Chets...

Chetham's School of Music, or just Chet's is one of Manchester's most venerable cultural institutions, a music school of international reputation. Of late it's been operating under something of a cloud due to happenings that occurred many years ago and nothing to do with the present hierarchy. In spite of its troubles it still produces brilliant musicians who go on to populate the great orchestras of the world.

I like this picture because you can see the development of the school. First you can see, on the left, the ancient medieval buildings of the Chetham's Hospital School, a charity school set up for the poor. It was only in later centuries that it was turned into a music school. On the right are some early Victorian buildings the school has acquired and uses. The one you can see was Manchester's first railway hotel outside what is now Victoria Station. And you can just see a corner of the massive new wing of the school. The students are now using it and the huge, new concert space is being fitted out for performances, adding a new space where the city can enjoy music.

The plan is to pull down the Victorian buildings so that people can see the medieval buildings from the river as they used to be. Many Manchester people don't even know these buildings, with one of the world's oldest lending libraries where Marx would meet with Engels, exist. They want to restore the view from the river but some people are against the plan.