Agency by William Gibson 
A new Facebook group for Goostrey Parish Archive has been launched as part of the archive’s increasing presence in the village – and a website is to be introduced shortly.
The Facebook group will run in conjunction with the Goostrey Parish Archive website where residents and the internet at large will eventually be able to access digital images of the collection, including parish records going back centuries, recordings of local people and thousands of pictures dating from the early days of photography in the 19th century, (ITALICS writes John Williams).
The archive Facebook group is available now with a picture of the planting of the Churchill Oak on The Bogbean in 1965, which has already created interest among residents.
The archive has found a similar photograph and report of the ceremony in its collection with many of the names of the people present, and older residents are being asked to add more names of villagers they recognise.
A taste of the website before its launch will be given during the archive’s exhibition on touring and racing cycling over the years in Goostrey by enthusiasts from the Midlands and North West from the early 20th century.
Sadly for the cycling fraternity, Miss Bates’ Cafe, once the popular centre of cycling in the village, was demolished to make way for more mobile park homes.
Now only cyclists wearing plus-fours between the wars and modern Lycra-clad wheelers and the great racing hero, the late Reg Harris, who lived locally, exist among the memories in the archive of Bates’ Cafe and its famous feeding station hut.
It was cycling clubs and associations that developed a relationship with Bates Cafe, including Manchester and District Ladies Cycling Association, when in the 40s, 50s and 60s Goostrey became the centre of choice – and continued – for those interested in cycle racing from South Manchester and further afield.
The village is a convenient 25 miles from the centre of Manchester in the countryside with relatively quiet lanes, but perhaps more importantly because of the key role in good hospitality enjoyed fitted the bill for their activities.
