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Tong
Tong maps
Historic maps of Tong and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Tong maps
Tong area books
Displaying 1 of 28 books about Tong and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Tong
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West Yorkshire memories
Growing up in Pudsey
Dont live in Pudsey any more but was born and brought up there. I lived on Laurel Mount off Richardshaw Lane. across from Farsley omnibus depot. I think there is an office block there now. There used to be Harold's fish shop, a grocery shop, a cobblers shop where we always used to buy our fireworks and then a timber yard. Where the by pass goes under Rikky Lane there used to be another grocers shop on the left and on the right was an old barn and all fields. Before the Grangefield Ind Estate was completed there were two dams in the fields ...one belonged to the big mill which was fenced in and then there was the small one where we used to go tadpoling. I also notice on passing that my old infants school is now made into flats - Richardshaw Lane Infants. Moving on to the sixties brought different interests. Saturdays at Ma Porritts dancing school in Farsley, Saturday nights at Pudsey... Read more
My Estate
I was born on Roker Crescent, Pudsey and lived there until I married in 1968. Does anyone have any info on who live on the Crescent from 1940 to 1970? As I would like to find out who lived at number 43 from 1940 to 1968, this would be a great help to me for my family tree. The Roker Crescent was pulled down and replaced with new houses.
Pudsey
I was brought up in Larkfield Road, Pudsey, I went to Primrose Hill School and then to Crawshaw Sec, these were the best days, playing in Pudsey Park. My nanny lived on Ratcliff Terrace, I wonder if the houses are still there? I used to call for my best friend Margaret Farrand who lived at Owlcoates. I remember the fire station was on the corner in the market square and a big siren sounded when there was a fire call. Te swimming baths were a must on a Saturday morning. Bev Beck (nee Kelk)
An Industrial Village
Having grown up in Birstall I have a fondness for this little market town in West Yorkshire, situated approximately 8 miles from Leeds and centrally placed for easy access to other major towns Bradford, Huddersfield and Wakefield.
Fifty years ago Birstall was a thriving village, where everyone knew everybody else (and their business!). There were several mills in the area, Birstall Carpet Company, Holton's, Charles Sheards to name but a few.
The shopping centre was busy and there was a variety of shops, unlike today when the centre seems to be full of beauty parlours, hairdressers and takeaways, with traditional shopkeepers struggling to earn a living.
In the market place stands a statue of Joseph Priestley, who discovered oxygen. He was born in Fieldhead. Birstall also has links with the Brontes, as Charlotte often stayed at Oakwell Hall and Brookroyd House and based her book "Shirley" on the area.
Until the 1990's not much had been written about Birstall. I then decided to write... Read more
Cinema on A Saturday as A Boy
I grew up in Driglington late 50s/ 60s and remember going to watch Roy Rogers and Hopalong Cassidy, now that was another lifetime ago.
As I got a bit older lots of us drig lads used to visit a coffee shop in the main street - cannot remember its name, and met lots of Birstall girls there. I also remember the first 3d movie I saw there, it was the House of Wax, we had to wear those red and green glasses.
Birstall Life, 1970
Does anybody remember Clifford the milkman, he had a barrel in a yard that he used as a dog kennel in the village. Or the Co-op in the village, I think it was that sold record players and I think shirts folded up, and kept in drawers behind the counter. I was 4 at the time of these memories. The dry cleaners that you could get high on walking past at the bottom of North Terrace. Singing 'Lily the Pink' at the working men's club. My dad Ernest Shaw played darts for the Hare and Hounds, if anybody remembered him he died in 1972. Liptons shop in the village. The fish and chip shop near Raikes Lane infant school, they went to Australia from the chippy. Did anybody reading this go to that school in 1970 -72? I still have the card you all signed when I left. Does anybody remember Dr Chong's in the village, didn't he always give you a lollypop?
Jack Garside And Mucky Minnie
Does anyone remember 'Spring-heeled Jack' and 'Mucky Minnie', the local tramp and his partner from the market place? Well, we do, and we also bought his house to sell on. My husband still has the scars from the flea bites to prove it.
