Photographs taken on the Adswood estate in Stockport in late 1978 and early 1979 have emerged, showing a community living in poverty but refusing to let spirits be broken. The estate was home, a year later, to Angela Bowen – now Angela Rayner – who grew up to become a trade union leader, MP and Deputy Prime Minister.
"People were living in poor conditions and were not well off economically. But they were all mucking in together and making the most of it."
Forty pictures of a neglected estate
Phil Portus, then a geography teacher at a Stockport school, walked the streets of Adswood with his camera. He still has 40 photographs from the period. The images capture an estate in the grip of poverty, but they also reflect a spirit of defiance in the beaming smiles of its children.
On a stairwell, someone had embossed the message: "Welcome to The Forgotten Streets. An Exhibition By the BEA Tenants Action Group on 13th November at 7.30pm St Ambrose Hall Burrswood Drive."
Portus, now 78, recalled how poorly looked after the estate was. Residents living there had felt forgotten by the cash-strapped town hall, and in 1978 they decided to fight back, setting up an action group and holding meetings to discuss tactics.
The fight for improvements
"The estate was poorly looked after. I remember there was a cellar in one home which was just full of water. Some of my photographs showed peeling paintwork and wallpaper and broken windows but it was much worse than my images showed. The pictures were taken when local residents were campaigning to improve the area."
"That area was rundown. As you can see in one of my pictures there was meeting held, which I went to, where there were councillors and locals who had formed an action group. My friend Steve Chapman also took pictures and one of his can be seen on a board in the room where the meeting was held."
An unfinished story
Portus said he has not been back to Adswood to take more photographs, but would like to if people came forward to be photographed again and tell their stories.
"I have not been back to take anymore photographs and maybe I could at some stage. If people cam forward and said 'oh that's me' I would get in touch with them and say lets go back to Adswood and I will take your photograph again and record your story. It is a story that needs to be told and an unfinished story."
Angela Rayner was born into poverty on the estate and was mainly raised by her grandmother, who had three jobs to put food on the table. She is now Secretary of State for Housing in Andy Burnham's new Government and changed her name to Rayner in 2010 when she married her then husband.
Portus's book, Salford: Langworthy Weaste Ordsall Regent Road Photographs from 1977 - 2026, was recently published.
