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HISTORY
During the 1930s, Messrs. Longworth and Taylor bought several plots of land in the area for building purposes. They built the Humphrey Park and nearby Newcroft estates in 1937/8. Due to the Great Depression of the 1930s, approximately 100 of the houses remained unsold and these were put up for rent, although many have now been sold.
Humphrey Park and District Residents Society was founded in 1946 by Mr A Storry of Humphrey Crescent, with a view to improving the facilities that were lacking on the new Humphrey Park estate.
The following article appeared in a local newspaper:
The "No Man's Land" Estate
HUMPHREY PARK IS NOW ON THE MAP
For years residents of Humphrey Park have been labouring under a grievance. To understand their troubles, one has to know Humphrey Park. Built midway between Stretford and Urmston, it enjoys the presence of both and the benefits of none.
Building commenced in 1936, finished only four years ago. Once having built the houses, the other less urgent work was left - and that is where the trouble started. Roads and pavements are uncompleted; no social centre exists, nearest telephone and post-box facilities are, at night time, unobtainable, and kiddies over 11 have a two-mile walk to school.
Lately, several residents felt that the time for action had come. Letters to newspapers was the first step. Next came the formation of a Residents' Society. A meeting in St Clement's Branch Church last Thursday attracted a 250-strong audience. They became enrolled members of the Humphrey Park and District Residents' Association. "And district" means from Moss Vale Road to the Stretford boundary.
PROGRESS REPORT
Revealed was the progress made in several friendly conferences with the council. A Community Centre, bowling-green, and kiddies playground are to be built on spare land in the middle of the estate. A telephone booth will be erected by the Post Office. A library, either mobile or permanent, will be provided. Pavements will be completed. A footbridge will be built over the railway, giving access to the Lostock area. Chief sore-point - unfinished roads - will be remedied as soon as Ministry of Health permission is received.
This goes some way towards the Society's aims. Further amenities they want are a railway halt, a primary school for young children, and improved bus services, especially to Trafford Park.
When these tasks are accomplished, Humphrey Park will be more like a modern housing estate and be less like an isolated outpost cut off from civilisation.
But the residents will not disband then, and consider their work is finished. In their community centre, they will arrange socials, whist drives, and dances, with a special eye in children's welfare, in an attempt to re-foster the spirit which was developed in war-time. If unsuccessful in this worthy aim, the Society can at least take consolation in that, by their own efforts, they have transformed Humphrey Park from a dull, despised area, into the kind of modern estate that planners dream about.
Officials elected are: Chairman, Mr A Storry, 15 Humphrey Crescent; Secretary, Mr H Darbyshire, 1 Humphrey Lane; Associate Secretary, Mr H Jennions, 57 Humphrey Lane; Treasurer, Mr Clegg, 60 Humphrey Lane; Associate Treasurer, Mr Hunt, 26 Mount Drive. Other committee members are Mr Bailey and Mr Lee (representing Owner-Occupiers), and Mesdames Mountford, Green, Ashworth, Ralph, Oglesby, and Isherwood.
The original article is also shown here:
Some of the Residents' Society Committee 1948.
From Left: Mr H Crossland, Mr Lees, Mrs Green, Mrs Jarrett, Mrs Lindly, Mrs Wilcock, Mr Clegg, Mrs Brookes, Mrs Isherwood.
Through the efforts of this society, all the facilities enjoyed by residents were provided:
A public telephone box on Humphrey Lane - now removed.
A pillar box on Humphrey Lane.
A tunnel under the railway to Chatsworth Road.
A footpath between Old Firwood and New Firwood.
Road surfacing and improvements to street lighting.
A small playground for children on Humphrey Crescent (which is no longer there).
Building of the community centre.
Laying out of a bowling green.
Provision of a school bus service.
Commencement of an Old Folks Club at the community centre.
Provision of a library.
Attempts to obtain a railway halt were eventually shelved by British Rail until such time as the line was electrified. Humphrey Park Railway Station (one of two new low cost experimental stations) was eventually opened in 1984.
One of the last efforts of the society was to put pressure on the County Council, which eventually led to the building of Highfield School. The society disbanded in October 1952 because they considered that they had achieved everything they had set out to do.
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