Just over three years ago I was waxing lyrical about a visit to a small independent hardware shop in Stalybridge. Well, another annoying leak has cursed me so it was a return trip back to Stalybridge Homecare for me.
At some shops you may get good service but at Stalybridge Homecare the service is truly outstanding.
Now do not doubt me when I say DIY is not my forte. In fact I am sure I could learn a trick or two from Frank Spencer but God loves a trier and times are hard so out come the toolbox and up into the loft I ventured.
The leak was soon identified and the cause was a faulty ball cock valve. Knowing this is a specialist part I made my way to another good local shop called ATS Plumbing Supplies which is on Hyde Road in Denton. I showed the gentleman serving a photograph of the leaking valve and thankfully he had one in stock and as he placed it on the counter and I looked at it I guessed this will be at least £15 due to the heavyweight construction and type of metal used, to my surprise it was mine for the bargain price of £4.90 including two free washers which I later discovered that I would have been snookered without. So with part in hand and open toolbox in the loft I headed back to see what damage I could do.
Getting into the loft is not particularly easy but after a struggle the ball cock valve and I were reunited with the toolbox and in place and ready to go - only to fall at the first hurdle. As luck would have it my largest wrench was one size too small to do the job and upon discovering this I felt fury rising and as I glanced around I focussed on the the hammer and thought about bashing something out of pure frustration but I decided against and thought it better to go in search of a suitable tool. Remembering my previous good experience at Stalybridge Homecare it was there that I headed to purchase a wrench.
I walked in to be greeted by a gentleman serving, a person who also happened to be the proprietor and as I placed my open ended size 20 to 22 wrench on the counter and explained that it was just a little too small and that I wanted to purchase something similar but a little larger he responded by asking what job was I intending to use it for.
During this exchange I glanced at an adjustable wrench hanging on a wall display and I said "that's fine, I've seen what I need and I will take this please". The shopkeeper was in no hurry to sell me the wrench and he produced a ball cock valve very similar to the one I had just purchased in Denton. I was surprised that he stocked such an item but there again, this shop does seem to stock virtually every DIY item under the sun.
He then proceeded to tell me how ball cock valves work and why they fail and even more amazingly, and this is one reason which makes Stalybridge Homecare such a wonderful shop, he said put the wrench back and buy this 10p solid rubber washer instead and you can fix your old valve with it and therefore you won't need the wrench, he then set about explaining how to repair the old valve - now that is what you call outstanding service!
I insisted that I bought the wrench anyway as I knew it would come in useful at some point in the future and I was then treated to a history lesson on Victorian plumbing and construction methods but unbeknown to the shopkeeper he was speaking to a self confessed anorak when it comes to our past industrial glories and Victorian Britain in general.
The shopkeeper then explained that he was a boilermaker by profession and he gave a fascinating account of a job he once participated in that involved making three boilers to a unique design as specified by the Royal Navy. The Navy insisted that the boilers must be cold riveted, something which was unusual and very difficult to achieve.
He then asked me a question about a famous Victorian engineer who had a big influence locally, before I could answer he went on to say that he has asked lots of people and virtually nobody knows who he was which was a pity because he saved lots of lives with his invention plus, he was a distant relative of the shopkeeper. I asked what type of engineer was this Victorian distant ancestor was and when he said a famous local boiler maker I knew he was talking about Daniel Adamson. He seemed very impressed that I knew this snippet of information and the conversation continued. He was just in the process of extolling the virtues of the Fred Dibnah Heritage Centre when another customer entered the shop so with that I made my exit but not before promising to return with an opinion once I have visited the aforementioned heritage centre.
So there you have it. Next time you are in need of hardware supplies or fancy speaking to a genuinely enthusiastic and interesting local personality you know to head to 15 Market Ave SK15 2AL where you will find Stalybridge Homecare.
25 comments:
I walk my dog past the blue plaque on Adamson Street regularly and can remember walking (trespassing) across the large area of open land that used to be next to it that was Dewsnap Farm, in the 70s, now Richmond Park estate.
Such large open spaces in urban areas, as well as such innovative and significant manufacturing operations are increasingly scarce in modern Britain.
Do they sell tartan paint?
And I thought Irene Woodcock wittered on!
She does, almost always about nothing.
roy said how much is a hacksaw ?
I know an anorak very similar, the sad thing is I find him interesting when he parrots on about ww2 history and geology.
Its good to know that local shops like this still exist. The sight of chain store after chainstore staffed by clueless clockwatchers is one thing that truly annoys me.
The larger shops manage to sell everything and yet nothing of any use at the same time.
My house is full of overpriced tat that failed to do whatever job I bought them for.
A study estimates up to 200 languages are being used in the city – up from 153 at the last count. This includes one speaker of Eleme – a language native to Nigeria which is thought to be spoken by just 3,000 people worldwide.
Manchester is a multicultural melting pot with its residents speaking up to 200 different languages, according to new research.
A study estimates up to 200 languages are being used in the city – up from 153 at the last count. This includes one speaker of Eleme – a language native to Nigeria which is thought to be spoken by just 3,000 people worldwide.
Meanwhile, Urdu is the most popular language after English with more than 10,000 speakers in the city.
Yaron Matras, professor of linguistics at the University of Manchester, estimates around 40 per cent of young people and close to 50pc of the city’s adult population are likely to be multilingual.
Prof Matras believes the city’s language prowess is benefiting the economy, by opening up business links with countries including China, India and the Middle East. He said: “We are receiving a very important resource for free.
Alex Robertson, a researcher on the project, considers language diversity to be one of Manchester’s greatest strengths.
She said: “After working closely with schoolchildren and services in the city, I can confidently say our numerous languages are not a barrier but a rich resource which holds powerful potential.”
Are we not lucky the ones? 200 languages, diversity is strength, language prowess etc etc etc ad nauseum.
I thought we fought a war so we wouldn't end up speaking German?
The interesting figure to focus on from all this PC propaganda is: "40 per cent of young people and close to 50pc of the city’s adult population are likely to be multilingual"
You do understand what that means?
One epic action film made real life I would say. Bring it on.
Yeah but house prices are up as bit and unemployment's down a bit and the retail Prices Index...yack yack yack, while the indigenous population is being eradicated.
It makes no odds, indigenous or immigrant stock England will still be England. There is more to Englishness than skin colour alone. If the Englishman of the future is brown rather than white he still an Englishman so lets not get bogged down with the minor details and let us instead work together for the greater good of all.
Tameside, the next biggest underspenders – by £7.5m – put the surplus down to 350 staff leaving the town hall, as well as rejigged council services – for example by placing fewer elderly residents in care homes by promoting independence.
Note the political terminology "as well as rejigged council services"
and "promoting independence"
Stopping Meals on Wheels,abandoning road holes and road markings is definitely a major step forward by the well heeled Councillors and Councillors bringing in their wives onto the gravy wagon,increasing their properties portfolio.
A bunch of liars,sleazy,and
corrupt people run the show,time for showdown.
Why people on here spend so much time obsessing over what councillors are up to puzzles me. They’re an aloof oligarchy, by dint of the fact that in recent years the local populace have virtually written them an electoral blank cheque.
An ice age effects change, brutal repression provokes change. Liberal democracy breeds indifference and apathy, not revolution. So long as state pension pots are kept topped up, so long as people have foreign holidays free health care and flash cars, so long as the general milieu remains relatively stable, nothing is going to dislodge the backsides of those currently holding the reins from the seat of power. As such, all we can do is see to our own needs and ensure we don’t suffer the ill effects of what the indifferent majority are prepared to tolerate or even celebrate – be it lazy politicians or demographic suicide.
Change will come slowly, like a creeping wilderness that is ever more difficult to ignore. Two wards (Mossley & Werneth) in Tameside with white majorities recently elected muslim Labour councillors. As ‘party of the people’ Labour will (in time) become a semi Islamic party, keen to cater for and represent the ever growing muslim population. And as the example in Tameside shows us, the white British will be quite happy to tag along and join the party. And given the growing rate of inter-racial breeding between the white British and black Africans, multi-culturalism at home will ensure no serious ethnocentric opposition ever comes to the fore.
Those still interested in saving something worthwhile of the white race should check out PLE and related seperatist movements. The rest should go out canvassing for UKIP in the blind and feeble hope that democracy will one day start that ever allusive winning hand for them.
Anon@12.08 you have just about hit the nail on the head with that post.
@ One nation many colours, if it makes no difference why are so many non-western countries pits of regression, savagery, corruption and barbarism, no matter how many resources they've got and whatever aid and assistance they get.
Small numbers of similar, like minded, ready to assimilate and contribute, immigrants is no problem. What's happening now is the diametric opposite and is the planned destruction of the White western race by forced mass immigration, outbreeding and miscegenation and it's ONLY happening in the west.
They don't have self-desturctive alien invented concepts like 'racism' in fundamentally sensible, ordered, virtually homogenous countries like Japan, Korea and China where they stick together and look after their own.
Those unopposed are also unopposed to the destruction of the North American Indian and the Aborigines.
It doesn't matter if white people morph into brown as they will still be human and they will still be English.
Ask an asian for example residing in the UK and they'll describe themselves as Asian or British Asian, they NEVER describe themselves as English, because they're not. The same goes for a Nigerian, Japanese or Mongol.
What's in a name, English/British/black/white, it matters not as we all are human beings living on this sceptred isle. It is our inclusiveness that gives us strength and a real sense of nationhood
Sense of nationhood? People too poor and dejected to care about voting? People too scared to leave their home for fear of being mugged? A police force too scared to tackle crime for fear of being called racist? The national flag removed at the wishes of 'offended' ethnic minorities?
Pure fantasy. Every group here look after its own with special organisations, organised along racial and religious lines, all except the indigenous population, who are too scared and too disenfranchised to do anything. It is a hostile takeover, organised by those too wealthy to feel the effects immediately.
Sack Nick Griffin and vote for an inclusive Britain.
"Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily."
@ One nation, Manifestly irrational and untrue soundbites plus a total lack of specifics and reasoned argument give the lie to your posts.
There is no inclusiveness apart from the superficial. There are ghettos full of alien/semi-alien communities who hate our flag, hate us and hate everything we stand for.
The demographics don't lie and on its current course the British indigenous population will be destroyed in a few decades.
The above is indisputable. What is in doubt is what the indigenous are prepared to do about it.
Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva has criticised the 'stunt' performed by Swedish athletes supporting the LGBT (homosexual and transgender) community during the World Cahmpionships in Moscow, calling it 'disrespectful' to Russia. This was after Swedish high jumoer Emma Green-Tregaro painted her nails in raibbow colours after Russia's recent passing into law of 'anti-gay' laws.
The reality is Russia has banned the promotion of homoexuality to under 18s. As Isinbayeva said, 'If we allow people to promote this we are scared for our nation. we consider us normal people, where boys live with women, women live with boys. It comes from our history. We have never had any of these problems in Russia and we don't want to have it in the furure.'
Neither do millions in Europe and the UK, but unlike one of Russia's most female sports stars, THEY haven't got the balls (ironically) to say so publicly.
Compare the national behaviour of Sweden (neutral) and Russia (30 million plus dead) in WWII to see where the roots of 'tolerance' lie.
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