JULIE FRANKLIN

My dad became a labour councillor in 1958 the year after me and my twin sister were born. We were known as ‘the election babies’. He became Lord Mayor when I was 19 and after living in a council house in North Manchester, we all moved into the Town Hall apartments. There were high ceilings and balconies and we were allowed to choose paintings from Manchester Art Gallery to hang in our rooms.

Me and my sisters would go out clubbing on the weekend and when boys used to ask us if they could walk us home, we’d walk to theTown Hall and they used to think that we were the all-night cleaners. They didn’t believe that we used to live there.

My mother was very insistent that we were representing the city. She expected us as a family to be well behaved. For example, our favourite food was chip butties. We knew our mother wasn’t too keen on us having them while living in the Town Hall. The first week we were there we had chips and we said,‘oh we’d love to have a chip butty’.

The housekeeper was clearing up one day and saw the chips left over and was going to make herself a chip butty. And we just looked at her, dying for them ourselves. So, every time we had chips, she would bring the bread and butter and we’d all sit and eat chip butties.

I always loved the city. We used to get up and get coffee early mornings and watch the city wake up. We saw the people go by, the places that opened first thing in the morning and closed late at night. It was a unique opportunity to be in the heart of Manchester. To see a living, breathing city in a way that most people don’t get to.