Growing Up In Wislden

A Memory of Wilsden.

I was born in Denholme but moved to Wilsden when I was two. I can remember arriving in the back of a furniture truck. It was a lovely life for a child, even after the war started. Most of the dads were away fighting but the women in the village were supportive of each other. My Mum went to work in Amblers mill and one lady in the street looked after all the children not yet at school. The older children ran wild during the school holidays, we walked through the field and woods down to Bingley Park and played in the river or paddling pool. We had our jam sandwiches and a bottle of water. we never had any money for ice cream or anything like that.
I did my scholarship for Bingley Grammar School in 1947 in the terrible snowfall of that period. The village policemen escorted us to Bingley, we did the exam and then he walked us home, anyone who didn't pass got a second chance. We moved from the centre of the village when I was about 16 and went to live in Windy Grove, where I got married from. I left the village when I was twenty but my Mother lived there until she was in her eighties. I came to Australia in 1968 but we lived back in Wilsden in 1987 for a few months at that time it hadn't changed much but now the old pubs have closed and it is sad to see the changes which are happening everywhere, especially Bingley where I went to school, does anyone remember the Milk bar at the top of Park Road? I used to feel so grown up ordering my Milkshake (just like the movies). Still we all move on and three of my five children have Uni degrees and five of my grandchildren have degrees or are attending Uni (one granddaughter is doing a Doctors degree. Would we have achieved as much if I hadn't made the move. I wonder!

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