Goldthorpe In The Fifties

A Memory of Goldthorpe.

I was born in 1946 and lived in Manor Avenue. Cricket with dustbin lids propped up with a house brick in the "backins" were our stumps and we played from dawn to dusk during the summer holidays...except during Wimbledon when we played tennis without a net.
Bagnall's field on the corner of Straight Lane opposite the shops, and the old farm next to the fire station. Being in the chippy opposite Travis's corner shop and watching the guy frying suddenly hare off down the road carrying his fireman's gear as he ran.
Barnburgh Colliery sports day at the Welfare ground.
Goldthorpe Infants School...headmistress was Miss Anderton I think. Junior School next door and the thugs who were our teachers.
Dearnside when JKL Davies was headmaster...we called him Jekyll behind his back.
Dondo, the eccentric art teacher with his french beret but no strings of garlic.
The weekly matinee every Saturday morning when Reg Jackson was manager. I used to produce a sort of variety show before the films started for a time.
Various deaths and emergencies at the pit...young men old before their time with the effects of coal dust.
Phillipson's bus garage and the games played up and down the railway banking, often with the added excitement of being chased by the signalman from the signal box.
Painting my name on the corner stones of Straight Lane bridge 50 years ago (still there I'm told).
The Sally Army band every Sunday morning.
Old Ben the milkman who used a huge handcart/barrow to deliver the milk. How he controlled it I'll never know.
Pantos at the Welfare Hall by the Community Miner's Scheme. Sid Robinson I recall from those pantos.
Club trips to the seaside with my bag of freebie goodies and my name tag. Pleasure my a***! I just got too many clouts.
The neighbourliness and sense of community. Doors were rarely locked as I recall.
Daily runs to the Coop and back on Barnburgh Lane before I went to school. Made me fit as a butcher's dog though.
5 different Working Men's clubs, all busy.
The old air raid shelters next to the gym at the back of Dearnside. We used to play submarines in them if old man Johnson the caretaker was'nt around.
The old air raid shelter on what we called the army field which stood next to the Sally Army Citadel. We used to sneak in there to smoke Woodbines and Park Drive until my dad caught us. My behind was redder than the end of the lit woodbine.
Climbing the high wall at the back of the Union Jack to raid the bins for empty cigarette packets with my mates. Remember that game where you skimmed the flattened packets against a wall until you got one to lay atop another and claim all those thrown?
The Nipsy Tournament held annually on the bridle path. Is Nipsy dead? I remember the Riley family from the top of Manor Avenue being hot shots at the game.
Sunday School at the Baptist Church on the main Donny Road. I hated the boring stuff but as a kid the happy clappy singing bit was pure delight.
Weetman's offy opposite Tommy Hartly's tobacco shop. Both shops had such wonderful smells. Kirk's butchers, the Frederick Street chippy (my favourite), Doctor Magill's surgery further up Frederick Street which was first come, first served and always packed.
The old farm and farmhouse and being sent to get milk if Ben the milkman was late. Worst of jobs because to walk the short way to the door meant being gassed by pig smells...yuck!
Enough for now...I have rambled on.

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