DVD Shoot

Well, after several abortive attempts to see Ken Stott to do my little piece for the Woodcroft DVD the day in September finally arrived........and it turned out to be quite exciting.

We met at Novak's car park, which was formerly the site of The Globe slipper works. Ken asked me to walk up and down East Street which after all the intervening years did not really look any different. We re-created the photograph that had caused so much interest: 

2011

    

 1956 & 2011

The shoot was to take place sitting on the wall of No. 12, my very first home. I spoke of my memories of my time there and whilst we were filming the current owners came out and introduced themselves. Then came the wonderful gesture: would we like to go inside and film actually in the house! It was as I remembered it, but there was no Pat Boone or current pop idol picture in the attic, instead with some creative thought it had been turned into "His & Hers" offices. The bedroom that I shared with my sister no longer contained a bath, instead a bathroom had been made. The stone flags in the back room that were covered in lino and a carpet square when I lived there were now polished and exposed.
 I never dreamt that I would one day, after 48 years, that I would have the privilege of stepping back into "my old house".
That's what Woodcroft is all about: Camaraderie, and I thank the current owners of No. 12 for allowing me to step back in time and to Ken for the brilliant idea of making a Living History DVD.





    

Christmas

With Christmas now around the corner, it seems appropriate for me to write about it in more detail.
Christmas is still the magical time if the year, especially for children, but back at the time of my childhood it was far less commercialised. There was no internet shopping, well there were not even computers, or out of town shopping malls.

We were always very excited as Mum & Dad used to take us to Manchester and we could look at the Christmas lights and the department stores tableau window displays. The large stores had grottos where we would have to queue to sit on Father Christmas' knee and whisper to him what we would like him to give us.

We helped to decorate the house by making hand made coloured paper chains that we hung from the ceiling and glued balls of  cotton wool to the windows to make it look like snow. Sometimes we had rolls of coloured stretch crepe paper to hang up, you had to pull out the middle of the roll and twist it, we would hang these garlands and further decorate by putting tinsel, (lametta?), over it. NO health and safety in those days!
I remember that we always had a "real" tree and the fairy lights were rather large and depicted nursery rhyme scenes.

Many people in the '50's did not own a fridge and foods were not pre-wrapped so food had to be bought fresh to last over the Christmas period. I cannot really remember but I expect that large food orders were given to the local Co-op and Mr. Wilkinson. The turkey and meat Mum would have bought from the butchers in Rawtenstall.

On Christmas Eve we went to bed excited to see what presents would be left in our pillowcases. I always tried to stay awake to catch a glimpse of Father Christmas but when I awoke he had always delivered our presents. It was the most magical and exciting thing to happen. Christmas Day was probably quite structured and we put our best clothes on and got dressed up for the occasion. After lunch we sat around the radio and listened to the Queen's speech. Dad only ever bought alcohol for Christmas and this consisted of Cherry B's, Babyscham and sherry. Snacks included a box of dates, that no-one ate, but as it was Christmas it was tradition that they were bought! We usually had sweeties and a selection box in our presents.
 On Boxing Day we always went to the annual Pantomime in Blackburn - quite a trek by public transport.
As we got older we used to go and have Christmas Day with our grandparents. My Dad's brother and sister and their families would also be there, which meant 15 in total, however Granny managed to put on such a spread with such limited facilities is a marvel.

As soon after Christmas as possible we wrote Thank-you notes to those who had sent presents. This was never a "chore" but it was expected of us and I used to list things that I had been given. As I grew older there was always talcum powder and bath cubes, even a very tiny bottle of "Californian Poppy" perfume or mini manicure set. My, how times change. We were always grateful for what had been bought for us.

Pastimes

I'm back!! After months of writing about my recovery after my stroke, I have decided that it is time to put some more thoughts down about my childhood.

With very few people owning televisions, entertainment and pastimes revolved around indoor hobbies, but when the weather allowed the best fun was outdoors. We had our own favourites and as life was returning back to normal after the Second World War many of these pastimes had to be "home grown" and inexpensive.

Girls probably imitated mothers by learning to sew, knit or bake - skills learnt an early age. I always loved washing the dishes and helping to wash, which was Monday's custom. I used to go to Mrs. Hogan, who lived on the "Landing" and spend ages messing about with a sink full of water and dishes.

One Christmas I  received a scale model of a "Hoover" washing machine, which was made to work by turning a key in the back. The agitator would go round and suds would appear. On dry days I used to take it out into the backyard and wash my doll's clothes. Mum would take two dining chairs outside and secure string around the chair backs so I could peg out the clothes.

Scrap books were always good fun as was tracing and drawing pictures, sadly I never really progressed in the "Art Department" so I always drew the same kind of house: the one that was square with 4/5 windows, a fence and apple tree. Remember?

I used to collect stamps and Dad would take me to the book shop in Bank Street to make my purchases. Stamps were purchased in glassine bags and there was always the hope that you would find a rare or unusual one. This was a shared interest or hobby and duplicates could be swapped with a friend. Packets of loose tea contained sets of cards: fashion and footballers. Another inexpensive hobby and it was sometimes a race between friends to see who could complete their album first.
Stamp collecting was a good way to learn about other countries and geography, as were pen pals. Some comics used to have a column about children who lived in other countries who were looking for pen pals to write to. For a number of years I used to write to a girl who lived in Manila in The Philippines. We would exchange small and inexpensive gifts that related to our countries and learn about each others culture.

Card games and board games were popular and we owned a "Compendium" of games. This was a collection of games that included Snakes & Ladders, Draughts, Tiddlywinks, Solitaire and Ludo. Cards were, and indeed still are, very versatile, but we had special packs like "Old Maid" and "Happy Families"

Popular authors of that era were Enid Blyton and Beatrix Potter - how we loved The Famous Five. I remember that I had "Bobbsey Twins" books that were written by Laura Lee Hope.I was also allowed to have two comics: The Dandy & The Beano before eventually moving on to Jackie & Bunty. Many of the popular comics produced an Annual for Christmas and needless to say these were always on our letter to Santa.

Outdoor street games, many of them group games, were played as often as we could or were allowed: hide and seek, tig, blind man's buff, hopscotch, what time is it Mr. Wolf. Boys would play cricket or football in open spaces or on Fairview playing field and if necessary would improvise by using coats or jumpers for goal posts. The more energetic girls would impress by doing cartwheels, handstands, leap frog or roller skating.


You can follow my progress in my quest to recover from my untimely stroke on my other blog: :http://fivesmallminutes.blogspot.com

Up, up and away

Holidays and Days Out

My parents had very good friends who in earlier years lived at Chapel Hill Farm but subsequently moved to Preston.

We would visit them twice at year: on Easter Monday and then again during the autumn. In the intervening months they would make a reciprocal visit. 

On Easter Monday people would visit Avenham Park in Preston in their thousands. It was a grand day out

and the tradition of rolling chocolate Easter eggs was observed which superseded the rolling of dyed or painted hard boiled eggs. Fairground rides and swing boats were always a big hit with the children.

The Lancashire wakes are best seen as a tradition which became an institution. Each town had its own  tradition, which eventually developed into a week off work - consequently, local towns took their weeks at different times to one another. Rawtenstall traditionally took the  last week of July and first week of August as its two weeks off work. Factories and shops would close, and if supplies of food were needed then you had to travel to the nearest town to collect them.

Many people visited Bispham, Blackpool or Morecambe which were in easy travelling distance by coach if you didn't own a car. Heysham is a quaint old village, one of a string of small communities dotted round the shores of Morecambe Bay, each with a fascinating history of its own and is famous for its non-alcoholic Nettle Beer. I used to find it fascinating that anyone would want to drink nettles, but didn't we all know-it-all at an early age! There used to be a large weighing scale in one of the streets where you had to sit in a bucket like contraption and be counter-balanced. I couldn't understand why people would sit in the chair, in public, to be told of their weight. It was however, an extraordinary piece of machinery - yes - a true tourist gimmick!! 

Looking over the sweep of Morecambe Bay you can see the hills of The Lake District. When we were holidaying there I was trusted to go to the nearest shop to buy a daily paper, this seemed to be a big responsibility and I would stride out along the Prom before breakfast to do this daily task with pride.

The Midland Hotel seemed a quirky building and I couldn't see its place there, now I understand its importance of a renowned Art Deco classic.

DVD

In February I was party to this group message:
I was only thinking the other day why not produce a DVD with vox pop interviews, shots of how it is today and some of your photos it would be good fun, it won't cost anything cos I have all the gear inc HD and it would be something to show our grandchildren.


The seeds had been planted and before long a few "Woodcrofters" were back in communication after several  years. Discussions took place on how to progress this wonderful idea and I was asked to write the script! Momentum soon gathered with radio and local newspaper interviews being undertaken. A presenter from the local radio station agreed to do the voice over.

The following is the first draft of the script:

Woodcroft Revisited

We grew up in a safe community known as Woodcroft, which is located three miles out of Rawtenstall on the main road to Burnley.

The streets that constituted the Woodcroft area are: East St, Thorn St, Woodcroft St, Rosedale St and The Holmes. These streets are still there today and largely unchanged.

When we were growing up the houses were bordered by the White Factory and Limey Water to the bottom and open diary farmland at the top. These created a natural enclosure forming Woodcroft.

As someone wrote, it was “A safe cosy community now disappeared under a sea of housing”.

Looking back as we all do now, we remember it as a very special place with lots of happy childhood memories and have only come to realise now how special and close knit a community we were and that these times will never be repeated.

We have created this DVD so that these memories are captured and so that we can hand down this living history to our children and grandchildren.

Everyone knew one another and the children were safely able to leave their houses and simply let themselves into others to play. In those days there were no Xbox’s, Wii’s, DS’s, Playstations, mobile phones, computers and many people did not even have a television or telephone.

We simply made our own entertainment

Is it an illusion that the sun always shines and it never rains when you are growing up? It certainly seems so, but one thing that is certain is that the seasons seemed more defined.

In spring the buttercups, daisies and clover burst into life and the sight of swealing could be seen. This is the process of burning old grass to regenerate new growth.

Our playing out and games followed the seasons. We would play skipping games, Hopscotch, Tig, Hide and Seek and generally enjoyed being out of doors after the long and cold winters. And of course we played football, as people do now. Little did we know that Billy MacAdam, who lived in our midst, played for Manchester City. ( Equivalent of Beckam today?)

Further up Burnley Road towards Crawshawbooth, and overlooking Limey Water was Crawshaw Hall, built in 1830 by quarry owner John Brooks, when we were growing up it belonged to Cicely Brooks. She was the last member of the Brooks family to live in what was commonly known as Brooks’ Woods. It was sold in 1976 and is currently a nursing home.

We used to go to Brooks’ Woods to pick bluebells which seemed to grow so abundantly, but we were always mindful not to be caught by Miss Brooks as she had a fierce some reputation.

Church "Walking Days" featured firmly in the calendar and were held at Whitsuntide. The local churches walked in procession and met on the spare ground in central Rawtenstall for a service. Each Sunday School was identified by their unique dresses and the boys also suitably attired in trousers and shirts. Church banners were carried aloft and bands played.  There was also the custom of "Rose Queens" who rode on a decorated float accompanied by attendants.

Summertime always seemed sunny and without rain and the long evenings and school holiday meant that we could play out in our fantasy worlds.

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 down to the lodge that supplied the factory.

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 and furnished it with old chairs and a wide ceramic bowl where we took our sticklebacks to live!

A second Gang Hut, or possibly it was just a concrete base, we turned into our Summer House, 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.

Here was Clarks Farm - can someone please expand

As well as our memories of Little Blackpool, we used to play out in the back streets and put on variety shows for friends and families.
We would peg out curtains 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.

Haymaking- can someone please expand

Autumn quickly seemed to appear once we had returned to school in early September and this would mean we would all get very excited about the community bonfire.

The bonfires at Woodcroft were legendary and the whole community seemed to be involved in one way or another.
The wood was duly collected and fiercely guarded just in case "Reedsholmers" came on a raiding party. We would hollow out the structure and would put an old chair inside it for us to take turns sitting on.

Mums made all manner of bonfire food: bonfire 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.

Winters seemed long and cold with an abundance of snow and ice.

On the hill above Clark's farm, at Reedsholme, 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 streets increased in gradient with East Street being the steepest by far, which meant that the back street was occasionally also used for sledging if you had good nerves.

Milk would be frozen in bottles on the doorstep, (is that correct?) and free school milk was available with each child receiving a 1/3pint. In the winter months it was quite often delivered frozen and was thawed out on the class room radiator!

We made slides in the school playground by sliding over the frozen snow and the momentum increased when they had been skated over a few times.

Candles in jars/Gang huts in Winter – can anyone expand

In the winter time the bedroom windows would be frozen over on the inside and we could make patterns in the frost.

At the bottom of the streets on Burnley Road was The White Factory. We used to peep in and watch the weavers working in the deafening noise of the looms. The workers wore clogs and protected their hair with headscarves.

The other factories where people were employed were the Globe Slipper Works at the bottom of East Street and Broadley’s at Reedsholme.

Can anyone expand?

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, where all manner of goods could be purchased and there was always the aroma of freshly ground coffee and fresh bread. It was also a good place for the exchange of gossip.

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, and a big square tin of mixed biscuits was displayed and sold by weight. He also sold candles, loose tea, block soap and paraffin. He had such a diverse range of goods it seemed as though you could buy anything.

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 a corner shop which sold limited goods. They stocked a range of sweeties in jars and 1/2d and 1d sweets as well as a small range of groceries and cakes that were on display under a cover.

Some of us still live in Rawtenstall whilst others have moved away. However, we still fondly look back at these memories of growing up together despite the many intervening years.

May 2011

St Paul's Church and Sunday School

St. Paul's Church still stands behind what was the original St.Pauls C.E. school, which is now an educational  centre.

To view photographs of St.Paul's follow: http://www.stpaulsconstablelee.org/

We attended Sunday School in the afternoon and there we would learn Bible stories and have colouring sheets to complete or fashion a simple piece of craftwork. Choruses that told stories would be sung: "Zacheus was a very little man . . ."

The church seemed a big place to attend after the cosiness of the Sunday School rooms. The stained glass window portrayed the shepherd and sheep and I think it has the words,"I am the good shepherd." 
The approach to the church was by way of a long, windy and steep drive and the sloping land was well planted with spring flowers and azalea bushes. At the bottom of the drive there was a large laburnum tree - my friend's brother decided to eat some of the "helicopter" seed pods and had to have his stomach pumped.

On Mothering Sunday all the children attended a special service and would present our mothers with tiny bunches of primroses, violets or daffodils.

At Harvest time the church was always beautifully decorated with fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers. Children were encouraged to fill a shoe box with fresh produce or groceries which would be distributed to needy parishoners.
On Rememberance Sunday the current vicar would walk around the church and from the tablets read out the names of servicemen who had been killed in action.

Christmas seemed to come soon afterwards and the church would be decorated with a large tree. The first service on Christmas Day was one where children were allowed to take one of their new toys to "show off".

The church, during winter, seemed to be very cold and the coke boiler was housed underneath the main body of the church and once it was "stoked up" you could smell the  fumes as they rose up and into the church. Dad was a church warden and I used to go with him to check the church and the vicarage during times of interregnum. He also used to sell Christmas cards to raise funds, I loved helping him to collate the orders and help him to distruibute them.


I cannot remember whether it was a regular event, but I remember being allowed to attend the Sunday School camp at Bridgnorth one year.

Shirley: 3rd Left Front Row

We camped on land that was near to the River Severn and in the middle of the week our parents came to visit.