Much Love

A Memory of Dronfield.

I, Louise Lomas, grew up at no. 58 Snape Hill Crescent, Dronfield with my mum and dad and sister Dawn and Brian Lomas and Nicola, oh and not forgetting Benjamin our border collie dog. My grandad, James Marples, lived at number 52 Snape Hill Crescent, the man I addored and loved so much, I think of him every day of my life and miss him terribly, he died November 1977, Saturday evening, while watching Starsky and Hutch!
Dronfield was a lovely place, relatives lived near by and I always felt very much loved. As children then we all congregated on Chiverton Close with the Fletchers, Siddalls, Crossleys, Hardwicks, all having harmless fun - unlike today.
I still drive along Snape Hill Crescent and see myself walking pass grandad's house on my way to school at 8.30 in the morning, "Night grandad", I used to yell, "Bye sweetheart" he would reply. I would sit for hours on the wall outside his house, having previously read the note from my mum, "Don't disturb grandad, he's not well". We would play badminton for hours over the garden gate. He would never speek about the war but now I realise why, it was too sad, and that saddens me to think he kept it all to himself.
My dad Brian was a fine man, hands like shovels, and he took up the trend of knocking certain neighbours' pantries out to give them more kitchen space. My mum Dawn was a training to be a nurse and a fine one at that, she has now retired but still wears the matron's cap at times. Nicola is still fairly wild and will probably never settle down, she has two lovely children Annabel and Joe.

Dronfiled will always have a special place in my heart, it's like coming home when I visit the mother-in-law, but if I hadn't moved out when I did, I think I would not have developed as a person as much as I have. And that's not much!