St Paul's School

St Paul's, Constable Lee School

There was no Nursery provision or Pre-School  in those days and I can remember sitting on Mum's knee, under a blanket, after lunch and putting the radio on waiting for "Listen with Mother". We were cared for by our parents and grandparents, going to one anothers houses to play.

I began school at St.Paul's two months after my 4th birthday. Miss Parkinson, assisted by Mrs. Nolan, cared for us.
The infant department at St. Paul's was in a separate building at the back of the school. It seemed a wonderful and happy place to be: Toys and Wendy House - - and the small matter of learning! Mum and Dad decided that once I had started school that they would donate my trike. I rode on it all the way to school one morning - but the same evening I had to take it home as I would not let anyone else play on it and apparently had caused no end of mayhem.

The "juniors" were housed in the main school building.  I can only remember being taught by Mrs. Pickup during these years, when we reached the "top class" we were taught by the Headmaster.
Mrs. Pickup taught everything from country dancing, sewing, art, maths and english. She was always in school - when we arrived and when we left for home. I had the notion that she lived there.

We had to learn our "times tables" as homework - learn over the week-end and then we had to stand in class on Monday mornings to answer questions and were not allowed to sit down until you answered your question correctly.
Arts and crafts meant painting with powder paint which was dispensed from big tins and mixed with water and using Gloy glue with the paddle spreader. We also made little baskets from canes or from stiff waxy card that was cut and then threaded with brightly coloured wool.

There were two break times: morning and afternoon. At the slightest bit of sunshine and warm weather we would put our coats alongside the school wall and sunbathe! During the morning break we could buy biscuits and crisps from a trolley or hope that Mr. Clark, a local farmer, would stop off during his milk round to give us large ginger oat biscuits.

Free school milk was available (School Milk Act 1946) and each child received a 1/3pint. In the winter months it was quite often delivered frozen and was thawed out on the class room radiator! This probably explains my hatred of the white stuff!!

At Christmas time we had Christmas parties at school, each child had to take their own cutlery and crockery labelled with your name so as to avoid any confusion. We would stand out in the playground and look for Santa's sleigh arriving, but as if by magic when we returned inside he was always there laden with presents for us.

As far as I can remember there were three Headmasters during my time at St. Paul's: Mr. Cocker, Lloyd and Ashby. For those of us who were there on 12th April 1961 we witnessed something that was a huge day in space history.

All the pupils were rounded up and taken to the main hall where we were summoned around a large and cumbersome radio. We  listened intently as the Russian cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, became the first human in space, making a 108 minute orbital flight.

Yuri Gagarin 9.3.34 - 27.3.68      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin

12th April 2011 is the 50th Anniversaryof this historic moment

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12975006



 

Bonfires and Playing Out

The bonfires at Woodcroft were legendary and the whole community seemed to be involved in one way or another.
The wood etc was duly collected and fiercely guarded just in case "Reedsholmers" came on a raiding party. I remember that we hollowed out the structure and would put an old chair inside it and then take turns at sitting inside it!
Mums made all manner of bonfire food: bonfire (treacle) toffee, cinder toffee, jacket potatoes and potato pies that were made in mixing bowls. These were laid out on long tables and served up by the light of storm lamps.
Taylor's chippy would supply 3d worth of sweets in a triangular bag after we had made money for this by doing "Penny for the Guy" at the factory.

Apart from the memories of Little Blackpool and the above, we used to play out in the back streets and put on variety shows for friends and families.
We would peg out cutains on the washing lines to create a stage effect. After many rehearsals we would summon our friends, families and neighbours to treat them to our concert.

Back East Street

Pictures - 1956

With Dad and Vivien

With Mum and Vivien

  

Lodge and Little Blackpool

Is it an illusion that the sun always shines and it never rains when you are growing up? It certainly seems so.

At the top of these streets was land belonging to Mr.Pickles,the local farmer, what could be more idyllic than having all this land to play out on? We built dens, climbed the five trees and dammed up the stream that ran through the land.

We called the stream "Little Blackpool" and once we had constructed a dam we would fish for sticklebacks which once caught were put in a jam jar. We played out all day safely in our own little world and learning about the nature around us.

We also had a Gang Hut at our disposal, where we could play if it rained. To make it more homely we put pieces of wallpaper up secured by drawing pins. I seem to also remember that it had a wide ceramic bowl where we took our sticklebacks to live!
A second Gang Hut was just a concrete base, (or was it the former but in disrepair?) and how I loved it there. Making mud pies and decorating them with wild flowers and then "baking" them in an oven that was merely made out of bricks and slate.

You could walk to Reedsholme through the fields on a well defined path, at one point you had to cross over a bridge that spanned a water pipe. Dad would always joke that the Three Bily Goats lived under it:

Remember the song?  http://www.sterlingtimes.co.uk/bill_goats_gruff.htm

On the hill above Clark's farm was a lodge where we dared to skate on during the winter months when it became frozen.We used to sledge in these fields during the winter and would rub waxed "Wonderloaf" wrapping paper over the metal runners to make it go faster.

The winter of 1962/3 was the most severe in living memory:

Known as the Big Freeze, the country was covered in snow on Boxing Day and did not thaw out until March.

In the meantime it was battered by blizzards, freezing fog and icy temperatures as low as – 22C.

It was so cold that many lakes and rivers – including the Thames – froze over. In January temperatures plunged so sharply that a one mile stretch of sea was covered in ice.

In February more snow came and winds reached Force 8. A 36-hour blizzard caused heavy drifting snow in most parts of the country. Drifts reached 20 feet (6.1m).

 The River Nidd in Knaresborough which froze over in Deember 2010.

The first time I have seen anything like this since the frozen lodge above Reesholme

Reply to letter

Letter to Free Press 2001

The Co-op, Mr. Wilkinson's and Taylor's Chippy

At the bottom of Thorn Street on one side was the local Co-op store which was run by Kenneth and Edgar and at the other Taylor's chippy. At the bottom of Woodcroft Street was Mr. Wilkinson's - an "Arkwright Open-All-Hours" type of shop.

The Co-op was a bright and large store, all manner of goods could  be purchased there. I remember our "Divi" number being 4701. Mum's weekly shopping list never altered and went:- butter, sugar, tea, lard, marg, jam, cheese, eggs, potatoes.
I must have heard this ritual every time that I accompanied her, so much that one day I decided to surprise her by doing the weekly shop for her! I duly rhymed off the list and Kenneth and Edgar just humoured me by getting the goods out but never actually delivering them.

Mr. Wilkinson's was a fascinating corner shop and was literally in his converted front room. Rolls of bacon and ham hung from the ceiling, butter was in a huge block and was cut to order, a big square tin of mixed biscuits was displayed and sold by weight. It seemed as though you could buy anything there and apart from the goods mentioned, he also sold candles, loose tea, block soap and paraffin.Quite a diverse range of goods, it would not be allowed in these days of health and safety and all the hygienic packaging.

Taylor's chippy was also a cafe and also another corner shop which sold limited goods. At Bonfire night they supplied 3d worth of sweets in a triangular bag to the children. (I have been reminded that we did penny for the guy at the factory for these sweets.) They stocked a range of sweeties in jars and 1/2d and 1d sweets as well as limited groceries and cakes that were on display under a cover.

We used to make a liquorice drink by putting 1/2d spanish in a bottle of water and shaking it up.

East Street

The streets that constituted the Woodcroft area were: East St, Thorn St, Woodcroft St, Rosedale St and The Holmes.

We lived at number 12 East Street which was the next to the top house before the "landing". The house had a pocket hanky front garden and a back yard which was home to the ATS - ash tin shed and the outside loo. It was a two up, two down house with an out kitchen and had bath in the back bedroom where my sister and I slept. Although we had a bath Mum would bath us infront of the coal fire downstairs and to save our modesty placed a clothes horse around it. The towels were draped over it and they steamed as they dried off.  Mum would put talcum powder in our slippers afterwards to make sure that we were completely dry!

 Without central heating, the house was cold and in the winter months the bedroom windows would freeze over and make frost patterns on them. Dad would stoke the coal  fire every morning and light it. To aid a "quick get up" as Mum would say, she would throw a handful of sugar on it and then hold the blower to it. The whoosh sound was amazing.

The house also had an attic where we used to play and for some reason, known only to myself, I thought that when I looked out of the skylight it was Crawshwbooth! As far as I recall there was nothing up there only an old bedstead - a metal frame with mesh base - that need an allen key to tighten it up. The walls were decorated with posters of pop srtars that we were currently in love with: Eden Kane, Pat Boone, Jess Conrad.  . .

East Street was an unadopted street which meant that there was no proper road surfacing, only dirt in the middle at the front and cobbles with weeds growing in between them at the back. It was a challenge at the best of times but in the winter the back street could be lethal with "bottle ice".

Back East Street

Everyone knew one another and the children were safely able to leave their houses and simply let themselves into others to play. My how times have changed. I remember once having a new cash register for Christmas and Stephen, from across the street, would let himself into our house and play with it. The first we knew he was at No.12  was when we used to hear it ringing away.

Back East Street - The Landing

O The Landing

Recently walking by  No. 12

Photo's of the new baby: Shirley Ann

My sister, Vivien, with her new sister.,

Christening Day at St.Paul's, Constable Lee on 11th  October 1953.                                         

I was born just about five weeks after the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth 11 which was held on June 2nd 1953.

Picture of  a Coronation street party.

Rumour had it amongst the neighbours that I was to be called Rose Elizabeth. They didn't think that my parents, Les and Ethel Smith, were likely to name me after the new Queen or her sister, sometimes known as Princess Margaret Rose. Family folklore has it that my sisiter, Vivien, was the perpetrator of this rumour, and when questioned declared tht these names were the ladybird and caterpillar that she looked after in a matchbox! In October of 1953 I was christened Shirley Ann at St.Paul's Chuch, Constable Lee.