From Horse Power To Petrol

A Memory of Intake.

In 1945 there was still a lot of horse and carts about. I am aware that Doncaster Corporation had buses and dustbin lorries and other petrol driven vehicles but there was not many private cars about. The only one that I recall belonged to Dr Scott who used it when he was on his HOME visit rounds. It was a small open topped tourer with a canvas hood that could be pulled up and over, and fastened on the windscreen in times of inclement weather. He always had with him his little white Highland Terrier [Scottie] dog, who rode along with his nose hanging over the side of the car. It was so rare to see a car or lorry, that if we were playing in the street, and someone heard one coming [and you could hear them from streets away] we would go and stand on the kerb and wish for it to come down our street so that we could see it. Most of the traffic consistered of horse and carts. The milk man, the coal man, the ice cream man, the greengrocer, the rag and bone man, everybody. Mr Johnny Lewis from Argyll Avenue was our greengrocer and Mr Wilkinson from Cumberland Avenue was the general carrier. Mr Wilkinson's horse was called Dolly and she was kept in the Intake All Saints churchyard with the permission of the vicar Mr [Fred] Mace, in order to keep the grass at an acceptable level. When these horses were working, the drivers always carried a bucket of water and a bag of oats so the horses could have a mid-day snack. Later on, when the country became more mechanised, the horses were phased out, and a feature of the times sadly passed. One of the benefits of this new technology was that Mr [Charlie] Shaw of Devonshire Road became a van driver for Landey's, who in those days sold a much greater range of goods than the women's outfitters they were to eventually become. During our school holidays, he would take a few of us local kids with him on his travels. We seemed that we were travelling hundreds of miles, we certainly saw some strange and foriegn places.The purpose of this kindness on Mr Shaw's part in taking us with him was that at every shop were he had a delivery, he would organise us into a convoy and whilst he stood to one side with his clipboard and pencil, would tick off each item as we carried it in the shop for him. As I said, we saw some faraway places, which, as I grew up, I identified as Bentley, Skellow, Kirk Sandall, Rossington and Edlington. I digress, I don't know if I have mentioned our vicar before Mr Mace before, he was a character, and I say that in the nicest way. He stood about 5 feet tall in his boots, but he could scare us kids. One of our play areas was the unfinished church building on Evelyn Avenue [the war put a stop to all unnecesary buildings] but it was a brilliant playground for us and we would spend many an happy hour there. Sometimes, but not often, Mr Mace would catch us kids playing and could he throw a scare into us. Our one saving grace was that he rode a bike that had a very loud click whenever he was free-wheeling and we could hear that sound from a 100 yards or more. As kids, we also had to go to church, especially if we wanted to be in the Scouts, and I seem to remember that every time he was preaching about how God knew who all the sinners were, he always appeared to be looking at me. The Scout hut stood in the church grounds.That was the headquarters of the Intake 55th All Saints Scout Group and our Scoutmaster was Mr [Skip] Kerry of Devonshire Road and his assistant was Mr [KIP] Adamson from Shaftsbury Avenue. Mr Adamson was later to become a very well respected Science teacher at the Doncaster Technical High School for Boys.

---

---