Old Yard

A Memory of Donnington.

I was born in Trench in 1948; my father worked at the Granville Pits. We moved to 'The Old Yard' when I was about 4 years old. We had such a good community, the homes were bungalows and houses. We lived in a little bungalow with no heating other than a big old black leaded grate. No running water in the house, just a cold tap in the outhouse, where mum did her washing every Monday by lighting a big copper boiler to obtain hot water. After the washing was done the other neighbours would come around for the left over hot water. All the ladies, used to hang their washing out on the village green to dry (no children every played out over the green on a Monday in respect, or we may have got a thick ear). We had a bath every Sunday night ready for school on Monday, this was a tin bath put in front of the fire; it took some filling as mum or dad had to boil pots on the black leaded grate to fill the bath. Most of my school friends already had bathrooms, and at the time I felt quit embarrased, not because we did not have a bathroom or inside toilet, but because we had no stairs! The houses were knocked down in around 1956 and we moved to a brand new home with a bathroom; mum had a cooker. Despite all the luxury of running water, a bath and inside toilet, we all missed the community spirit of the 'Old Yard'. This is now called 'High Mount', does anyone remember the Old Yard? And more importantly, does anyone have any photographes? We had very little in the way of pictures as no one owned a camera except our neighbours Mr & Mrs Lord. I remember crying myself to sleep after we moved, I missed the little bungalow so much. I would wander over there after school and watch it being bulldozed down, and just sobbing.......never got over that place, because of the people who lived there. They had very little, but were all kind to each other. The real change came with the introduction of the so called new town, 'Telford' - how I long for the old days. I would give up all the mod cons of today just to go backwards to the 'good old days' .
Many Thanks
Josie