Crabtree's Farm

A Memory of Disley.

I wasn't born in Disley. My Grandparents built a little wooden bungalow in a field owned by the Crabtree family. It was built before the war for holidays. Before that they had a big tent and all their family would go to stay. During the war my grandparents would take some of the kids from Salford ( where they lived) for a break from the bombings. I don't know how they coped. There was no running water or electricity. They had oil lamps and collected the water from a well at the bottom of the hill. and an outside Elson toilet that had to be emptied. They cooked on Primus stoves. I was born in 1945 and used to go with them for holidays to the bungalow. There were three other bungalows there,the Hughes and Ollerenshaw families. We rarely saw them as we seemed to go at different times. There were two farms owned by the Crabtee's. A bigger one through the woods and the one we were near. Grace and Tom Crabtree had a house at the bottom of the hill. Tom drowned in the canal. They were lovely people and I enjoyed visiting them very much. They let me feed the hens and collect eggs, also round up the cows. I had a special stick for that. Mr. Crabtree from the other farm used to have a big Cydesdale horse called kitty. She was his plough horse. I have a photo of me sitting on her.I have very special memories of Disley. We would walk from the Station up a hill and cross the golf course to get there,or we could walk along the canal bank and up the hill to the bungalow. There was a wireless run by accumulater batteries and when they were going back home they would leave it at the "lamp oil" shop to be recharged. I think the white building in the photo could be it. My grandparents names were Joseph and Charlotte Atkinson. They died in 1960.