Ilkley, the Semon Convalescent Home 1900
Ilkley, the Semon Convalescent Home 1900 Ref: 45152
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Memories of Ilkley, the Semon Convalescent Home
I was born in The Semon Emergency Hospital August 1943 and often wondered what it looked like and why I was actually born there and not in Bradford which is where my birth mother lived at the time, unless she was visiting Ilkley and was taken there as an emergency. I was adopted soon after birth. But have since met up with my half siblings. Both birth parent and adoptive parents are now deceased and so I never found out how I came to be born there.
Shared on 25 March 2007
Ilkley & local memories
Read and share memories of Ilkley and West Yorkshire inspired by Frith photos
Ilkley, the Semon Convalescent Home 1900
Ref: 45152
I was born in The Semon Emergency Hospital August 1943 and often wondered what it looked like and why I was actually born there and not in Bradford which is where my birth mother lived at the time, unless she was visiting Ilkley and was taken there as an emergency. I was adopted soon after birth. But have since met up with my half siblings. Both birth parent and adoptive parents are now deceased and so I never found out how I came to be born there.
Shared on 25 March 2007
I was born in 1936 in Shipley nursing home and we lived at 1 The Green, Micklethwaite until 1944. My father died in 1941 and my mother was left with me and brother John, surname Walker, to bring up on her own.
I remember the shop owned by Mrs Hay, with a daughter Eunice, and my friend was Jennifer Midgely.We went to Crossflatts school and walked there and back. The farm was owned by (the family name I forget) but it began with S. and what an excitement it was to watch the killing of a pig and the wait for the pig's bladder to use as a football. My mother fell on hard times so we lived in two other houses, one owned by Mrs Hurst. At one time she worked for the coal merchant, a Mr Jackson. All coal (and milk) was delived by horse and cart because of course the war was on.
One of my earliest memories was being taken to hear a piano recital in the Methodist chapel hall and although I was very young, this started a life-long love of classical music.
It was very cold in the winter, gas lighting, and coal fires. Our chests were rubbed with goose fat and wrapped in brown paper to guard against colds. When it snowed the whole village would help to find sheep buried in the fields.
I left when I was 7 and did not return for very many years but I have a great sense of belonging to Micklethwaite.
At the top of the hill lived "Emma" who was more or less a recluse. We would knock on her door and then run away but she earned 10 shillings a week keeping the telephone box clean which I noticed was still there last time I visited about 5 years ago.I have now remembered the name of the farmer, it was Sayers, and they had a daughter called Pauline.
I also remember that in the shop (owned by Mrs Hay) was a large black and white rubber mat with the words "Parkinsons pink pills for pale people" written on it.
Shared on 01 April 2008
Anyone remember Mrs Cladd who lived in a converted railway carriage - at least I think thats what it was - just up from Fairfax Hall, opposite the house called Farthings? She was an old lady who grew what we now call cherry tomatoes, but they were a delicious novelty then, and she sold them for a shilling a pound. Am I right in thinking her house was replaced by the working mens club? We left Menston in 1964 to move south to Portsmouth but over the years I have passed through the village many times when in the area on walking holidays.
Shared on 21 July 2008
Eldwick, Dick Hudson's Pub 1921
Ref: 71288
When we went to "Dick's" for lunch, there would be me, my kid sister, my parents and my maternal grandparents plus Mum's youngest sister. She was only 5 years older than me- "Auntie Betsy"- and more like a big sister. She was the prodigy of the family, learning to play the piano, and Grandma always used to pressure a reluctant Betsy to play something on the pub piano. This was at the time when Fess Parker was hitting the screens as Davy Crockett, and the theme tune was one of Betsy's special pieces. Unfortunately, one particular key on the pub piano was way out of tune. For those who remember the tune, the intro was sort of.."da dum di dum dum dum, dum di dum dum.." The bum note was on the fourth dum- it must have been an octave out- and the bar was crowded. It brought the house down, much to Auntie Betsy's mortification!
Shared on 06 March 2007
Eldwick, Dick Hudson's Pub 1921
Ref: 71288
When I was a kid in the 50s, we often used to walk across Shipley Glen, having first travelled on the Glen Tram, to "Dick's" for Sunday lunch- it was always very popular- and catch the bus home from the bottom of the hill- the terminus was the Acorn Inn. A special treat was to go by bus to Bingley, where there was a fleet of vintage Rolls Royce taxis outside the railway station, and the whole family could pile into one taxi for the long uphill ride to Dick Hudson's.
Shared on 06 March 2007
