My Gran & Grandad Jack Spencer

A Memory of Pickmere.

Jack & Unice Spencer were my grandparents, they owned the boats on Pickmere Lake. My life after the war was idillic when living with them, thousands flocked from Salford & Manchester to camp, fish and row my grandad's boats. We charged 2 bob an hour, 10p in to-days money. On a Saturday, before dark, I used to row across the lake putting eel lines out with my grandad, then on a Sunday, row out to collect the missing bungs, always with a huge eel on the line that we skinned and cooked to eat and the skins used for grandad's rheumatism. We collected water from a spring in the field as we had not water or electricity. Everything was cooked on a large cast iron range in the front room, even the irons were warmed on it to iron the bed sheets. We had chickens, gooseberry trees, veg plot, mint, sage, rubarb and all sorts of, I could tell some wonderful tales of my life there.
John