The Cottages Sandholme Road

A Memory of Gilberdyke.

Moved into Sandholme Road in 1954 from Howden. Father and grandfather bought The Cottages at auction and I lived there until going to college in 1970. My parents stayed there until 1983 when they moved into Laburnum Walk, where my mother still lives. Typical of many villages of the type, walk through it once and you have seen it twice. Living as I do now in Bedlington, Northumberland it is quite a way to visit but we get down when we can. I went to the old Gilberdyke primary as did my father and grandfather. (Ironically my father spent his last few years in the old school when it was turned into a nursing home). Passing the eleven plus meant I went to Goole Grammar School (thankfully before it went comprehensive. When I was young, the modern estates weren't built and rates were cheap. The aircraft works at Brough provided much of the work and gradually Gilberdyke became a dormitory village servicing Hull and Goole. I bought a BSA Bantam in 1969 and enjoyed riding it round the empty roads. Petrol was 5/8d a gallon (29p) and I remember going into Jordan's in Hull and seeing the massed ranks of British bikes lined up. I own a BSA Bantam now, a 1967 registered one built from scrap which I have tried to get as near as possible to my first one. The roads were much clearer, and every thing seemed so much more optimistic than they do now. I have an MGB GT from the same era (1970) and these vehicles invoke a feeling of nostalgia for what has been to a large extent lost. Gilberdyke invokes the feeling...whenever we get ready to visit, I always remember it as being Easter or August bank holiday, back in the 70's. I remember sitting on the railway platform around 1983 with my 2 young daughters, at Easter in the sun, and getting a feeling of such calm, an 'island' moment in a stressful teaching job, which I have great difficulty in recreating. The foggy nights in the late 60's, walking in such a pea soup that we had keep singing so we didn't lose each other. The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band were one of our favourite groups and to find each other one would shout "Hey Ali Barber!" and the reply would be "Your Camel Loves You!" I wouldn't like to try that now. I am a retired science teacher, but still working as a science technician at one of the top Newcastle private schools. I hope these comments stir other people into offering their own remembrances. I look forward to reading them.

Dave Cooper