Davyhulme Park And Around

A Memory of Stretford.

Living on the Lostock Estate in a Council house on Radstock Road, I can remember being taken as a treat, to Davyhulme Park and the paddling pool/boating lake. What a big treat that was !! and then we used to, when older, go ourselves, Ian McAllister, John McNuff and Derek Taylor we would all go behind the Nelson and on to the banks of the Mersey attempting to catch oysters, in our dreams, but it was there that we all learn to swim, as we got older we used to go to the Urmston Hotel (a pub) climb over his back gate pinch the empties and then take them back into the off sales door and get the money on the empties. Nowadays it would be called 'Anti Social Behaviour' to us it was a laugh and it was how we got our money to go into the flea pit (Empress) if we were lucky we had enough for the Curzon matinee, if not it was the flea pit.
The 'Polish Camp' opp where the Moss Vale was built was another dare and adventure, I remember Spider Bill (never knew his real name), but he was tall and older than all of us, well he fell into Nadens Brook one day as we were catching sticklebacks (small fish with 3 (Ithink or might have been 2 spines)) on their spines. He fell in and was covered in light brown mud we all walked home with him, to hear his Mother beat the living daylights out of him - and he cried. He was no longer our hero after that.
Went to Lostock Infants and Junior School I had a crush on Miss Moss she was lovely, till one day she hit me across the hand with a wooden ruler for pulling Elaine Salters hair. Ah those were the days.

Just been back to Stretford for the first time in over 40 years - what a dump the Arndale Centre is full of cheap jack shops and Longford Park is a shadow of what it was, talking to the ONLY gardener he informed that from 2015 there will be no flowers or any thing growing just grass The stream that ran through the rockery has dried up and all the budgies and the avant garde cafe along with the Hall have all gone, what memories I have of the Hall and the dances we had there. Now all that is left of the Hall is the front entrance arch with the name of some councillor (whom even now, none of the locals or the gardener could remember.
The Civic Theater is up for sale and is now called 'Stretford Public Hall' I have no idea when it stopped being the Civic Theater we used to have great times in the Childrens Theater, I had my first kiss there with Christine Buckle (I wonder where she is and if she remembers it). Anyone remember the Ritz Chippie or Raw's the Chemist or Ted Shields where we all had to get our school uniforms from. Doctor Wadle on Chester Road or later on Doctor Tait on Barton Road.