Together Trust Archive

“While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door”.` 'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door - Only this, and nothing more." -  The Raven , Edgar Allan Poe (1 845)  It’s Halloween at the Together Trust and as staff members dress up in scary costumes to raise money for the charity the archive delves deep into its gloomy depths in search of spooky tales. Can you tell the difference?

We have had another exciting donation for our archive collection this week.  First Page of Daddy's Bobby Book

I was lent a book recently entitled, ' The Gangs of Manchester: The Story of The Scuttlers' by Andrew Davies . The book revolves around Manchester at the end of the nineteenth century and the turf wars which existed between groups of teenagers. Scuttlers belonged to their own distinct group; the Bengal Tigers, the Meadow Lads and the Pollard Street Scuttlers, to name a few, fiercely defended their own patch. Weapons included belt buckles and knives as well as the boy’s fists and feet. From 1870 the industrial slums of Manchester and Salford saw the emergence of a brutal gang culture that lasted for 30 years.  Strangeways Prison – A common sight to many a scuttler “A scuttler is a lad, usually between the ages of 14 and 18, or even 19, and scuttling consists of the fighting of two opposed bands of youths, who are armed with various weapons”. — Alexander Devine , Scuttlers and Scuttling: Their Prevention and Cure. (Manchester, 1890)  So how is this book relevant

On Sunday 6th October Inscape House opened its doors to former pupils and staff to celebrate the school’s 20th anniversary. This had been preceded on Friday by the grand opening of its newly built extension. The outcome was a lot of laughter, catching up with old friends and plenty of cake! It seems apt after a weekend of celebration to look a bit more closely at the last 20 years of the school. It has been an interesting one! Inscape Birthday Cake