Market place

Year: 1958

Market place

I was brought up in Ossett from 1948 to 1966 when I joined the armed forces. I remember very well every Saturday afternoon we would go to the palladium picture house opposite the town hall. We did not have a bus station at that time so all buses would park around the town hall. Shops that spring to mind were Inghams sports on station road, Fords toy shop, and good fish and chip shops, and many others. Every Spring Bank Holiday we would all gather for the big parade from Gawthorp about a mile away to Ossett town center. With bands playing, horses, decorated wagons and fancy dress, it was a sight to see. There were public toilets underground in front of the town hall, they were closed about 1961 - not demolished, just covered over. As far as I am aware they are still there. We lived down Queens Drive and would walk home down Intake Lane, past the open cast mine and over the railway crossing. Gradually we saw the landscape change as housing estate's were built, Broadowler in this case. We would stand by the level crossing to watch the steam trains go by, but as everything else, Ossett train station closed. The nearest then was Wakefield. I have lots of good memories of Ossett to share as a child.