Didsbury Show, 1949

The Didsbury & South Manchester Agricultural Society held a show each year, latterly on Simon Field between Stenner Lane and Ford Lane. The picture shows that in 1949 it was well attended. Colonel Gidlow-Jackson, one of the judges, is pictured, front left, with stick under his left arm. In 1960, the show attracted 12,000 visitors. But when Lord Simon died and the field became the property of Manchester Corporation, it is said that the Corporation would not allow the Society its traditional free use of the field, and furthermore would not let it on August Bank Holiday, so the show of 1966 was the last of a long series. Broomcroft can be seen in the distance.

Local householder Jack Hopper, who bought 3 Harefield Drive in 1947, once recalled how cows being led down Fordbank Road on their way to the Agricultural Show annoyed local residents by trampling in their gardens.