Growing Up In Gildersome

A Memory of Gildersome.

I was born in 1952 and lived in Gildersome until I was 19 years old. My name until then was Lorraine Thompson. I have many happy memories of living in the village. Until I was 4 years old I lived in a terrace called Green Terrace located opposite the Junction Inn and next to the village green. I have vivid memories of my mother, Doreen, using the communal wash-house with dolly tubs and mangles on Monday, the wash day. Our toilets were outside and communal with other residents - these were located opposite the common midden used for dustbins. These houses were demolished along time ago. A favourite memory in the yard, called a yard because it was a dirt path not tarmaced, was the annual bonfire attended by everyone in the terrace, sharing hot potatoes. At the age of four we move into the next street, this was a surfaced road called The Nooks . I lived at number 44, part of a terrace now demolished. This house was bigger than the one up and one down of Green Terrace, it had an extra bedroom and a small kitchen, however the two toilets were outside and shared by five families. I hated going to the toilets on dark winter nights. However most of my memories of the ten years I lived there were happy. Memories shared with my parents Jack and Doreen and my sisters Jacqeline and Josephine. Most of my memories are about the people who lived close by and were our neighbours, Hester Hollings the elderly lady who lived next door taught me needle-craft, George and Marrion Easton and their daughters, Valerie and Mary, who ran the local shop and Jack the cobbler whose shop was on the green.
I have great memories of my grandparents John and Emma Thompson who always lived close by. Grandad was disabled in a mining accident which brought on a stroke in his forties. I remember him spending a lot of hours playing dominoes with elderly gentlemen in the shelter which was situated on the local play area behind the nursery school. He also sat for hours in summer on the benches on the village green. Some other memories include riding on the horse and cart of Herbert Burnley, the milk man, as he delivered milk down the Nooks. I remember my mum and other women in the Nooks hanging out their washing across the street and when cars wanted to pass the drivers would press their horns for the women to hold up the washing lines with wooden props.
Some of the best times I had were on the annual outing to Cleethorpes on the summer excursions from Gildersome railway station. Dad always bought a bundle of old comics from a vendor who stood on the station platform. The days were always special and I remember the journey home and the fire darting out of the old engines in the dark of the night. I have memories of being baptised by my great uncle William Nichols. I was four at the time and remember the evangelical church owned by my uncle where he was pastor. The church was close to the Spread Eagle pub both now demolished for a massive round about. I have fond memories of my education at St Peter's C of E school. I remember the teachers who taught me Mrs Rhoades, Mrs Wilson, Miss Petty, Mrs Leathley, Mrs Hart, Mrs Body and two head teachers; Mr Johnson and Mr Kemp. I loved the impromtpue nature walks to Cockersdale Wood, before the days of 'health and safety' would have banned them. I remember playing rounders on the school field, the field my dad, as a boy, 'dug for victory' a decade earlier during the war years. I left the school in 1961 for Morley Grammar School. The old school is no longer there. I also have to mention my happy days with Gildersome Guides and Brownies and how much I appreciated the time guide captain Marjorie Kirby spent helping me to become a Queens Guide. I also remember Mr and Mrs Metcalf opening up their home on Sunday nights for a group of teenagers to meet and enjoy each others company. At the age of fourteen my family left the Nooks and moved to a fairly new council house in Spring Bank Avenue where I lived until I went to Hull University In 1971. I married a year later in the old St Peter's church building and left to live with my husband, Tony Smith in East Yorkshire. The rest of my family still live in the village so I return often. My father, Jack Thompson died last year at the age of 84. He lived all his life in the village and is buried in Gildersome cemetery not far from the old school playing field that he had dug up to plant vegetables in the war years. I know he would be pleased with this. So my memories are long, clear and happy of my life in Gildersome. It has changed so much over the last sixty years and grown out of all proportion from the small village of 1952. I hear its name mentioned on the national radio most days relating to traffic problems on the M62...in 1952 cars were rarely seen. Although I do remember being taken as a small child to the village green to see the new Queen pass by in her car. One last special memory was of the summer of 1959, it was long and hot and we children could play out all day without our parents constantly worrying about our safety. It reminds me that although quality of life is now much better over all not all change is progress. Thank you to my family and friends I made in Gildersome for such wonderful memories.