If only, if only…

If only they hadn’t knocked down Belle Vue in Gorton, East Manchester.

If they hadn’t, whoever THEY were (the usual unholy alliance of business and politicians probably), Manchester would today have an asset to rival Alton Towers right on the edge of the city.

My childhood revolved around trips to Belle Vue.

Regularly for the funfair or zoo (which was very dodgy, but different times) and annually for the circus. Every Christmas Simon Carves Engineering in Cheadle Heath, where my mum worked as a waitress, would take the workers’ kids on coaches to see the circus and have a kiddies’ banquet. Magical.

Belle Vue also included gardens, a lake, speedway, a concert hall and greyhounds. but it was the rollercoaster, or Bobs, as we Mancunians called it, on the fairground that captivated us most. Old, rickety, but incredible fun.

So it’s the Bobs that features in my unashamedly nostalgic hand-painted Gorton poster, along with the magnificent Gorton Monastery, which, unlike Belle Vue, thankfully still survives in all its glory.

The poster, in all its many forms, is available to buy at the ‘shop online’ page at statementartworks.com