Manchester Ship Canal

Seeing Geoff Smethhurst's interesting piece on the Manchester Ship Canal as part of the "History Shorts" series on Sunday stirred my memory banks and prompted me to delve into the box of old photos in the loft.

I came up with the attached which were taken in 1962/3 on a school trip around the Manchester Docks end of the canal during my first year of teaching. The canal then was still thriving especially with the opening of the St Lawrence Seaway which took ships from the Atlantic into the interior of the USA and Canada via the Great Lakes.

I can also remember the queues of traffic held up as the swing bridge near the Old Trafford ground opened to allow the regular tanker supply of stout from Dublin to get to its berth at the Guinness Wharf.

How things have changed. My grandchildren now open water swim, sail and kayak on those same waters.

Anthony Pearson