13, Wigmore Road

Thirty years ago my parents sold their large Victorian villa and bought a bungalow in Crumpsall. Manley Road was where my father spent his teenage years, and where he first set up home with our mother, on the top floor. It never felt like their own home, which was why my mother was so happy when she was given the keys to a council house in Woodhouse Park on the Wythenshawe estate, where they lived for about eight years. They returned to Manley Road which was given to them as a gift by my grandparents, but they never really appreciated it or loved it. When they bought Wigmore Road they loved it, it truly felt like their first home, and they spent thirty happy years there. It was a mess when they bought it, but my father redecorated it beautifully. They added a front porch, a side porch and a rear sun lounge — where in practice my father tended to live, and where they ate their meals and my father did his reading and writing, much as they had lived in the one room, the former kitchen, at Manley Road.

My mother died on 30th October 2016, and my father died on 17th March 2019. On April 9th I went to Manchester and spent three days tidying and decluttering, and took some photographs before and after as a reminder of their beloved home.

A spelter statue that was given to my father by a customer. I recall it is of Neptune by the Moreau brothers.

My parents' living room.

Looking through from the living room to the dining room and sun lounge. On the coffee table are my father's medals ready to be placed on his coffin.

These are some of my mother's books, together with photographs of her parents and many souvenirs.

The dining room, rarely used, and the display cabinets with a lifetime of souvenirs.

On the table a Wedgwood fruitbowl I bought for my parents when working at Kendal Milne in about 1970. The chair in the left-hand corner was once sat in by Rodney Marsh, the Manchester City player, when he visited my mother.

Some of the many gifts and souvenirs that they treasured.

My parents' bedroom. I bought the bed about fifteen years ago when my father was given six months to live after surgery for bowel cancer.

The lift was installed about four years ago when my mother could no longer cope with the stairs.

My parents fell in love with the house because of its spiral staircase.

The Picasso reproduction I bought from Athena in Manchester when I succeeded in persuading my parents to redecorate the front room at Manley Road, but the room remained unused.

The painting of a mountain was done by my great uncle Zio Nin, Giovanni Figar, husband of my grandmother's sister Maria in Gorizia.

A painting by the owner of a hotel at Gatteo a Mare on the Adriatic coast where my parents stayed several times.

A glimpse through to the kitchen, past photographs of my parents.

Here I have removed the 'Rodney Marsh' chair.

Photographs from the Estate Agent

Some Photographs Taken in Recent Years