Memories Of Rothwell In The Sixties

A Memory of Rothwell.

I lived in Rothwell from the age of 5 leaving to come to Australia in 1969 at the age of 16.  I think regularly now of how the village would have changed so much since I left.  I remember being a bridesmaid at the Trinity church and still have photos of coming down the path through the gate.
I drew a picture at school of the church; we had to do this in charcoal and wish I had kept it.  We used to wander around and look at the old gravestones.

I remember the fairs that used to be held every year when we used to celebrate Childrens' Day and have races in the park, and the scary fireworks display at night standing on the hill thinking they were going to land on me. I attended the Church school in the main street and remember the new shopping centre being built.  We used to call into one of the shops and buy a bag of broken biscuits for a penny for a treat.  I remember looking over the wall into one of the shops which I think ended up being the first supermarket in Rothwell.   Then I went to the secondary modern school which I believe is now called Rodillians.  It was pretty bare around the school and used to have prickly hedges growing, there was also a ditch.  I do remember when I first started at this school as I was only small.  One day there was a strong wind and I got blown into the prickly hedge and was covered in scratches. There was also a great Tuck shop which was really tiny and sold lots of sweet things.
We used to walk everywhere and I used to have to take my two sisters and brother to Sunday school at the Methodist Chapel.  I used to like the Christmas plays and I was in a couple of them, also the Harvest festivals.   My friends at school were Diane W, Susan H,Cynthia (Denise) F. & Gail L.
My mum tells me stories of when they lived in Rothwell during the second world war and that they had bomb shelters in the gardens.  She lived in Temple Avenue and straight over the road was a wooden bridge that went over the railway line that ran from the Fanny Pit; that's where my dad worked.   We used to see all the miners walking up the hill with their black faces and white eyes.  Down the banking to the railway line, blackberries used to grow and we used to go down there to pick them.  There was also a farm down the lane and my sister Christine used to have a friend called Janet that lived there.
There was a working mens' club.   I am not sure if that still exists, but it was a treat if we ever got to go there and have our bag of crisps and bottle of pop.  I remember the stage, and I remember that my Grandma and Grandad celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary there.
We used to live on Fourth Avenue and just around on the main road used to be a shop that sold everything, it was a post office too.
The year that we left Rothwell was a pretty long winter.  It was still snowing in April and I used to cut through the fence at the bottom of our garden and cross the fields to my friend's house who lived in I think it was Sixth Avenue and we used to catch the bus to work in Leeds.   I haven't seen snow since so it's stuck in my mind.

I would love to visit Rothwell again one day, not sure if it will ever happen but I do have some great memories & I will treasure them, I do still have some relatives that live there and just recently my brother has been to Engalnd and I think he visited Rothwell, sadly we dont communicate so I wont be able to share his experiences he was only 6 when we left so wouldnt have remembered too much anyway.
I will keep checking this website to see if I can see any photos that might mean something to me, and hopefully someone might remember some of the things that I have mentioned.

Marie Marsland (nee Lord)