Highfield House/Cottage /Earlsheaton

The best of my childhood memories are of Highfield House and Highfield Cottage in the late part of the 60s and early 70s. The summers always seemed hot and the days were long and happy. I come from a large family and we always had so much fun in the fields at the back of the house, rolling from the top of the hill almost down to the train tracks at the bottom, sunbathing or anything that would fill our day, we used to stay out for hours, only going home when it got dark or we were hungry. I remember when the fairground came, we could see it from the railings in our garden looking out over Dewsbury, you could hear the music playing and the bright lights flashing, or the voices and the screams of the people on the rides. I used to wish I was there but I was too young, the best I got was standing and watching over the railings with my sister, she actually got to go there as she was older. There was an old man, a friend of my Mum and Dad, who used to come visit us, he lived along by the Lowside Club, I think his name was Mr Townend, he used to bring Flake bars for us kids every time he visited, he also built cranes and things out of Meccano and used to bring them to show us when they were finished. I also remember waking up one morning and looking out of the bedroom window and seeing tights on the washing line, not just any old tights, but loads, one of every colour you can imagine, red, green, blue, yellow, orange, pink, black...you name it, they were there, my sister had decided to wash all of her tights and hang them out together, I'd never seen so many, let alone so many colours.... It's funny, the things you remember. I remember going to Earlsheaton Park with my brothers and sisters, that was when there was a paddling pool and swingboats there, I loved the swingboats..... also the old nursery at the bottom of the park which was supposedly haunted, probably something my brother made up to scare me. Earlsheaton has changed so much, as you would expect over the years, as you came to the top of the hill ,opposite the Park Hotel there used to be an archway, there was a chip shop there, also as you went along the road there was the bank which went all round the corner, a big, dark and what seemed like an imposing building to a five year old, all of this is now home to flats which carry on right up to where the shops start opposite Ossett Lane. I attended Earlsheaton Infants School and remember at one point having to go to classes in the church hall opposite for a while, I think it was due to refurbishment in the school, I remember hating it as it seemed so strange and dark in there compared to the classroom I was used to. Highfield House where I lived was built by the Preston family, it was a very large building and when I lived there it had been turned into bedsitting rooms or flats, we later moved into Highfield Cottage (which I loved), we were the last family to live there, and I still remember the day we moved out, it is a shame it no longer exists, and is the sort of place I would have loved to bring my own family up in. There are so many memories of growing up in Earlsheaton, I now live in Kent with my husband and children, but I will always have fond thoughts of growing up in such a great place.