"I get goosepimples when I go there": The moving story behind the bridge over the A56
16.04.2023 - 08:11
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Thousands of people have used it over decades - but the story behind Altrincham's metal bridge is less well-known. Spanning a busy section of the A56, it stands not only a safe means of passage for pedestrians, particularly schoolchildren, but also as a touching monument.
The story of why the bridge was built is one of tragedy, and dates back to 1967. Gardener Joseph Henry Whitby, a father-of-eleven affectionally known as Harry, was on his way back to work from home after lunch and had come to the junction of Regent Road and Dunham Road when he fell victim to an accident.
His son, Gordon Whitby, who was 20-years-old at the time, spoke to the M.E.N about that tragic afternoon.
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"At the time there was a lot of heavy traffic as it was a main road then," Gordon said. "The traffic was all held up going one way and people in a car waved my dad across the road, he was on a moped. He got off and pushed it across the road.
"This car come, they don't know where it came from, and hit my dad. He was knocked up in the air and when he came down he was killed instantly.
"I worked on the buses. I'd just finished work at two o'clock and I was walking home.
"When I got home I said to my mum, 'there's something wrong on Dunham Road, the traffic is horrendous and there are flashing lights up there', not knowing. It must have been about a quarter-to-three the police came and told me mum my dad had been killed.
"It was devastating. Absolutely devastating."
Gordon said it wasn't the only tragedy to have happened on that stretch of road. He recalls his dad was the third person