Dean Road, Lower Penn

My grandmother (Edith Craig/Peach) used to live in Dean Road (number 2). My mum, Pat also grew up there with her brother, Graham.

I lived with my nan for a couple of years (around 1982) when I was 9 years old. The house was in a block of 4 and they were painted white with blue doors. I remember my nan used to scrub the front door steps until they gleamed. The gardens were huge. It was like having 4 back gardens in one. Her neighbours were all so close and I remember my nan chatting with Maggie over the back fence.

The lane was very narrow and I remember cycling to Merry Hill with Maggie's granddaughter, Sarah. I'm sure my nan cursed me that day because she kept saying I would come off my bike. Well, we got all the way to Merry Hill and I was nearly home (in Dean Road) and my front wheel hit a pot hole. I went souring over the handle bars and badly hurt myself. From that day, I said she had cursed me!

At the top of the road in Springhill Lane was the Greyhound pub and Sarah and I used to walk up to see Geoff the landlord and his dog and we'd have a packet of french fries and a blackcurrant and lemonade.

The houses were surrounded by fields. I remember Sarah's dad, Bob, had made a little door in the fence to crawl through to get into the field. There was a tree that had been struck by lightening many years before which we absolutely loved. We used to climb on it and pretend that it was a horse. We spent so many hours up the field and we'd never be missed as they knew exactly where we were - you wouldn't be able to do that these days, which is really sad.

At the bottom of the road was a lovely walk which led to Wombourne along a disused railway. I think somewhere along the walk there was even an old station which I was really intrigued by. We used to say it was haunted. We'd walk the dogs for hours along these paths.

A couple of years ago, I drove down Dean Road and had a cry to myself. It's so sad as there is no-one left there any more. Still, I'll always have my memories!