Just Being A Kid

A Memory of Alveley.

I was born in the village in 1942 at 61 Stone Row, one of four cottages behind the post office - the post office and village store was owned and run by Mr and Mrs Sargent back then. Alveley was a quiet village and only came to life as the shifts changed at the local coal mine where the majority of men worked. We had a regular hourly bus service to both Bridgnorth and Kidderminster. We kids had a pretty good life with with nothing much to worry about - we wandered for miles in our quest for things to do, no one was very well off but who cared, we were free, we didn't want for much. Lads climbed trees and went down the brook, building dams and bridges. If we could get hold of a bit of rope it was strung from a tree so we could swing across the brook. We all loved a hot summer so we could go to Fenn Green bathing pool to swim in the ice cold water. I think every kid went into the fields when the harvesting was being done, if you helped you got a nice glass of lemonade or something and often a bit of bread and cheese. The lads all enjoyed the corn harvest, the old binder would go round and round the field till the last couple of rows were left, then we would all stand round with our sticks waiting for the rabbits to break cover, they didn't stand much chance of making the edge - they were food. What fun we had just being boys. Then in the winter and the first snow fall, we all made for Banky Wittle to sledge on anything that would slide on snow (a good piece of sheet iron if you cold find one). Life was so simple, then of course the changes came, new housing estates were built, more people came to live in that old sleepy village, the coal mine closed, men went away to work in the carpet factories and metal works, that little village changed.

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