To Wheatley And Back

A Memory of Intake.

After the Second World War and during the austere period of rationing, among the items that were in short supply was coal. People would burn anything in order to keep warm, and many were the trips that I made to Flint Woods for wood. My dad had a big saw and it was my job to cut these tree trunks into small logs. Also, in addition, we would burn coke. This was obtained from the Gas Works on Wheatley Hall Road and it was also down to me to fetch it. Why this was is because I had a trolley and that was essential for the task. Every Saturday morning during winter-time, I would be given sixpence and a large sack, take up the ropes of my trolley and pull it to Wheatley where I would then wait in line for my coke ticket [sixpence or two and a half pence], and when I say waiting in line, is because hundreds of kids like me would also be there, with their trolleys, barrows or old prams. Eventually our turn would come and the official Gas Board operator would fill your sack from a big hopper, and this is where the reason for a big sack came in. The bigger the sack, the more coke you would receive. Because we kids were not very big and strong, we would help each other to load up and tie the sacks down, then it was a case of shoulders to the grindstone and pulling it back to Intake. For this Saturday morning task, we would receive our weekly pocket money, a full shilling [5 new pence]. With these riches, we also got our weekly two ounce sweet coupon [sweets were on ration too]. When we had been washed and fed, the afternoon was ours. Our little gang would congregate and then off we would go. First stop was to Warburtons Sweet Shop on Sandringham Road were we would buy our two ounces of sweets. This cost threepence, then we would catch the bus into town [one penny]. From there we would rush round to the Regal Cinema [affectionately called " the flea pit"] and join the queue for the kids' matinee. This was a must for us, as all of us were cowboy fans. There we would watch Johnny Mac Brown, Charles Starrett, Rocky Lane and my personal favourite Lash Larue. These were real cowboys, with wish six guns, whips and hard fists who were not frightened of anybody or anything and who could sort out any gangs of bad men that they stumbled across. Sometimes we watched films starring Johnny Weismuller who played the role of Tarzan, King of the Jungle or find ourselves in the jungles of India with Sabu, the Elephant Boy or be entranced with the antics of Errol Flynn as Robin Hood or D'Artagnan of the Three Musketeers or some devilish pirate in the Caribbean Sea or a daredevil pilot fighting the might of the German Luftwaffe. These films were meat and gravy for us, leaving us with memories we would never forget. When the matinee finished we would go for a walk round the market, looking at all the various animals, and there was a variety. Bulls, cows, sheep, goats, horses, geese, ducks, chickens, if they belonged on a farm they were there for sale. From there we would find our way to Biscuit Billy's market stall where we would purchase a pennyworth of broken biscuits which would then leave us with a penny for the bus fare back to Intake. That was our pocket money spent and the only bright light on the horizon was that if we good boys, we MIGHT get an ice cream bought for us on the Sunday. Happy Days.

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