ONCHAN IN THE SIXTIES - Part 4

March 1968

In March 1968 the Onchan & District WI (the only WI group in Onchan at that time) celebrated its 15 th birthday with a party held in the Metropole Hotel, (now demolished) Queens Promenade Douglas. The President at that time was Betty Riley of Summerhill Road and the Secretary was Joan Callin of Belgravia Road. As was customary with WI events a quiz was held and this was won by Lydia Moyer wife of the police sergeant in Onchan.

March 1968

As part of the evening’s entertainment a group of the members formed themselves into Calypso singers and presented “Gossip and Scandal in the WI”. Audience and singers are (left to right) Clara Dillon, Win Kelly, Ivy Corlett, Joyce Crellin, Hazel Lewin (with washboard), Joan Anderson, Elsie Prescott, Norma Quayle (with toy guitar), Barbara Kennaugh (in the background), Sheila Hughes and Hazel Collister.

May 1968

In May the Onchan Silver Band gave a concert in the Methodist Hall, Main Road under the guest conductorship of Harry Mortimer. Here they are pictured outside the hall which in those days has a tiled frontage to the single storey porch section. When the church was built onto the side of the hall many years later a narthex was added to link the two buildings together and a facing brick façade was added to the porch with a tiled roof to match the style of the church.

Members of the band pictured (from left to right) are:

May 1968

In May a petition was handed into the Onchan Village Commissioners by Mr Hobday on behalf of the shopkeepers of Onchan objecting to the yellow lines which the Highway Board had laid down in Main Road. The petition called for their removal or for a relaxation to permit short term parking for shoppers. There was nothing the commissioners could do and it was not until the demolition of the shops and the building of Elm Tree house that a parking lay-by was provided.

May 1968

A view of Main Road taken in May 1968 showing the newly painted yellow lines. On the left at the corner of Royal Avenue is Martin’s Bank, later to become Barclay’s following the amalgamation of the two banks. The building was originally built as Alex Nivison’s butchers shop.

Next door is a wool and ladies clothing shop run by Mrs Hobday who together with her husband lived above the shop. Next door to that was Teddy Quiggin’s the painter and decorator. On the right can just be seen the Kirk Onchan Post Office next to which is Billy Mills’ licensed grocers shop. The single storey building alongside was home to Kenworth’s TV and radio shop. It was later occupied by Robinson’s the fruiterers.

There was then a path coming down the side of this shop which linked Elm Tree Road with Main Road and ran alongside the Weeping Wytch Elm tree. The next shop was Quirks the bakers but had previously been Bateson’s the pork butchers. Prior to the time of the demolition of this shop Quirks moved across the road and occupied the shop that has been Dennis Corrin’s haberdashery shop opposite the Co-op. The next group of shops had been Kerr the chemist, Cockram the fishmonger and Wilkinson’s greengrocers but they were gradually all taken over by Mr Hobday who sold paraffin, hardware and then second hand goods. He gained the affectionate nickname in the village of “Steptoe” after the popular television character of the time.

June 1968

In the early 1960s there was a joint initiative between Government and the commissioners to provided winter work schemes for the unemployed. As a result Port Jack Glen was renovated and the back lane behind Royal Avenue West, Falkland Drive and the red brick houses of Royal Avenue were surfaced.

When the scheme stopped this left several lanes still not made up and the residents of the west side of Belgravia Road asked for their lane to made up as had happened on the opposite side of the road. The commissioners were not in a position to oblige and so, led by Ted Ransom, himself a commissioner, the residents decided to go it alone. Here Mr Ransom can be seen part way up the lane holding the staff while a colleague looks through the level. At the same time Mr Ransom built a block of four garages in the rear garden of his house.

July 1968

In the 1950s and 60s cycling took place in Onchan Stadium and in the latter years this was combined with athletics promoted by the Manx Amateur Athletic Club. Regular meetings were held on a Wednesday evening but on Sunday 21 st July 1968 the annual Manx Games were held at Onchan rather than in The Bowl at Douglas.

The events also included race walking and here the cream of the island’s athletes are photographed with various events trophies. Left to right (back row) Sue Colquitt, Kathy Lancaster, Brian Cowley, Patricia Lardner-Burke, Allan Callow, Diane Deakin, Peter McElroy, Phil Bannan, Kevin Madigan and a very young Robbie Lambie. Front row: Steve Higgins, Tim O’Hanlon and Peter Harraghy.

August 1968

An historic picture captures work commencing on the layout and construction of the Birch Hill Estate in August 1968. The 100 acre Birch Hill Farm was purchased by the commissioners for £18,000 following the passing of the Onchan Village District (Birch Hill) Act in 1967 which gave them the powers to act as developer.

Engaging the services of Kay and Gill the architects, the fields were surveyed and laid out to provide roads and sewers to service building plots which were then put on sale. The first 20 plots had been sold by July 1968 at £500 each which included the cost of the road adoption when the work was finished. The first new dwelling on the estate to receive a Habitation Certificate was in July 1969. It was a bungalow built by Bert Creer, an Onchan builder and commissioner who erected it for his own occupation.

September 1968

The annual Onchan Horticultural Society show was held in the Methodist Hall again with flowers in the upper hall, vegetables and baked items in the lower rooms. Here the prize winners are photographed together with their cups and shields. The winners included mother and daughter Pat and Linda Heath. On the right is Eddie Dennett who was also a member of the Onchan Fur and Feather Society.

Behind him is J.C. Skillicorn a commissioner from 1949-55 and 1961-72. He presented cups for annual competition in the sweet pea and novice cut flower section. He also presented a cup to the commissioners for their annual estates gardens competition.

May 1969

Several of the plots sold on the Birch Hill Estate went to builders (J.T. Skillicorn, Harris Brothers and others). Each had their own house style and one developer with a difference was the national house builders Guildway.

Based in Guildford, Surrey they produced timber frame prefabricated houses. In May 1969 the first of 27 Guildway bungalows on the Birch Hill Park estate was officially opened by Mr Percy Radcliffe MHK, Chairman of the Local Government Board Planning Committee. The bungalow was built by Tolson Limited, a subsidiary of Stopford Construction Ltd of Bury. Tolson was registered on the Isle of Man two years previously and built Guildway houses exclusively.

They came in various designs and sizes with some of the more exclusive properties being built in places like Ballajora, Maughold and overlooking Laxey Valley in 3½acre plots. Tolson’s show bungalow at Birch Hill was furnished by James Caine’s of Douglas and one of the Caine brothers decided to have a Guildway house on the estate for himself.

June 1969

After TT Week came International Cycle Week followed by Scooter Week. Cycle Week always started with the Onchan Cup on the Monday morning.

This set off from the TT Grandstand, travelled through Onchan, up the side of The Manx Arms Hotel to Cronk-na-Mona then down past Willaston, Ballanard Road and back to the grandstand. This was on closed roads as was the Clypse Course Race (undertaken in reverse) and the TT Course Race on the Friday. The Chairman of the Village Commissioners would make his way to the grandstand on the Monday lunchtime to present the silver trophy to the winner of the Onchan Cup.

June 1969

A big change came to Onchan Stadium in June 1969 – Stockcar Racing came on the scene. To operate a new flat track was constructed inside the banked cycle track and the two were separated by strong steel wires threaded between metal uprights as can be seen in the photograph.

Many old cars that had a metal chassis were quickly converted to stockcars and the Island’s population of early 1950s Ford Populars were to disappear. Stockcars continue today although the track has been resurfaced and the barrier has to be altered to provide a solid base and a high level mesh to stop any crash debris heading towards the audience.

September 1969

Another change took place in Onchan in the summer of 1969. The long established Onchan Laundry had closed and in October of the previous year there had been a planning application for approval in principle to convert the complex of buildings into a sweet factory for Manx Maid Confectionary of Douglas.

They advised their proposals included flowerbeds and a Bournville type approach with guided tours of the factory. One of the planning approval conditions was the brick built laundry chimney had to be demolished. The scheme didn’t proceed and instead the buildings were converted into a factory producing polystyrene. Here some of the machinery is being lowered into the former dry cleaning section of the complex.

September 1969

Here staff of Insulated Containers pose for the camera with some of the products they produced in the former laundry building. They also manufactured flat sheet polystyrene but unfortunately the venture was not a success and soon closed. The building was later used as a discount warehouse and a new large extension (subsequently demolished) was used by the Shoprite Group as a separate frozen food outlet. Part of the building was also used by Partingtons for a while as their television repair depôt.

October 1969

With talks of Britain entering the Common Market the Onchan and District WI held a sale of work in the Village Hall at the top of Royal Avenue in October 1969. They called it “The Uncommon Market”. In the centre of the picture, Lady Stallard, wife of the Lieutenant Governor casts her eye over the goods on offer. The tall lady to the right of centre is Mrs Pearl Cain, a familiar figure at many charity events.

October 1969

In October 1969 a fire broke out in the Dutch barn at Slegaby Farm Abbeylands. Dutch barns had been a common site on the island since the 1930s and replaced the once common sight of haystacks in a small field or haggart close to the farm buildings. Perhaps the earliest Dutch barn on the island was built at Ellerslie Farm Marown during the First World War. It differed from later versions in having stone piers rather than metal legs and the half round roof turned outwards at the ends in true continental style.

November 1969

Each year the three churches in Onchan held a Christmas Fair to raise funds for their own purposes. The Methodist Church in Main Road always held theirs at the end of November. St Anthony’s Church held their fair on the first Friday in December and St Peter’s held theirs the following Friday. This format continued for many years. Here we see the Methodist Fair.

December 1969

In December 1969 St Anthony’s held their Christmas Fair in Our Lady’s Social Centre (the former Strathallan Hall). In December 1959 their hall was used for a Christmas Fair for the first time following its opening after extensive refurbishment (see Tour of Onchan – Around the Edges).

Here people not only from St Anthony’s but from the other churches of Onchan and beyond are captured by the photographer prior to going through to the adjoining room for refreshments. On occasions a free film show was given in the cinema above the café. In the extreme bottom right hand corner of the photograph the back of the parish priest, Father McGrath can just be seen.