More Memories of Dunsdale

I remember the freedom we had that we couldn't afford our children. A few of us girls would set off for the day and just roam and play all day and go home when we were tired and/or hungry. As children we built dens in the woods, collected primroses (tut tut) and sailed an old long tin bath on the ponds of the falls' field or down the stream leading to the bridge from the Easter Banks. I also remember that at one point the bus fare to Redcar was 10d (old 10 pence, less thatna new .5p) and a bag of chips really was a 'six penneth'. We once walked to Toketts Mill and found one of the old mine shafts in the wood, badly fenced off then and with a terrific drop inside... and it had animal corpses in it that stank!! More pleasant memories were of one of Mrs Gorrard (not sure if that spelling is correct) in the village making home-made toffee and giving us kids a bit each and of the Sunday School summer events where each child would (perhaps) read a piece of poetry. I remember the bell calling us to morning service in the then Church, another corrugated building (and before the bell went off to New Zealand); the old ladies seemed so dour and seemed to be dressed in black and I do remember them telling us off for turning round in Church... something you should never do and something I still find difficult to do now - I am well conditioned. There was also a Chapel which we attended for Sunday School on a Sunday afternoon and where, if you turned up you gained a special Christian based stamp to go in your Sunday School Books, each stamp depicted the current event in the Christian Calendar. We lived there as a family until I was 17 and I have happy memories of a happy childhood there. I realise that to some it may have looked a poor existence but we were a real community where everyone knew everyone else and helped each other. Ah, here is another memory... Mr & Mrs Bird who had hens near the Lodge and the walk from the Lodge down the old Coach Road through the Blue Bell wood to Wilton Village - I wonder if that is overgrown now?? I think I will be back and do hope other people will add their memories.