Birstall, West Yorkshire

Birstall life, 1970

Does anybody remember Clifford the milkman, he had a barrel in a yard that he used as a dog kennel in the village. Or the Co-op in the village, I think it was that sold record players and I  think shirts folded up, and kept in drawers behind the counter. I was 4 at the time of these memories. The dry... [more]

Growing up in Birstall in the sixties

My memory of the market square was catching the bus in in the middle of the square to go to Batley and Dewsbury on Saturday shopping with my mother. My mother buying fresh tripe from a blue trailer parked in the square across from Bond Street. Living on The Mount (the houses have been torn down now) and going to primary... [more]

Cinema on a Saturday as a boy

I grew up in Driglington late 50s/ 60s and remember going to watch Roy Rogers and Hopalong Cassidy, now that was another lifetime ago.
As I got a bit older lots of us drig lads used to visit a coffee shop in the main street - cannot remember its name, and met lots of Birstall girls there.  I also remember the... [more]

An industrial village

Having grown up in Birstall I have a fondness for this little market town in West Yorkshire, situated approximately 8 miles from Leeds and centrally placed for easy access to other major towns Bradford, Huddersfield and Wakefield.

Fifty years ago Birstall was a thriving village, where everyone knew everybody else (and their business!). There were several mills in the... [more]

Bradford Photographic Memories

The park boasted three acres of ornamental water, landscaped into sinuous curves. In the distance rowers are rounding a wooded island. In 1926 the boating was leased to Mr Fred Falkingham, who maintained a trim fleet of rowing-boats for visitors, as well a motor-launch. Manoeuvring the dinghy in such a tight space must have been a little daunting.

Leeds Pocket Album

Severely modern and uncompromising in its architecture, this grammar school symbolised the progressive educational changes of the post-war period. In 1966 proposals were put forward to reorganise the education system within 15 years. It was decreed that all children aged 11 to 18 years would attend comprehensive schools. In the interim period comprehensives were split between those taking 11 to 13 year olds, and those taking 13... [more]

Leeds Pocket Album

After the 1930s the next blow to the Woollen District came in the 1960s with the import of cheap Italian heavy-woollen skirtings and coatings. Even after taking transportation costs into account, cheap labour enabled the Italians to undersell heavy-woollen Yorkshire-made products.