Some Local Characters

One person whose name is always remembered in Gatley is William Scholes. I knew him very well when I was a boy. He was an estate agent and he lived in Gatley Road. He used to walk about with two black spaniel dogs. He was a bachelor and lived with his niece. He once said to my brother and I, "Would you like to go to the Wembley Exhibition in London?" This was in 1923. He offered to pay our expenses which were 30/- from Gatley Station. We thought that this was very good of him and that we would like to consider it. We met him in the street the next day and told him we would not like to go, we would rather have a bike! In the end we got nothing. He was a good man and on his death he left several thousand pounds to Cheadle and Gatley council who spent the money on the playing fields that bear his name. He is buried in Cheadle Cemetery and you will find his grave on the right hand side as you go in, there is a big granite statue. William Scholes died in 1927. He was buried by Bagleys the undertakers in a lead lined coffin. This was often done in those days. I remember Dick Newton the plumber had the job of soldering them all up!

Another character was a chap called Doctor LePage.
Where the Tatton Cinema is now there used to be a big old house called "The Poplars" and Dr.LePage lived there in 1913 or thereabouts. He used to grow all his own herbs in the garden to make his own medicines with. We would climb over the wall into his garden to go scrumping for apples. In an old shed at the bottom of his garden he kept skulls and skeletons that he used in his doctoring! They would scare us half to death!

I remember another chap called Green. We used to call him "Gatley" Green. He lived on Gatley Road and he was a bit of a character. He would get in a cab at Cheadle and then jump out at the bridge in Gatley. He would go to Reekies cafe in Cheadle, my auntie Nellie worked there, and he would bet you that you could take the biggest duck you could find and there would be no more than 1/4lb of meat on it when it was cooked. Then he would bring you a meat pie and bet you that you couldn't eat it in 5 minutes. The meat would be raw!
He would bet you that he could beat a tram running! The race was from the George and Dragon in Cheadle to the bridge at Gatley Station. Everyone would take the bet and then he would run in front of the tram so it couldn't pass him!

Then there was Teddy Lord, the butcher. He had a butchers shop on the corner of Elm Road. He used to kill all the beasts on his own premises. He advertised in the local paper that he did this. You couldn't get that now.
I remember one day a cow got out and ran up Church Lane. No one could catch it! He also kept a lot of sheep on Gatley Golf Course and he would bring them all through the village at midnight to take them to the shop for slaughtering.

Another chap was Mr. Shields who lived in Buxton Street, the only street in Gatley! He kept hens where Green Walk is now, we would take scraps up to feed them and he would give us sweets in return. He was a nice man to us kids. He was a Yorkshireman who came to live in Gatley from Sheffield.

Then there was a nice man called Mr. Blurton. He was a councilor for Gatley ward. Every evening he would come for his paper to the paper shop. About four or five of us lads would be standing outside. He always asked us what sweets we would like. We always asked for caramels and he would buy half a pound and tell us to divide them up between us. We would thank him very much and be there again the next night.
Bad luck if you missed him!!