Our Gang

A Memory of Salford.

I was born in Russel Place off Hankinson St. We had cockroaches all over the house and
there was 8 kids & 2 adults in a 2up 2down. We had no money & my dad was a gambler
& a violent man. In 1952 we were rehoused to Corby House, Ladywell flats.
This was when our gang of kids was formed, we played on the farm near Cock Robin
Bridge, we played footie till dark & got belted for ruining our corpie boots. We made bats
and played cricket, we played farmer, farmer, rallyevio, commandos, Flash Gordon, we
were on the quarry taking risks on conveyors, we got belted by Sgt. Morrison for tresspassing. We had massive bonfire nights and spent weeks collecting & pinching bonnie wood, we rigged up bikes & went appleing in Lymn & made ourselves sick on crab apples & bad pears.
We started to collect train numbers & began to learn about tankers, mickies, brits, semis, namers & engines I cannot remember. Then some of us graduated to Tootal Road and I
hated the place, I was stood in front of the class many, many times for being scruffy
for having holes in my pumps & wet feet & no socks.
So these are just some of my memories of poor Salford kids who made each other able to bear bad home lives, so thank you George Mather, George Hughes, the Clewerth boys, Peter Robinson & his brothers, Harry Smith, Ray Mather, Alan Booth, Peter Hudson, The Hartley brothers & those I have forgot.
Proof that decent kids can come from poor & deprived backgrounds.