Growing up in Gleadless Valley

[playman]

Markham, do you remember gleadless road being in front of the maisonettes before they altered it ? do you remember the small tunnel going under the road from the top of the woods below spotswood across and under what is now the road above ?.

we used to play football in the middle of what used to be gleadless road before they altered it and leighton road, we used to play football on the garages opposite the wyvern, and on sundays on the area just up from the far lees on the right with all the blokes from the pub.

[saxon51]

Yes playman, I do remember the line of the old road, and the tunnell which ran under it and into the woods parallel with Spotswood Road. Often played football on the triangle between the roads. Spent a lot of time up at the quarry as well. Climbing, paddling in the enormous puddle in the bottom, and pretending to drive an old black (sit up and beg style) car dumped on the very edge of the top. God, I survived!! HOW?

[kath]

I also remember the newsagents Humphreys in a cabin on Leighton road then they shut it and they had a mobile van,which use to go round the block at 5.00 each evening.I worked for that newsagent in 1966 on moorland rd during the day,and in the mobile from 4.00-6.00 all for £3.76 a week!Life has certainly got better.

[Plain Talker]

My dad old me about the vans and "huts" that passed for shops when the estate was first built, before the shops and library were built by the John O' Gaunt pub.

 

He said that, in a way, it was awful, compared to the fawcett street Slum-clearance area my family came from. There was virtually no bus service, there were no shops, nothing really to do for entertainment in the evenings.

 

He was used to being five to ten minutes walk from the city centre, with the dance halls, and the cinemas like the western picture house, and the roscoe, and all the others which were in such rich supply in that area.

teh Glossop road baths were five minutes walk in one direction, or he could stroll 10 minutes across to the upperthorpe pool and library.

 

He liked the housing. that was fine (except when the water tank for the district central heating burst. The tank was sited on the top of our particular block of maisonettes, and held a considerable amount of water. it burst, and came through our ceiling, bringing the whole lot down. We got the brunt of it, as we were on the top floor) He just did not like being away from the hustle and bustle of town, and the convenience of having everything to hand.

 

I remember loving the area for the rural feel it had, and how picturesque it was, the snow on the dramatic hillside in the winters, the bluebells in the woods in the spring. I loved the riot of yellow of the gorse, in the summers on the "backfield" as we called it, behind the maisonettes on gaunt road. Me and the boy who lived downstairs would make the prickly Gorse bushes into our "dens"

 

I liked to look out of our high-up living room window, across the valley toward the unusual architecture of the Holy Cross Church.

as i have mentioned earlier in the is thread, the views were wonderful.

 

I remember walking down what we called the "black-path! which ran from the herdings bus terminus (rememebr the old no 28?) through the wood, behind ironside road, and brought you out near the shops at the John o' Gaunt.

 

I remember Shentalls shop, which became a Fine Fare, on blackstock road, and Gower and Burgin, the "big" supermarket. I remember the butchers, on that parade of shops, mainly because I lost my teddy bear in there. i was heartbroken, and then delighted a while later when my mother discovered it hanging there on a meat hook, and we were reunited.

 

I cannot rememebr the name of the family who ran the greengrocers shop on the parade. I remember the son who was called Alan. he must be in his sixties now, at least? the mother , the father and son alll worked hard in the shop.

 

I remember the joy of discovering books, at a very early age. I joined the hemsworth library, and must have read the print off every book in the children's section!

 

I also remember being shocked in very recent times to see teh parade of shops on Constable Road, (co-op, grocers and teh post office I rememebr) being demolished to build the new co-op.

 

What year was teh statue of the little girl stolen from the garden at Constable road school? I loved to look out of my classroom at the little girl.(I was fortunate, because my childhood classroom, Mrs Browns, was the only one which overlooked the statue.)

 

the headmistress at Constable Road Infants was called Miss Hill, I remember Miss Vickers, who had ginger hair. I remember Mrs Brown, and I remember Miss Longbottom. there was a child-care assistant lady there. I cannot remember her name, I think she was Miss Smith. she was a cuddly, caring lady. a very generously built woman.

 

My whole bank of memories of her was that she simply oozed love and care about the kiddies she dealt with. she was so loving and comforting. Working at dinner times and playtimes, teaching playground games and rhymes, dealing with grazed knees, bumped heads.... and, oh my gosh.... the day that a girl in my class, called Helen, ran across the playground, toward miss longbottom's classroom, and could not stop in time. She put her hand through the window pane. We were all horror struck! she'd have only been four or five at the most when that happened.

 

There were other childrenwhose names and faces I recollect. I remember, Jacquie Deakin, (who's mum i share a birthday with) Lydia... Robert... Christina Pell, Julie (Who lived on Ironside Road, and whos father drove an orange VW Kamper caravette), Keith...

who else? There was another julie, Julie patterson, who was a little younger than me.

 

oh, the memories!

 

PT

[mojoworking]

Nice memories PT.

 

We also moved to Gleadless Valley from the slums of Netherthorpe. You are perhaps too young to remember, but maybe your folks recall a bloke going around the streets of Netherthorpe/Upperthorpe in the 50s and early 60s selling fruit & veg from a horse & cart? He's my uncle.

 

The "black-path" was a brilliant short cut from Herdings to Hemsworth and we used to go sledging there in winter.

 

We used to go on long walks down Lightwood Lane and it really did feel like you were out in the countryside. Very different from where we were born.

[Plain Talker]

Originally posted by mojoworking

Nice memories PT.

 

We also moved to Gleadless Valley from the slums of Netherthorpe. You are perhaps too young to remember, but maybe your folks recall a bloke going around the streets of Netherthorpe/Upperthorpe in the 50s and early 60s selling fruit & veg from a horse & cart? He's my uncle.

 

The "black-path" was a brilliant short cut from Herdings to Hemsworth and we used to go sledging there in winter.

 

We used to go on long walks down Lightwood Lane and it really did feel like you were out in the countryside. Very different from where we were born.

 

I got to hear a lot of the tales of netherthorpe and gleadless valley from my family, and I have a very good memory of my own childhood, that goes back probably further than anyone else's I know.

 

I would sit, rapt, as my parents and grandparents would tell their histories, and relate the events of their youths.

 

I remember my mother pushing me and my sister with this huge boat-like silver cross pram, all the way fron the john o Gaunt area across to gleadless townend, and then down, past the old Harrow pub, and along fox lane to birley/ hackenthorpe to visit my uncle, at least once, possibly twice a week.

 

I would be seated on this chair thing that perched between the handlebars of the pram, and my sister who was 2 years younger than me would be laid, a babe-in-arms, inside the pram itself.

 

How my mother hauled that massive pram, two kiddies, and her shopping as well, all the way up those flights of stairs to the top floor maisonette we lived in, I will never know.

 

we also used to go for strolls along lightwood lane, which was, for a child, such excellent fun, we loved it.

 

PT

[playman]

Yes all the woodlands and open green spaces really made it a wonderful place to grow up in, we covered all the valley in the holidays just exploring, it seemed so vast when we were young but now it seems so small, all the hills are just as steep but do not seem as long, i remember what a challenge it was trying to climb the hills on bikes and what a sense of achievement when finally conquering them, all the tunnels going under the streams and the bridge at the bottom of blackstock at the side of the horse and groom, it seemed so high when you walked on the outside of the railings overlooking the drop, we used to go to heeley baths through the allotments near bankwood school, always thought what a stupid place it was to put a school (and still do). there seemed so many places to play football and it all seemed like a giant adventure playground (specially when they were building the holy cross church) it seemed so big and high and all the coloured glass in the walls instead of windows, then when it was built they eventually opened a youth club.

 

My sister still lives up on constable but she is the last tie with the valley since mum passed on last year but there were 8 of us and we could not have grown up in a better place.

We were on the middle hays halfway up gleadless hill which made for fantastic sledging when the snows came.

[allotmentman]

Great reading about GV-I lived on Gaunts rd near the bottom opposite the old folks flats.I lived there from approx 1960-69 after moving from Pitsmoor rd .I was aged approx 5 or 6 -cant fully remember-old age creeping on.I remember the bad winter ,plenty of snow,also the row of shops at the top end,was the newsagents at the far right hand side of these and the butchers to the left of it?I remember going to a Sunday school church somewhere up there.I went to rolenstone school,may have spelt that incorrectly and remember the tip to the left of it.I can only remember a few names of people at school-Ivvone Wood,Susan Stanway and possibly a teacher Mr Scofield.I do remember one land crossing the road on the bridge and a van running over his foot-not a nice site-can anyone else recall this?

 

Regards Allotmentman

[saxon51]

So I wasn't the only nutter foolish enough to cross the bridge on the OUTSIDE of the railings playman. It's a 40 ft drop isn't it!!

 

Just remembered the times spent at the back of the butcher's on Blackstock Rd playing amongst entrails trying to find sheep's eyes. We found hundreds!!!!!!

 

Anybody else here used to live in one of those Swedish tower houses? We did and it was so wierd when we first moved in. Living room on first floor, one bedroom on first floor and two on second floor. And that ducted heating system, what was that all about?

 

God I miss it all though

 

 

Almost forgot my jaunts over to Norfolk Park before they built the flats. Wasn't there a big house there surrounded by high stone walls where kids feared to go?

[allotmentman]

Nice veranda though !