Memories Of Growing Up In Dronfield

A Memory of Dronfield.

I was born at 4 Chapel Yard, Dronfield on 13th September 1941. We lived with my grandma, Mrs Watson, as my dad Jack Keeble was away in Burma fighting the Japanese. It was only a small house as it was originally a Methodist or Quaker Meeting House which had been converted into two cottages. Our neighbours were Mr and Mrs King and their two sons Maurice and Brian. It was quite a lonely childhood as I had no one to play with until I started school at 5 years old. I went to The County Primary School until I was 11 years when I passed my 11 plus and went to Dronfield Grammer School.

When I was 5 my parents got one of the prefabs on Stubley Lane. It was wonderful to have a bathroom with a heated towel rail and a fridge and electric cooker. We felt really posh. Three of my brothers were born there, Stuart, Allen and Philip.When my dad was demobbed in 1948 he worked for Derbyshire County Council for a short time on the roadworks then he got a job at the new Gunstones Bakery as nearly everyone in Dronfield did. I worked there myself for a time when I first left school. We had some good times there although we also worked hard.

I still go back to Dronfield but it has changed such a lot now. Nowhere stays the same, that is progress, but I can reminisce about my childhood and remember the days when we all seemed so more innocent than the children today. Happy days.
Ann Lee (nee Keeble)

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