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