Memories of Sneinton

Betty and I were brought up in Davidson Street, Sneinton just before the Second World War. It was a small back-to-back terraced house with an outside toilet. One of my first recollections was being bathed in the small kitchen sink and the woman who lived next door talking to Mum. It was snowing. Later they made a snowman and put a pipe in his mouth. It was great fun. When war broke out we moved to 3 Hoten Road (Grandma and Grandad's house). We moved because they lived in a three-bedroomed house and if we moved in with them, then they wouldn't have to take in any refugees who might come from London. Mum and Dad had the back bedroom, and Betty and I had the attic. There were lots of arguments because Dad didn't get on with Grandad Brailsford. I recall the night of the blitz on Nottingham. It was pretty horrific. We were brought down from the attic and slept on the floor with Mum and Dad. Then the bombs started falling. The windows blew in and we had to go to the air raid shelter. The front door was already open. Dad and Grandad were made to go on fire watch. The next morning they told Mum and Grandma that St Christopher's Church had taken a direct hit. Two days later Mum took us out to see the damage. During the war it was pretty hectic, fetching coke from the gas works on London Road. Mum was working at the Birmingham Waste Paper Company, also on London Road. It was a horrible place. Just after the war the City Council had a waste paper drive and tons of paper was collected. Most of it stored in a field on Second Avenue in Carlton. We used to go there, it was good fun. We used to collect comics, Mum brought them home, bundled them into twelve, and we sold them to second-hand bookshops on Sneinton Road. Also in the field was a crab apple tree and I sat on the steps at Hoten Road, selling the crab apples. Grandma and Mum got involved in black market activity in women's wear and hair nets. They were convicted and their names were in the local paper. They did it so the family could have a better standard of living. Thanks Mum!