A bath in a tin bath infront of a blazing fire was a luxury,,We didnt have Electricity and what we never had we never missed but our treat was a radio which was run off acid batteries and the acid was housed in a glass container with a handle,,we used to obtain this from the local shop on ashton old road,,I cant remember how long it lasted but i can remember my dad disconnecting it on a saturday morning and connecting a charged one,,
Living in a small community like Ardwick had its drawbacks but as kids we didnt notice them that much,,being on the main fairfield street road we saw the funny side of life,,The trolley busses shunted past our front door on the hour on a daily basis,,we was bemused when the trolleys would come off the cables leaving the busses stranded untill the clippie hopped off the bus and pulled the long bamboo stick from its cradle which ran along side of the bus,,He held onto the waving trolley and very deftly connected them to the overhead electric cable,,there was usualy a cheer fron us kids as the bus ambled on its way,,Much was the same for the old Trams,,they were fondly known as ( bone Breakers ),,they were not as comfy to the bumps as the busses because they had the wooden slated seats like the garden bench and if you were traveling from town to fairfield street,your bottom would be in great need of a comfy cushion ond reaching your destination.
Opposite our house was the big green gate and offices of Yates Brewery,they took up the whole row to chancery lane and at the other end of the street was the mitre inn and further down just before the arches was my Dads local,,The Bridge Inn.
For years we live our secluded lives in this district of Ardwick,,we felt safe,,we had a park,,we didnt have grass but we had swings and a dobby horse and a round about,,our park was known to the locals as Bungo park and i have no idea why it should be called so,,nevertheless we kids of the district played and grew up there,,Nothing bad ever happened,,Mr Greenalsh the parky the kindly bespectacled man with a false leg used to play rounders with us,,During the summer a band used to play in the old bandstand but this was later abandoned and was pulled down and as we kids grew up and moved away the old district fell into disrepair and eventualy pulld down,,its life blood,,the people of Ardwick had all gone there seperate ways to rebuild there lives elsewhere.
Bank Meadow Scool,,The head mistress was a very formidable lady by the name of Miss Marsh ,Atilla the hun would have been more appropriate name for this lady,,she was a vert strict,victorian type madam with short white hair,thick lyle stockings with brogue shoes and she would have been worthy of the SS,,When you were unfortunately sent for her strap she would bring it down with such gusto that i'm sure that her feet would leave the ground,,Mr Roberts was another teacher,,he was also a bully and relished beating us kids.
A weekly trip to the wash house with our mam,, My sister Barbara and myself would help her push the home made box with pram wheels attached loaded up with our weekly wash,,inside the washhouse were huge boilers,,big sinks and washing boards where our mam used to scrub the hell out of our dirty clothes,,it was then squeezed through huge mangles and finaly hung on great racks to dry,,our mams would be singing and laughing and catching up with all the local gossip,,The dear old wash house as obviously gone now and life then is just a fond memory but i am sure if you take a stroll over the land where it once stood you will hear singing and hot steem rising,,
Anyone with memories of Fairfield street or the district please get in touch,,pictures would be great,,my name is Len Wall and my sister is Barbara,,Thank you for reading,,Len.xx
