Post War Tyldesley

A Memory of Tyldesley.

Born in 1947 my family lived in Gin Pit at No 2 Lord Street. In those days there were huge slag heaps just over a stream at the bottom of the village and a pond at the bottom of Lord Street. We used to skate on it in the winter as it was always frozen. A railway line ran along and besides School Street up past the Welfare and to Tyldesley carrying the coal from the pits. We moved in 1952 to the new houses at Shackerley and we lived in a brand new one at 39 York Avenue where I lived for 28 years. Things were different then and I remember the estate being built although there had been houses on Crawford Avenue before the war followed by some on Rutland Road, Devon Road, Cumberland Road and Lancaster Avenue. From York Avenue we could see across the common to Tyldesley and all the factory chimneys which belched out thick black smoke night and day from Caleb Wrights. I always thought that Tyldesley parish Church was black until it was sandblasted to the colour it is now. At the bottom of Shackerley Road was Ward and Goldstones and most people in Tyldesley worked there, in the mills or at one of the many pits. Happy days indeed. I went to St George's Primary School until 1958 when I and 19 others in the year passed our 11 plus exam and went to Leigh Grammar School and Leigh Girl;s' Grammar School. Those who didn't pass went to Tyldesley Secondary School for Boys at the bottom of Hough Lane or Tyldesley Secondary School for Girls in King William Street, commonly known as the Senior Boys and Senior Girls schools. Lots of my friends went there as more failed than passed the 11 Plus. Later we used to go to the youth club in St Georges school, the Youth Centre in the old British school and Saturday night dances in St Anne's School hall in Green Street, Hindsford. I played guitar in a local band named Beau Nash, playing at all the local clubs and those in Leigh and Atherton too. Fond memories.

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