The Monkees

I just can’t stay away – I’m here again.

Lately I have been frequenting bad houses
Places no respectable man would be seen
I hate myself for my weakness
My past sickens me
I tell myself I will not go
Even as I drive there

Big Black

Except that I walk here, the houses are not bad, I’m almost entirely respectable, my past is far from sickening and I tell myself I will go there.

I just happen to like Big Black, but thought that quoting Pleasant Valley Sunday was too obvious.

So here we are again again and again – the national preoccupation with owner occupation incarnate.

Additions, extensions and amendments, the tidy-minded residents abide in a slowly evolving closed system of happy habitation.

Once there was a school – from May 16th 1898, there was a school.

One of many Manchester School Board schools built in an imposing functional, triple storied style, they often seemed several times too big, for the infants which they contained.

With one thousand five hundred pupils, it was dubbed the largest school in Lancashire.

Nestled in a tight corner formed by the Lanky Cut and the train line below, surrounded by the huddled masses, in their manifold terraced homes.

Once home to cheeky monkey, soon to be Monkee Davy Jones.

His runaway, overnight fame made his humble Gorton home a mecca for adoring fans.

The school’s interior was a mix of wide open halls and closeted classrooms.

Archive photographs from the Manchester Local Image Collection

Eventually the school bell rang for the last time, and a newer brighter home was found for the little learners.

Lights were turned off and the doors of Varna Street were closed.

But not for the last time, a new use was found for this recently listed building.

Having lost their city centre base Rogue Studios were offered the site by the local authority, and in double quick time they have created a home for artists, a community resource and project space, which will continue to prosper for years to come.

Many thanks to Ms. Jenny Steele Rogue artist for my guided tour.