My memories of reddish in the seventies and sixties were when Houldsworth Square was the bus terminus. The buses would drive around the memorial in the centre to make the return journey along Gorton road. St Joseph’s church protruded into the centre of the road making it very precarious to walk around the front of the church. However, a new rectory was built and the pavement was widened. The traffic at that time bore no comparison with today’s continuous flow of heavy traffic, and when cyclists kept to the road and would never ride on the pavement.
The other side of the square along reddish Road after the well-patronised row of shops there was the offices of Seymour mead LTD. a firm of Grocers and provision shop until it was demolished to make way for a busy supermarket. The next landmark was one of our two railway stations, South Reddish and well used, never relegated to one passenger train weekly on Friday afternoon.
On Gorton road I remember the police station closing, now converted into residential flats. The well-equipped fire station closing and eventually becoming a busy community centre; the public swimming baths now closed down because it did not show a profit, and then I remember the library, which was as quiet as the mortuary which was situated in the yard at the rear. It was a pleasure to wander around the book shelves, sit and read a newspaper unlike, nowadays where the library is probably the noisiest building in the parish. The old mill employed very many local residents at the Victoria Houldsworth and Broadstone mill, I also remember that all the local shops in those far off-days lost their identities year after year whereas now due to severe competition from the supermarket, the little shops change hands regularly. It is called progress. I prefer the old days, when young and old could walk the streets safely.
Stan Prescott. (Memories of north Reddish)