Looking at the story of the Australian House in Platt Fields (which I vaguely remember), I was attracted to the link to the Manchester Flower Show. This was another good money spinner for the printing firm I worked at. We used to produce much of the printed matter for the show. Lots of different winners certificates for the various competitions. Gold, silver, bronze or the Best In Show. The list was endless. We did the publicity posters for it which went up in all the parks and gardens and signs for various uses like No Entry, Exit, Way In, etc. etc. Then there were the thousands of entry forms for exhibitors to fill in. The Parks & Leisure Department was in Cumberland House, Crown Square. The two elderly bosses were getting a bit too old to dash up and down stairs in office blocks, so I had the job of calling on customers to discuss their requirements. Made quite a few friends in the Parks Dept. Nowadays it would be called customer liaison - in my day I was just Tom from the printers. The show was planned months ahead, but as the date loomed closer the pace increased. We printed the many classes of admission tickets. Bonus for me was that I was always given a batch of Complimentary Tickets, which made me very popular with relatives and friends. Mr. McMillan was show secretary originally, then he was succeeded by the very aptly named Roy Bee who, as well as his post with the Parks Dept., used to write a gardening column for the M.E.N. The show grew larger each year, and when you read the list of attractions it makes you wonder how they squeezed it all into the park. My favourite was the White Helmets police motorcycle display team. Their finale with about 12 of them forming a pyramid on a single bike and riding round the arena. The Red Arrows where regular visitors as well as the Red Devils parachute drop. In 2003 it all came to an end. not sure why.
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 19:34:48 +0000