Happy Sunny Days

A Memory of Halifax.

I only have great sunny memories of Halifax as a child.
A lot of these photos in the 1960's show the sunshine... just how I remember it. My granddad worked on the buses and in the photos he may have been on one of those! His mate on the buses was called Arthur Crowther and me and my brothers used to call him "Half A Crown". I went to Trinity School and the teachers were great. Much more humane than the ones I had to suffer with when I had to move back to lousy Oldham Lancashire - Uggh!
On Tuesday's I think after scones for tea - Thunderbirds!
The best years of my youth were in Halifax and I can remember Mr Caley the grocer (Caley's) on Hopwood Lane, the bands playing at The People's Park on Sunday. Sometimes we would walk to Warley in the evening in summer and have lemonade and crisps at The Maypole pub, playing at the park nearby and having a bit of my Granddad's beer and more when he wasn't looking. The pub looked great at sundown with the beer garden all lit up.
Always the roundabout at Bull Green seemed to be alive with flowers.
The market, it always had a distinct pleasant smell and my mum once told me that it had hardly changed since she were a girl growing up in the 1940's and 50's.
My mum grew up in Pye Nest.
I always had a bonza time at Gran and Granddad's who lived in Bull Green.
Gran worked at Mackintosh's until she retired and used to go on about how hard she worked at Moderner Mill (is that how it is spelt?)
I also enjoyed staying at my Auntie Winnie and Uncle George's who owned the fish shop at the top of Nursery Lane in Ovenden. We used to play table-tennis in the kitchen and the cat used to watch the ping-pong ball go over and over. Now once I did a shot and I swear it hit the kitchen light switch and turn the light off. Uncle George's mate said I would NEVER do that again, no matter how hard or long I tried. I also watched rugby league there on the telly and later "Gunsmoke" which you can see now on CBS Action.
I love Halifax today but these are the days of the mid 60's before Aachen Way and the swimming baths near The Shay.
Because my granddad was on the buses we used to watch Halifax Town for free as the bus depot was there overlooking the ground.
I wonder if anyone can remember the barber's shop at the top of Burnley Road before Aachen Way was built? How about the cafe near the bottom of George Street in town? Gran and Granddad used to take me in there for a cold glass of orange on occasion. Before the flyover was built near Brunswick Gardens where Gran and Granddad lived,
I remember seeing a kind of Court which had a communal toilet in the middle of it. The Halifax Corporation should not have demolished it for historical interest.
Even the buses were great - (green and orange) I remember hearing them from Gran's flat whining up Hopwood Lane onto Boyne Street. It always sounded that it would not quite make it up the hill. A very distinct sound that you don't hear nowadays.
Very happy sunny days!