Babes in the Heath: Duncan Edwards Court

But in 2024, our link with the place that birthed a legend is reborn. Or perhaps ‘renewed’ is a more apt word. Because United’s connection with Newton Heath, and north Manchester, has never really faded.

 

That was evident when a small delegation from the club recently made its way to Duncan Edwards Court (DEC) – a retirement complex based within walking distance of our first football ground at North Road. 

 

The facility is situated within a network of streets and walkways named in tribute to the eight Busby Babes that perished at Munich: Eddie Colman Close, Billy Whelan Walk and so on.

Even on the way to DEC, the ghosts of United’s distant and not-so-distant past seem to creep out of the ether. On the drive from my parents’ home, up Rochdale Road towards town, there stands Mount Carmel church – the home parish of Wilf McGuinness – on your right. 

 

As we take a left, we pass Harpurhey Park, where Brandon Williams spent hours practising, then it’s to the top of Church Lane, within spitting distance of the land where North Road once stood.

 

We cross Oldham Road and there’s the site where Nobby Stiles’s dad ran a funeral directors’ business. The Collyhurst street named in Nobby’s honour, and indeed the

school both he and Brian Kidd attended, St Pat’s, is less than two miles away.

Newton Heath itself has seen hard times.In its post-industrial landscape you can feel that; during the hours we spend inside Duncan Edwards Court it’s dark, wet and gloomy outside. 

 

Like many of the places that inspired the United Kingdom’s greatest football clubs, it’s an uncompromising area of tough, working-class people searching for escape and transcendence. 

 

Matt Busby would regularly reiterate that idea to his young players in the 1950s, when the Busby Babes brought the grandest colour to Old Trafford, in the middle of Europe’s biggest industrial estate, Trafford Park.

Sir Matt opened Duncan Edwards Court back in May 1984, alongside Martin Edwards, Sir Bobby Charlton, Jimmy Murphy and Jackie Blanchflower. The club lost contact with the complex over the years, but an effort has been made to rekindle the relationship in the last 12 months. 

 

The club invited residents for a museum tour before Covid and, more recently, visited with books and DVDs, an extension of the ‘reminiscence sessions’ held at Old Trafford, with these mementoes sparking memories that help those with Alzheimer’s and dementia in particular.

 

On this visit, we dropped off a framed shirt, signed by Sir Alex Ferguson, to put on the wall, alongside the Busby Babes photo already there. 

 

There are grand plans afoot for a Babes mural to be painted on the side of one of the houses within the complex by Graffiti Painters, who recently completed a piece of art in Sir Bobby Charlton’s honour on the Trafford Pub by Old Trafford.

As we go inside to present the Ferguson shirt, the place is a hive of activity, laughter and community. It’s Christmas party day and, whether the residents are Reds or Blues, they rub along well. 

 

One of the lads, Steve, is dressed up as Santa for the occasion, and when he proudly reveals a City shirt beneath his costume, we’re ready for some stick. But he modestly says, “Every dog has its day,” when reflecting on City’s recent successes, before admitting that he has a soft spot for United, despite hailing from Beswick, just by the Etihad. His own hero is City great Asa Hartford, but he admits most in Duncan Edwards Court and Newton Heath are United.

 

“I’ve been here 15 years, and we’re very close here,” says Roy Thompson, a ‘thoroughbred’ Red who hails from Salford. “We’re all together and here for one another. I hold this lot together, on the quiet!” 

 

Trish, another United fan, admits she was terrified of coming here after suffering a fall in her flat. She only agreed to go in a home if it was in Newton Heath. A day later she was here, and now feels content. You can understand why. 

As the party progresses, there are a cheeky few glasses of cider and lager going around, and visiting grandkids are being cradled tenderly. We’ve got a few of our Old United in Colour books to give away, and the pictures spark great conversations.

 

Across the room, we even find Nobby Stiles’s first cousin, Jane. 

 

When we prompt her for memories of the late, great Nobby, she simply remarks about how ordinary and down-to-earth he was... how he’d head off to games with his boots strapped over his shoulder. 

 

“Mind you, he did win the World Cup,” she deadpans, as if this was no more remarkable than completing the weekly shop.

 

It’s a lovely afternoon, with football and memories bringing life to a dank day in north Manchester. This area is the root of the United tree, and these streets, named after our fallen Babes, insist that the club’s presence should always be felt here. 

 

United will never forget the place that first breathed life into its lungs, or the residents of the area who have helped shape our successes.