War Years In Dukinfield

A Memory of Dukinfield.

I lived in Clayton Street. I remember playing in the street - rounders where our ball kept bouncing against the gable end of Mrs Lowndes house in Meadow Lane, and she wasn't happy! We had no gardens and we all played in the street. There was an air raid shelter built on spare ground opposite our house, it wasn't very substantial and we used to play hide and seek around and in it... I used to do odd jobs and errands for neighbours for threepence or sixpence such as washing their front door step and a few flags, or going shopping. My grandparents lived in Plough Street, No. 14, and had lived there since the house was built in the 1890's. I was born there and moved to Clayton Street when I was about five, about the time when my dad went into the RAF. My mum worked in a cotton mill and then later on war work, and I spent many years being looked after by my granny in Plough Street. We had nothing much, but nor did anybody else... it was the norm. I remember the Manchester Blitz and watching the lit-up night sky from the end of our street. We had a sort of shelter under the stairs, as my Mum always said that on bombed-out houses the stairs always stood. I remember one night going into the air raid shelter opposite our house, with my mum's friend (whose husband was also away in the forces) and her daughter, my best friend. We had a great time and got into a row with our mums for saying we loved the war being on!

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