To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the release of film classic Love on the Dole SalfordOnline.com linked up with the British Film Institute (BFI) to offer readers the chance to win one of two Blu-Ray reissue copies.
The entries to our competition flooded in by the hundreds.
But why is Love on the Dole still so well-regarded today?
Professor Chris Hopkins from Sheffield Hallam University is a Walter Greenwood obsessive, and spoke to SalfordOnline.com ahead of the publication of his forthcoming book on the author: Love on the Dole, Novel, Play, Film
“This book has worn well and stood the test of time: Greenwood was a very good writer and a lot of his other material has been overlooked by the success of Love on the Dole, rather unfairly in my opinion.
“By writing this book from the view of an insider, ironically he became an outsider as it transformed his life, bringing him incredible wealth and fame.
“Walter saw the old Hanky Park being demolished, but instead of the utopia that the planners had hoped for it managed to destroy the community spirit that the area was famous for. He did return to the area to see the ‘new’ Hanky park and he wasn’t impressed, despite the planners naming a block of flats after him, which itself is now demolished.
“I think if Walter was alive today he would still be writing about the plight of the working people in Salford and public affairs and to some extent saying that things are worse now than when they were in the 1930’s and that lessons have to be learnt.
“I have made several visits to Salford to do my research and gleaned much material from the Greenwood Archive at Salford University which holds his manuscripts and letters.
“It is not widely known that Greenwood was commisioned by John Bull magazine to write a short story follow-up to Love on the Dole; it makes for interesting reading.
“Sally Hardcastle, who married the bookie Sam Grundy to better her and her family’s life ends up living in Wales in comparative luxury and quite enjoys her new life away from Hanky Park.
“She even loses her working class accent and when returning on a visit to Salford realises that she doesn’t like the place, which is quite ironic really.”
For the competition we asked our readers to answer this simple question: “What is the two-word name of the now-demolished ‘slum’ area of Salford in which the film is set?”
The answer was of course: Hanky Park.
The first two names out of our fabled lucky hat were; Trish Houghton from Eccles and Debbie Brooks from Salford.
Trish told SalfordOnline.com, “Normally I couldn’t win a fight, so I am delighted to have won this prize and a bit shocked to be honest.
“This will be our weekend television-watching treat, I shall invite a few friends round, a couple of bottles of wine and enjoy the film.
“I love local history and this film is a classic, it’s a great reminder of the old days of Salford, before the developers moved in and ruined it.
“It’s also a great reminder of the not so good old days and the hardships that people endured.
Debbie Brooks told us: “What a wonderful surprise, I had told my friends that I had entered the competition but I couldn’t believe that I had won it.
“I am really looking forward to watching the film, I have read the book but to be honest I haven’t yet seen the film.
“I shall be watching this over the weekend with my husband Tony and possibly having a few friends round to have a walk down memory lane.”
Commiserations if you didn’t win this time, but we will have plenty of competitions coming up in the near future.
