don't really say too much to my kids about my stuff, but they do know I've seen quite a few poets at open mic nights and there has been like a change in that scene. You know, is there anything local?

Roy:

there's um, there's one in ashton underline and it's at the station pub station, hotel Right yeah. So the lady that runs the station, she's a Pauline Town.

Roy:

Yeah, pauline, and Hotel she's well known for looking after the homeless people. Yeah, and once a month, on the last Sunday of every month, damien runs an open mic, poetry, spoken Passions, and that's every. That's the last Sunday of every month. So yeah, that's a local one. Sometimes you've got to go into town a little bit and there's a little one that I do at Semitone Studios in Marple, singing and all sorts of stuff, you know and everything. But I go down there and record my poetry and it goes quite well.

Mark:

So then you know if you're listening, if you look in the podcast description, I'll put some links to some of these things that Roy's mentioned. You might want to get out there and you might want to do it yourself. What other stuff you play in a band, don't you?

Roy:

Yeah, yeah, so I've been playing in a band for a long time you know from being kids really and it's still going. We've still got it going. In fact. My band's called Diversion at the moment and we're a covers band, if you like. You know for anything from the 60s up to modern day, and we've been out and about this year doing a few gigs in Stockport. We did a gig in Sportsman in Hyde a few weeks ago.

Roy:

There's not much doing Tameside really for live music, to be honest, but you've got to go out to Stockport and Manchester and Cheadle, yeah. So we're doing a little bit. We've got a bit of a summer recess at the moment and we're back out again in October doing some more gigs down at the dane bank in down there dane bank pub, bit of stuff in cheedle and that, yeah, we've got a few gigs booked up. We had obviously we had a bit of a break for covid because nobody could get together again. So and I play in that band with my son, tom, and my friend that I've been in this band over the years with his son's in it as well now. So it's a new generation of people, right sounds great.

Roy:

Yeah, it's good stuff, good music as well.

Mark:

Well, thanks for coming in. Have you got any more poems? Do you want to read another one?

Roy:

Only really nothing on that. I've necessarily seen, but I could read you one about Salford.

Mark:

Yeah, yeah, let's hear one about Salford, because I mean we've all got links Well.

Roy:

I'll tell you what. I'll read you one about what I call Greater Manchester. So it's not really Salford, but it's called Greater Manchester. Ls Lowry and his matchstick men, david Lloyd George, a former PM, emmeline Pankhurst and votes for women. Ricky Hatton, the world boxing champion.

Roy:

Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, inventor of rugby, william Webb, ellis, anthony Wilson and his Hacienda, danny Boyle, a great film director, john Thor, robert Powell and Albert Finney, jeff Hurst and Nobby Stiles from World Cup, willie Stone, roses, happy Mondays and the Smiths, mick Ucknell, james and Oasis. Well, what have all these people got in common? They're from a city that was famous for spinning cotton, a northern town with its claim to fame that, more often than not, is it's going to rain City and United, two great football teams, the Etihad Stadium and the Theatre of Dreams. A city that grew in Victorian times. Stevenson's rocket was first down the line.

Roy:

The Industrial Revolution brought wealth and power, all now surveyed from the Beetham Tower, and it's Coronation Street that we have to thank for showing the world what it's like to be Manc. The city is growing day by day, but it won't forget the past. Some cotton mills are left to stand, though most of them are flats. Cotton mills are left to stand, though most of them are flats. From the cobbled streets of a dirty old town grows a modern city to make us all proud, with new cultures today that form a union ready to call themselves Manc Union. I love that.

Mark:

I love the celebration of everything. Manc. You know what we do today, the world does a fortnight later or years later. I really like that poem. And it's not just Mancester, it is Greater Manchester, it is the mill towns.

Roy:

I talk about Salford, don't I, but it's Greater Manchester. People from Salford wouldn't like me to say that, but it's all about Greater Manchester.

Mark:

No, and it's great and we're all proud. I love the pride of Salford and the pride of Atterley. On that word, are you proud of Living here? Yeah?

Roy:

Living in Atterley. Yeah, it's part of my past. It was good, it was really good. I don't come back to Assel like I should do these days, but it was. You know, it's part of my past and that's why I wrote the poem about it. You know about bringing it back.

Mark:

So when you come up here today and you drove around, what was your thoughts? Because we haven't seen it for a bit. Yeah, there's a lot of work going on in the last six months.

Roy:

Yeah, the houses that are going up and that you know. Yeah, because there's no call to come back. You don't come back, do you? Sometimes? You know you don't come off the main road. But yeah, I had a little drive round before and there's a lot of changes and a lot of the new stuff that I talk about in my poem when I was a kid. It's all the old stuff now, so it's all being built around it. If you like, the grass is still there and the feel of it's good and that, but it is totally different and there's workmen everywhere. If you drive around, you know it's there's people doing stuff, workmen everywhere. So the council are not being idle, if you like. They were. You know they're still working on it. They've got to, haven't they?

Mark:

yeah, there's a lot of work. There's a lot of work going on. One of my biggest beefs, though, is there's no butter shop.

Roy:

There's not many shops about. Really is there? No, we've got.

Mark:

Tesco's up there. You've got the One Stop. There's going to be a load of new development coming ahead. There's going to be more shops and more stuff like that.

Roy:

I mean, I don't really have to mention it, but the main problem is getting up here. You know, with that motorway that stops there dead and it's been like that for 50 years. I know of, you know, getting through Mottram and there needs to be more access really.

Mark:

It is isolated up here, isn't it?

Roy:

Yeah.

Mark:

It is kind of isolated the transport links because it is so hard to get from. If you want to get from one part of Tameside to the other part of Tameside, it's easier to get to Prague than it is to get to. Housley, but listen, thanks for coming in. Yeah, it's been enjoyable. I'm going to record the well. I've recorded the poems. I'm going to put them up here, but I'll put some links in the podcast description for any of things we've talked about.

Roy:

Thanks for coming in, Mike.

Mark:

I'm going to give you the big up first. You're welcome. Thank you, cheers. Thanks for listening to Hats, chats and Giggles podcast. Don't forget to follow us on social media. You can find us on Instagram, twitter, facebook and if you want to contribute to the show, the number to call is 07365 223 720. If you've got any beef, if you've got something you want to moan about or you want to tell us a funny story, just send a voice note to our whatsapp number, which is 07365 5223 720.

People on this episode

Contributor

Mark T

Host
Contributor

Roy Page

Guest