Daresbury Firs And Other Memories

A Memory of Daresbury Firs.

Brought up in the Square I have happy memories of playing in Daresbury Firs. The blue bells were always marvellous in the spring! I used to help my stepdad (Roy Forster) collect leaf mould for his vegetable garden each year and carry the bags back to our garden. (This was WAY before the by-pass.) Every now and again the men would be called out to build fire-breaks if the bracken caught fire. Seemed to work as not many trees were ever lost.

There used to be rope swings around the woods. When I took my son, Ian, to visit his grandparents he fell off one and ended up in Warrington Hospital....

Very many things back in the 1950's revolved around the Church. Myself and my cousins were all choristers and bellringers. For a few months we had a youth club of sorts in the Sessions Rooms near the pub. There was also a Sunday School class held there most Sunday mornings, run by Isobelle Hewitt whose mum was landlady at the Ring O'Bells. I helped her for a short time, as did Rosemary Ravenscroft.

As a child I often visited my grandma's best friend, Miss Haughton, who was Church Warden for many years (I believe her father held the post before her). Her house was filled with lovely old furniture and bric-a-brac which fascinated me. I played often with Pat Johnson too, whose mum and dad lived near to the blacksmith's house. Very many happy memories of times past.

My mum (Sheila) passed last year and, as she requested, is now in Daresbury church grounds with both Roy and her first husband (Ernest) close by. So my family and I often call to visit. The pub is greatly altered but still welcoming .....

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