So interesting and well researched. Love the memories of the interviewees. The activity of eyeing up the opposite sex out on the streets was alive and well in 70’s Glasgow - and surely most other cities. Not confined to one day and not in crowds blocking the streets - a very diluted descendant of the monkey run perhaps.
That, and hanging around outside the local chippy or cafe - usually smoking a shared cigarette bought for a few pence - is how we socialised in our teens. I met my first long term boyfriend that way.
Once we progressed to jobs - or the dole, due to high unemployment- we could afford the occasional hot drink sitting inside a cafe!
Coming from 'The low area' of Collyhurst I don't think we had a Monkey Run as such in the early 60s . I seem to remember it all happened at school. Maybe it's due to us staying on at school for longer ,to 15 ,then 16 and in my case going into 6th form.
Happy days and memories, thanks Dave for this nostalgic piece. My family moved from Collyhurst to Moston in 1968 during the clearances so I remember Conran Street very well.
Fascinating. My dad used to talk about the monkey parade in Coalville, Leicestershire, in the 1930s. I’d assumed it was a local phenomenon, which it clearly wasn’t. He also said there was never any trouble, quite remarkable for a gathering of so many young people. I’ve been interested in finding out more - your article has provided a lot of very helpful information
You’re right. The industrial working class. Though not confided to cities. Must have been all been communicated by street level word of mouth. Reminds me a little of how the sixties mods changed fashion each week but no one seemed to tell each other what the new look would be. It seems like it’s the same dynamic at work. The thirties has always been seen (in many ways quite rightly) as a dark and unglamorous period with no colour. But this was a phenomenon where kids refused to be told what to do and went out and created their own fun among all the drabness. “Recession ragtime” as Ian Penman put it, in another context, in the sleeve notes on the eighties compilation Mutant Disco. It’s a dynamic and creative piece of social history that has hitherto been untold. Until now
My Mum and Dad (both born and raised in Trafford Park) spent their teens walking from The Park to Cross Lane and the 'picture houses' along the way, with a bit of window shopping thrown in. They were aghast when I took them back down Regent Road and Cross Lane a few years ago, wondering where everything had gone. Mum and Dad met in kindergarten at St Antony's, Trafford Park and never had another boyfriend or girlfriend (married over 70 years), so they missed out on the Monkey Walk as a courting ritual. Their stomping ground with their mates took in the same routes and they remembered it all vividly until they passed away. One of my Dad's favourite sayings, whenever our house was steamed up with condensation, was 'it's like a Cross Lane chippy in here'. I had no clue what he meant when I was little! Thanks for this lovely piece.
So interesting and well researched. Love the memories of the interviewees. The activity of eyeing up the opposite sex out on the streets was alive and well in 70’s Glasgow - and surely most other cities. Not confined to one day and not in crowds blocking the streets - a very diluted descendant of the monkey run perhaps.
That, and hanging around outside the local chippy or cafe - usually smoking a shared cigarette bought for a few pence - is how we socialised in our teens. I met my first long term boyfriend that way.
Once we progressed to jobs - or the dole, due to high unemployment- we could afford the occasional hot drink sitting inside a cafe!
Love this. The stuff that also goes on under bus shelters!
Coming from 'The low area' of Collyhurst I don't think we had a Monkey Run as such in the early 60s . I seem to remember it all happened at school. Maybe it's due to us staying on at school for longer ,to 15 ,then 16 and in my case going into 6th form.
Happy days and memories, thanks Dave for this nostalgic piece. My family moved from Collyhurst to Moston in 1968 during the clearances so I remember Conran Street very well.
Yes I get the feeling it had died out by the mid-50s locally and earlier in other places.
Fascinating. My dad used to talk about the monkey parade in Coalville, Leicestershire, in the 1930s. I’d assumed it was a local phenomenon, which it clearly wasn’t. He also said there was never any trouble, quite remarkable for a gathering of so many young people. I’ve been interested in finding out more - your article has provided a lot of very helpful information
I'd love to know how it spread and all the different routes in towns and cities. It seems especially to have been a thing in industrial areas.
You’re right. The industrial working class. Though not confided to cities. Must have been all been communicated by street level word of mouth. Reminds me a little of how the sixties mods changed fashion each week but no one seemed to tell each other what the new look would be. It seems like it’s the same dynamic at work. The thirties has always been seen (in many ways quite rightly) as a dark and unglamorous period with no colour. But this was a phenomenon where kids refused to be told what to do and went out and created their own fun among all the drabness. “Recession ragtime” as Ian Penman put it, in another context, in the sleeve notes on the eighties compilation Mutant Disco. It’s a dynamic and creative piece of social history that has hitherto been untold. Until now
My Mum and Dad (both born and raised in Trafford Park) spent their teens walking from The Park to Cross Lane and the 'picture houses' along the way, with a bit of window shopping thrown in. They were aghast when I took them back down Regent Road and Cross Lane a few years ago, wondering where everything had gone. Mum and Dad met in kindergarten at St Antony's, Trafford Park and never had another boyfriend or girlfriend (married over 70 years), so they missed out on the Monkey Walk as a courting ritual. Their stomping ground with their mates took in the same routes and they remembered it all vividly until they passed away. One of my Dad's favourite sayings, whenever our house was steamed up with condensation, was 'it's like a Cross Lane chippy in here'. I had no clue what he meant when I was little! Thanks for this lovely piece.
Thanks Jo, that's brilliant to hear. Properly a different world wasn't??