Ahh, Memories!

A Memory of Rochdale.

My family (well, me mum, older brother and I), moved to Rochdale in '53 and lived on Norrey's St, (off George St, which ran parallel with Ramsey St), and I have many memories of the time - particularly of taking all the local dogs on long walks down Healey Dell every Sunday - and without lead's, btw!.
As I matured, I remember we all used to descend on the Rainbow Coffee Bar on Drake St(we knew it as 'Molly's', but it wasn't until years later that we realised that it was the surname of the Italian couple who owned it, (Molli), and we actually called the lady 'Molly'), then we'd wander off down Drake St to the 'San Remo' (it's still there, btw).
On Saturday afternoons (being a bit 'flush' with our wages), we'd then drift into 'Steward's' Gent's outfitter's, where the owner, Leo, would say...'I just got in the perfect thing for you'...(usually a shirt to wear that night to The Carlton on Gt. George St...(anyone remember the place?...now long gone, sadly).
Often, we'd wander up The Walk 'en masse' and cross over Yorkshire St to Bradley's Music Shop to buy the latest singles for our collections.
Anyone remember Lord St? It was famous for having so many pubs on such a short street; the Coach & Horses, the Old Clock Face, (both in the same building), the White Lion, the Red Lion, and right at the end, the Duke of Wellington? (Oh, and just around the back, the Roebuck?) Plus, up Toad Lane, opposite the Market, was 'The Market House', (which was no more than, as I recall, a small room with benches, and a bar running down one side!) and just while we're on the subject, on Bailey St. was the Grapes (and at the back, down the tunnel called 'Bull Brow' was the 'bottom' Grapes, the other half of the pub, lol!).
At the end of Lord St, turning left, was Blackwater St, where there was a leather shop which sold all manner of belts and studs and, as we were 'rocker's', (one had to be either a 'rocker' or a 'Mod'), we spent a lot of time, (and money) in there!.
All those street's are gone, now, having been built over, sadly!.
On occasion, (tiring of the Carlton), we'd often get the coach from Yelloway to the 'New Elizabethan' at Belle Vue, at 6:15 on Saturday's - and I seriously can't remember the times we missed catching it back and had to 'club together' to raise the 15 bob taxi-fare back to Rochdale!.
Trolling back, it's astonishing what one's mind can rake up, innit?. F'rinstance, I can remember me mum giving me a bowl an' telling me to nip down to Mawson's Chippy on Ramsey St, next-door to 'The Trafalgar Pub', for a 'sixpenny mix'...(a bowl of chip's an' pea's...'cos we'd missed the 'Black Pea Man')...an' Mrs' Mawson alway's chucked a coupla fritter's in, lol!.
However, I left Rochdale when I was 18 to work at a Holiday Camp in Morecambe, where I met my wife but, as it wasn't to last, I gravitated once more to Rochdale after 4 year's, and I was astounded at the changes already taking place in what I considered my home town.
Sadly, these changes are continuing apace...but I still have many memories of my childhood and adolescent years...
...for instance...anyone remember the Whit Walks which alway's ended up on Cronkeyshaw Common?...or the Fairground on The Holme, where the now-defunct Police Building stands?...or, what about the weekly Band Concert in Broadfield Park?...
...to para-phrase William Wallace, 'you can destroy our Town, but you can't destroy our MEMORIES!'...(lol!).