Not Greengates But Gods Green Acre

A Memory of Greengates.

I was born in Bradford 1947 and grew up at Redcar Road. I remember Glovers the newsagents on the corner of this photo and across the road in New Line just down from the Roebuck pub my mum took me on the bus every day to the nursery. My parents have now passed away but I am drawn to my birthplace and go back as often as I can to re live some of the best memories of my childhood. Alas, time moves on and the Pastry shop is gone along with Stevensons provision shop. The old picture house where I can still see my dad and I waiting in the queue to see 'The Dambusters'. My mum worked most of her life at Garnets Mill and I would walk down Apperley Bridge to meet her after school. Unless you have experienced it you cannot imagine the sight of hundreds of mill workers rushing out all at the same time when the hooter went. Just yesterday I walked along the canal past the locks and stood under the bridge where my mates and I used to climb up and put pennies on the railway line waiting for the steam trains to come. I often got a crack from my mum when I got home as she could smell the coal and soot and knew where I had been. I left Greengates when I was 15 and went in the Royal Navy. I feel so lucky to have not only been born into an era that we will never see again but to have spent my childhood in the best place in the world surrounded by the warmest and nicest people I have ever met.