Re Salford In The 1950s

A Memory of Salford.

I remember my childhood in Salford very well. We lived on Clarendon Road and I went to Liverpool Street Girls' School. The headmistress was a Mrs Chrighton and the music teacher was a Miss Jones. We used to walk to school and collect caterpillars off the wall that went round the park and took them to school and kept them in our desk all day. We played in the street all the time, quite safely. Those were the days when every house had its own bonfire outside the front door on Bonfire Night and I don't recall anyone being hurt. On every corner there was a corner shop. On our corner it was Mrs White's shop. This lady couldn't see too well and we used to wrap farthings in silver paper and pass it off as a sixpence and buy a bar of 5 Boys chocolate. When I was 4 years old my mum had to go into hospital and the three of us were put into St George's Home. I wish I could remember where it was. We didn't stay there too long and were soon home. I can remember people called the Fletchers and the Constables but haven't any idea where they went to live. We left Salford when I was nine and my dad brought us all to live in Leicestershire. I have never forgotten my early life in Salford and still have very fond memories. I have been back a couple of times but it has all changed now. I would love to see old photos of Clarendon Road and the surrounding streets from the 1950s but I can't find any. I remember the rag and bone man calling to collect old clothes and giving my mum a white stone to do the front step with and there was the gaily painted ice cream van shaped like a coronation coach with paraffin lamps on the front and pulled by horses. If any one remembers Clarendon Road in those days I would love to hear from them. a.atkin2@ntlworld.com My surname in those days was LOCKER.

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