Photographs reveal forgotten Manchester and Salford slums
- Published
Photographs taken at the time of Manchester and Salford's post-war inner-city clearance programmes have gone on show.
Photographer Shirley Baker died in 2014 aged 82, leaving behind a body of work that had received little attention over her 55-year career.
An exhibition of her images is now on show at Manchester Art Gallery.
It focuses on what Baker saw as the needless destruction of working-class communities between the 1960s and 80s.
The museum held an open day in the hope of tracking down people who featured in the photographs, some of whom have come forward.
Baker's images often show families going about their daily lives, with gangs of children playing in the street.
Broken urban landscapes of rubble, junk and abandoned shops also feature widely, at a time when dilapidated old houses were being bulldozed.
Many hundreds of homes fell into disrepair in the post-war era - sometimes due to bomb damage - forcing some families to leave for new areas.
Baker, who was born in Salford in 1932, once said: "Whole streets were disappearing and I hoped to capture some trace of the everyday life of people who lived there.
"I wanted to photograph the mundane, even trivial aspects of life not being recorded by anyone else, rather than the organised and official activities."
Mary Sullivan, Sally Sheldon, Kate Withington and Bridget Cunniffe grew up in Honduras Street in Chorlton-on-Medlock, which features in some of the photographs.
Ms Cunniffe said: "We didn't have much room to play in our house, because it was just a two-up, two-down, and we had just a little back yard where all the washing used to be done.
"So we were always outside. Those demolished playgrounds were our playgrounds."
Brothers Stephen, Derek and Peter Williamson, who lived as part of a 10-strong family in Gertrude Street in Ordsall, Salford, are pictured in the exhibition.
"It was known as tea leaf alley, because all the old ladies used to empty their teapots into the road," Derek said.
"I smile when I see [the photographs] now. I think they were good times. I appreciated everything we had."
Women and Children: and Loitering Men will be on show at Manchester Art Gallery until the end of July