Gomersal, West Yorkshire

Hare Park Terrace

My uncle and aunt, Frank and Lilian Simpson (nee Wilson)used to live over looking the Spen Valley in a terraced house on a hill at the bottom of which was Rawfolds Mill. Is the photo H199022 this road and is the wall on left the entrance to the terrace houses? If not, is there a map showing this terrace,... [more]

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]

Heckmondwike in the early 1960s

I remember the market so well, it was the heart of Heckmondwike. You could buy anything from it, including clothes, meat and veg. The pork pies sold there were beautiful, and the beef dripping. I remember buying a dress from Rothery's stall, she let me take it home to try on. It was the height of fashion for me then, in... [more]

Cinemas in the 1950s

In the 1950s there were two cinemas, 'The Pavilion' and 'The Palace' and every Christmas there was the famous Heckmondwike Illuminations which ran for the full length of the town and attracted thousands of visitors from a wide area. For many years my grandfather George Arthur Fisher ran a greengrocer's stall on the market.

Royal Hotel

Does anyone remember the Royal Hotel in Batley, it was on a corner I think of Bradford Road and a road that went up a very steep hill to a village. Lived there from 1963-1965 and went to Park Road School. Looking for a photo of the pub if anyone has one. Remember traffic lights being outside on the corner and... [more]