The Place Where I Was Born

I was born in Whalley, in the second cottage opposite the Catholic Church in the Sands, in December 1924. Next door to us was Mr Sutton who was well known around Whalley for his ice cream. He used to stand outside the abbey gates with his ice cream and he always had raspberry vinegar to put on top of the cones. I went to Whalley C of E School.  Mr J Chew was the headmaster, Miss Edith as we knew her was my kindergarten teacher, other teachers I remember were Miss Forster, Miss Baxter [ who I was in Love with], Miss Roberts, Miss Dyson. I was in the church choir when I was 7, also the Boy Scouts when I was 11, and a bell ringer, when I was 14. In 1932 my parents opened a greengrocery and wet Ffsh business in Park Villas, next door to the Post Office where my grandfather was the Postmaster. In 1935 for King George's Jubilee the Whalley Scouts camped on Kemple End and along with the Calderstone Scouts we built a huge bonfire and lit it when we saw one lit on Pendle Hill, it was a way of signalling. Coronation year, 1937, we had a big celebration in Whalley with parades, and everyone put up decorations, and fun for all at the cricket field and all the children got mugs with the photos of King George VI, and again there was bonfires on Kemple End, Pendle Hill and the Nab. When the war started Miss Railton (also one of my teachers) started the drive to save paper and we gathered and stored it in a little cottage next door to the kindergrden school. After Dunkirk the LDV was formed [later named Home Guard], all the Whalley lads joined and were trained by Mr Lennon with broom handles , the old Grammar School is where we had the Guard Room and where we stood outside the door to do our Guard Duty. On Saturday night we used to go to the First House Pictures above the Co-op, then to the chip shop where we got 2 pennyworth of chips and a Vimto and sat inside to eat them. When I was 16 I used to go dancing on Saturday night at the Assembly Rooms. All the soldiers from the print works in Barrow and the soldiers at Morton Hall all came, the place was crowded but we enjoyed it and after the dance was over we had to careful not to bump into anything as it was a blackout. Sunday  - after Sunday School and church we usually went for walks up the hellicliffs and golf course up to Babyhouse Towers, or along the riverside or up the Nab. In Summer we used to go to swim at Mitton Flats where I learned to swim.
After leaving Whalley School, I went to Barrow School where Mr and Mrs Clayton were the teachers, then when I was 12 I went to Clitheroe Ribblesdale School where I sat for an exam which I passed and got a County Scholarship to go to Blackburn Technical College, where I graduated in 1940. I went to work in Accrington at Howard & Bullough as an Apprentice Tool Maker.
My parents sold the shop and we moved to Accrington in December 1941.