Friday, 20 March 2015

Manchester Trip - Day 1

We were lucky to catch a glimpse of the 90% solar eclipse from our hotel room. There was cloud cover which thinned enough for us to see it at totality and later, as the moon passed across.






Then, it was out to walk to Manchester Town Hall to look at the Ford Maddox Ford Murals.









Unfortunately, there was a function in The Great Hall, so we were not allowed in. We are hoping to see them on Sunday, when there are no bookings in the Great Hall.






We had tea and toasted tea-cake in the Sculpture  Hall Tea-room and headed back to the hotel, where we were meeting boating friends we hadn't seen for two years.









Lunch was at The Old Wellington Pub (est 1552), part of The Shambles.










It rained hard while we were eating lunch but, as soon as we stepped outside, it stopped. Our friends had to leave us as they were visiting friends in Liverpool for the evening.







MWNN and I walked the few yards to Manchester Cathedral













 to look at the book of remembrance in the Manchester Regiment Chapel.

The window is called The Fire Window, and is a reconstruction of the one installed after the 1941 blitz.















Finally, we found the entry for James Alfred Ryder, in the book of the Fallen WW1, 1st and 2nd Battalions.











I also found a plaque commemorating the Emergency Services' work in 1996 after the IRA bombing of the Arndale Shopping Centre. This was a reminder that the First Discworld Convention Hotel was the only building in the immediate area that did not lose its windows.










On the way back to the hotel, we walked along Hanging Ditch.













We cut through the Arndale Centre and were soon back on Shudehill. There we met a town pigeon enjoying a late lunch.

Having had a substantial lunch ourselves, we bought sandwiches from the local supermarket for our evening meal.