Raby, Merseyside

Rocklands

I was born at Rocklands December 1954. It was sold shortly after and later demolished for a new build home.

Swing Boats

I spent a few summer holidays with my auntie who lived in Bromborough. I used to go to Raby Mere with my cousins, Gerrard and Chris. I remember  some swing boats there, we used to love going on them.

Mere Memories

My memory is not so much of the Wheatsheaf although I did visit a few times during my youth, a nice place to take a new girlfriend for a drive.
But nearby is the mere, a huge lake in the middle of an agricultural area.When I was a kid there were rowing boats that could be hired for a trip up the river. I can remember there was a small penny arcade near an old garage with flip ball machines and even a "what the butler saw" for a penny. The area was always clean and the air smelled of freshly cut hay except maybe when one of the local farmers was "muck spreading", the process of enriching the soil by spreading pig or cow manure across the paddock by tractor and machine.

Waring/Stocker Family

My grandad Gillie (John Gilbert) Waring live at Rose Cottage, 172 $astham Rake with his wife Dorothy and their children Alan, Gillie, Wally and Dulice. I have vague memories of my dad going to Eastham to park his wagon at Eastham, why he did this I do not know as he then came home to Little Sutton. I think my grandad was in the haulage business and when the lads grew up they worked for him. After Grandad Waring died, my dad had a wagon of his own, nothing special from what I can remember, he started off on his own the same time as Denny Morgan now Morgan Plant Hire plc. My dad use to laugh because he and Denny knew each other, their trucks weren't up to much and Denny had string to hold his cab door on. How lucky Denny was with his business. My dad kept on with his wagon till work got bad and later in the 1970s he went and worked for Denny and did so till he passed away.