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