Museum Launch for Tameside Heritage Month

AMONG the highlights for this year’s Heritage Month will be an exhibition about Guide Bridge at Portland Basin Museum, Ashton, as well as the popular Steampunk event.

The display has been assembled in collaboration with Tameside Local History Forum who have extensively researched the district, which lies on Audenshaw’s border with Ashton, and produced some accompanying interpretation panels

There are items relating to the train station which opened in 1841, local businesses, and the Hooley Hill munitions explosion of 1917 which claimed many lives and caused damage as far away as Dukinfield.

The Steampunk event takes place at Portland Basin on Saturday 14 September (11am to 4pm), and offers a view of the future as a Victorian might have envisioned it when power was based on steam rather than electricity.

There will be stalls selling clothing, accessories and books; entertainment from a ukulele band, and the amazing spectacle of people dressed to impress in their Steampunk finery.

Tameside Local Studies and Archives have organised three free Wednesday afternoon talks (September 11, 18, 24) respectively entitled “Life Changes Since the 1960s”, “Overlooking Mottram in the Stone Age” and “Fairbottom Bobs”. All start at 2pm and will be available on Zoom.

The archives centre is on Cotton Street, Ashton. For more information call 0161 342 4242 or visit www.tameside.gov.uk/archives.

If you prefer being in the hills, Millbrook Heritage Trail on Saturday September 7 is a two-mile walk led by Paul Nethercott looking at the rise and fall of the cotton industry in the Stalybridge village.

Meet at Oakgates car park, Hartley Street, off Huddersfield Road, Millbrook, SK15 3EP, at noon. Remember to bring stout footwear, waterproofs or suncream (or both), and a drink and a snack.

Open days at churches, Newton Hall and Ashton’s BAPS Swaminarayan Hindu temple, take place from 6 to 15 September. For full details see Tameside Local History Forum’s leaflet, which is widely available, or take a look at their Facebook page. Alternatively visit www.heritageopendays.org.uk

Cllr Sangita Patel, Tameside Council’s assistant executive member for culture, heritage, participation and sport, said: “Tameside has a fascinating history and the talks, walks, displays and open days lined up in September offer a unique window into our borough’s past.

“Heritage Month and its events are the perfect way not just to find out more about our many impressive buildings, and to learn the stirring stories of our communities and how they developed, but also to celebrate them.”