Cooke Telescope Tales - Telescope for sale in Manchester in 1952

In 1952 a telescope with a 5 inch lens made by Thomas Cooke & Sons was for sale. It was the property of Mr H L Dilks who I believe had been a previous president of the Manchester Astronomical Society between 1937 - 45. As is often the case I don’t know who might have owned the telescope before Mr Dilks. Although the lens and equatorial mount, iron pillar and clockwork drive were made by Cooke the…