History of our Region
You can read about the origins of HCPT in a page from the main HCPT web site by clicking here.
In the early days of HCPT most of the groups were based in the south of England, but they did take a few children from the Manchester area. In 1967, for example, there were 12 children, split amongst 9 London based groups. By 1974 the number of Manchester children had grown to 50, but they still travelled with London based groups.
These arrangements meant that the few northern based helpers did the initial visiting along with Anne Seaston, who was then a member of Group 7. These helpers took the children southwards to join the Metropolitan Groups and were known as the "Manchester Escort Party".
Meanwhile, Joe Shovelton had been a helper with Group 40, based in Formby, and in 1972 he had formed Group 54, Joe took children from the Wirral, Liverpool and Preston. The first Manchester group was formed.
Group 54, by the way, was not named because it was the fifty fourth group. In those days group leaders could pick their number and Group 54 was sponsored by the Knights of St Columba in Leigh, and their Council number was 54. Among the early helpers were Bill Ganley and Fr Eric Darwell.
In 1975 the Manchester Region was formed with four groups:
- Group 44, led by Simon Andrews from Sale
- Group 54, led by Joe Shovelton from Leigh
- Group 81, led by Bill Ganley from Leigh
- Group 82, led by Fr Eric Darwell, born in Leigh
Since then the region has grown with the addition of Group 157, led by Steve McCoy, in 1984, Group 216, led by Gerard Broughton, in 2002, and Group 5, led by Angela O'Connor, in 2006.
The photograph below was taken in 1996, the 21st anniversary of the Region and the 40th anniversary of the founding of HCPT.
