Memories Of Childhood

A Memory of Tottington.

I remember in the late 50's trudging all the way along Black Lane to go to Affetside School on Watling Street. The winters were harsh with the snow drifts well over my head! I lived at 324 Turton Road, in a row of around 4 houses, which, I've been told were once cow sheds! My father was Alfred McBride and his wife was Lillian. They had three daughters, Alice, Essie & me and we lived next door to the Atherdens (I think that's how you spell it). Tilly Howarth owned a small farm across the road and she looked after me after my mother died. My father was a coalman, he wore clogs and whistled all the time, he was also a great musician. I remember being told that during the war an unexploded bomb fell in Turton Road and my mother had to be dragged away from the edge of the huge crater it left, for fear it would explode, I don't know if it did. Maybe someone out there knows. From our home there was a beautiful view of Holcombe Hill and an easy walk to Hawkshaw, and I remember catching the 216 bus to Bolton with my dad. He died in 1961 and I went to live in Bolton with my older sister, Alice, and her husband. I now live in New Zealand, but whenever I get back to England I always visit 324 Turton Road and, although the cottages have changed, the area is as beautiful as it's always been.