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Waterloo Place, Watson Square, STOCKPORT, SK1 3AZ

On the footway (guessing) is a very fine pea gravel spread over resin spread over tarmac. Around the trees is what appears to be another form of the material: a greater depth of coarser aggregate bound in a colourless resin. It will be disrupted by roots as the trees grow.

Situated on Waterloo Rd, Strawberry Studios were once owned by, and home of, 10cc and they were used to record the bands most popular albums in their 1970s peak. Subsequent visitors include Joy Division, The Stone Roses and The Smiths, although, as the plaque on the wall reminds us, it also welcomed less edgy performers such as Paul McCartney, Neil Sedaka and The Syd Lawrence Orchestra. More here: https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/strawberry-studios-manchester-crowdfunder-reopen-13490079

Another Robinsons pub Image that has bitten the dust.

On the corner of Waterloo Road and Canal Street. Image

The sign for the Waterloo Image

On Sunday 4th June 1967 a Canadair C-4 Argonaut aircraft owned by British Midland Airways, en-route from Palma de Mallorca to Manchester crashed at Hopes Carr, a small open area off Hillgate. Local people rescued 10 passengers, a stewardess and the pilot before flames engulfed the aircraft. The remaining 72 people aboard perished in the flames. A memorial plaque at the corner of Hopes Carr and Waterloo Road was unveiled by two survivors of the crash in 1998 Image A second memorial dedicated to the rescuers was unveiled in 2002 Image The area Image has remained virtually untouched since the disaster but an area regeneration plan conceived in 2008 planned the creation of 350 apartments and 5000 sqm of commercial space with the memorials being moved to a "peace garden" overlooking the Hempshaw Valley. So far only 46 new homes have been built in the area and the memorials remain where they are.

The memorial unveiled in 1998 by two of the survivors at Hopes Carr Image reads: IN MEMORY OF THE SEVENTY TWO PASSENGERS AND CREW WHO LOST THEIR LIVES IN THE STOCKPORT AIR DISASTER 4th JUNE 1967

Unveiled in 2002 at Hopes Carr Image the plaque reads: This memorial is dedicated to those involved in the rescue and who gave aid at the Stockport Air Disaster 4th June 1967. All were faced with the true horror of tragedy and did not turn away. Their courage saved twelve lives.

A close view of the inscription is Image Extracts from the Wikipedia article: The Stockport air disaster was the crash of a Canadair C-4 Argonaut aircraft owned by British Midland Airways, registration G-ALHG, in a small open area at Hopes Carr near the centre of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England on Sunday 4 June 1967. 72 of the 84 aboard were killed in the accident. Of the 12 survivors, all were seriously injured. It currently stands as the fourth worst disaster in British aviation history.....Investigators with the Accidents Investigation Branch (AIB) determined that the aircraft had run out of fuel because of a previously unrecognised flaw in the model's fuel system.....A number of witnesses to the final seconds aloft of the aircraft claim to have seen the aircraft make a very pronounced turn to port and was quickly levelled out before descending into the Hopes Carr crash site. This strongly suggests that although struggling to control the aircraft at critically slow speed Captain Harry Marlow did exert a degree of control and probably put the aircraft down into open space, albeit an extremely small one. The AIB inquiry cleared Captain Marlow of all blame.

The plaque is detailed on Image