Down Memory Lane Westfield

A Memory of Kippax.

My father, Douglas Aubrey Dixon, also known as 'Reginald' lived with his father, Temple Dixon, at 'Westholme' Westfield Lane - No.81. My paternal grandfather bought the house for £385 in June, 1935. Temple Dixon was a retired railway detective having worked his way up the ladder so-to- speak from working as a porter and ticket collector at Mirfield station (1901 census). I returned to Kippax with my brother, Roy Dixon, in 2008 to visit the family's old haunts. My cousin Bob Clayton's relatives worked in Kippax village, the 'old' Co-op. I came to Kippax to pay my respects at St. Mary's churchyard where my father's ashes are scattered. Sadly, the Royal Oak pub is now closed and the old school building has likewise gone. I was conceived in Kippax, 1939, when my mother Edith married Reginald at the Leeds RO in 1939. My mother returned to Durham city during the early years of the war, and I was born in Bishop Auckland. On my visit to Kippax I stayed at the nearby Holiday Inn, Garforth. Friendly staff, and reasonable food. It is sad to see such a 'mining village' steadily lose its original ambience, as retail shops disappear as they are all over this island. No longer, as Napoleon said "a nation of shop-keepers". Cardboard box stuffers more like it! The Frith postcards are excellent as they capture the 'original' ambience of Kippax. I never did find my grandfather's grave site in St Mary's, as it seems a sexton of decades ago did not leave records
for substantiating grave sites. Or so it seems.... Sad, really. I will make one more visit to Kippax for old times sake, and place a wreath next to my father's name plate in the 'new' cemetery (now full). My relatives Jane & Jospeh Dixon are buried in the 'old' St. Mary's cemetery and their headstone is well preserved. In Durham, similar villages have either vanished or been turned into commuter dormitories, with the old school, church, and terraced miners cottages all gone. Leeds drew 3 - 3 with Watford this weekend so it cannot be all that bad!?
Geoffrey E. Dixon-Hamilton, down memory lane, Kippax. Sunday 8th. Dec.2013.
13.28pm gmt w-t -1hr.