Val Parker
I have lived in this area most of my life, I arrived when I was 2yrs old with my Mum, Dad and 7yr old sister Frances. We moved into a newly built council House in Birdwood Rd.
As I grew up we were allowed to play in the street, very few cars came by so we tied our skipping rope to the lamp post and left it there for months.
At the top end of Birdwood rd. on the other side of the round-about, was a garage, Maloney & Rhodes. They were dealers for Mercedes cars they also owned the shops on the other corner, Pernela's, a paper/sweet shop, a grocers & a hair dressers with flats above. The garage was not self serve, they came later. A man came out and put petrol in your car. My husband, Dave, was one of those men. He worked full time as a telephone engineer for the GPO, and part time evenings & Sundays on the pumps to boost our money up.
Maloney & Rhodes sold the shops and flats, moved the garage to Budgens corner. They were two rich men, well known and liked in the community, and Dave went with them. His favourite story was about the little man who came in every Sunday in an Austin 7. It always seemed to be raining. He would wind down his window one inch and through the gap he asked for one gallon of petrol and check the oil water & tyre pressure, please. Dave got soaked. Not once did he ever give Dave a tip.
As he worked an 8 hour shift on a Sunday, my mum or one of my neighbours would keep an eye on my children and I would bike round with his dinner wrapped in tin foil and newspaper, gravy in a flask in the hope it stayed warm. No matter what time I got there, Dave would just get his dinner ready and along came this Austin 7.
At the bottom end of Birdwood Rd was a broken down wire fence which stretched right across. It was supposed to keep people out of the field, but it never did. It was used as a short cut to and from Cherry Hinton Rd. Also left on this field were two Nissen huts, which in the later years were used to hold Sunday school classes. I was told the huts housed Polish refugees up until1946, the year I was born.
In the blink of an eye the huts came down and prefabs went up, mainly for family men coming out of the Armed Forces. We previously came from prefabs in Lichfield Rd. A few years later the prefabs in the field also came down, houses went up and Walpole Rd. was truly born.
Where St Bede's School is now there were cornfields, where we would play and make dens. They stretched right back to the old cement works. If you sat down, the corn was so high you could not be seen, but it scratched your legs to pieces. Many a happy hour was spent over there. After the harvest the farmer would set fire to the stubble, which we loved to watch. Our parents weren't happy, as they had to close all their windows to stop small particles of soot getting in as it drifted into Birdwood Rd. They already had enough to cope with, as the cement works chimney churned out a white powder which covered everything. The leaves on the trees, shrubs, vegetables all turned white. The vegetables had to be double washed, and of course the cars, not once but often twice a week. If the wind was blowing in the right or wrong direction, however you looked at it, the smell was horrendous, like rotten eggs. This happened when the filter wanted changing.
On Cherry Hinton Rd. was a small shop owned and run by Mrs. Coe and her son Cyril. Mr. Hanley worked for Mrs Coe. He always wore a brown dust coat similar to that of Arkwright, in 'Open All Hours'. He seemed to be the only one to cut slices of cooked meat and bacon on this new cutting wheel with very sharp blades. The shop was open seven days a week, sold every thing from bread to shoe laces. They even sold fishing nets. It was stocked from floor to ceiling but they knew exactly where everything was. It was dimly lit, with room for only two, maybe three people at one time with a push. There always seemed to be a queue outside.
They also had an orchard/field at the rear, which backed onto St Thomas's Sq. and Walpole Rd, where they grew numerous fruit & veg to be sold in the shop. It was naughty, but a lovely place to go scrumping. If you dared. Running along the back of Walpole & St. Thomas's was a small drainage ditch, also trees and a copse, one of the trees had been struck by lightning, many a den has been made over there. These trees have always been called the Monkey Woods. No one knows why.
The Coes also owned land across Cherry Hinton Rd. which later became a housing estate with a petrol station built to one side. To the left of the Estate is a path that runs from Cherry Hinton Rd to Gunhild Way. On the left of the path was a newly built school known as The Netherhall Lower school and the Upper School was on Queen Edith's Way. I was one of the first pupils to attend this new School. St. Bede's School was built a few years later.
As we moved into Birdwood Rd. St Thomas's Sq. had just been built and a lot of young families moved in with children who I played with as I got older. The residents started to organise coach trips annually to the seaside. I wasn't allowed to go as I did not live in the Square but I now think it was more of my mum not wanting to go.
In the corner of St. Thomas's Sq. a pathway / passage runs through to Ward Rd. I have always called it The Hole in the Wall. It must have been named as they built the estate as my Father was a gas fitter and worked on the site, he always called it the hole in the wall. Perhaps he was the one who named it. We will never know. I just hope the name carries on with each new generation.
The 102 bus used to run down Birdwood Rd. into St. Thomas's Rd., turn round go into the lay-by as this was the terminus end of the line. This was handy for my sister as she could see the bus from her bedroom window and knew it usually waited there for three minutes or more, until it was the right time to go according to the bus time table.
Every Sunday I would bike up Mill Rd. to the little shop on the left hand side – it only opened Sundays – to buy 1 pint of winkles and ½ pint of cockles for our Sunday tea. When I got home it was my job to de-winkle them, I had black spots all over my face. It looked liked I had big measles & the smell of fish stayed on my face all day.
Where Queen Edith Way meets Cherry Hinton Rd. there is a nature reserve, it has a spinney and next to that chalk pits. When we were children we would go on bikes, ride up and down the chalk slopes. There was one big slope that was really quite dangerous, the boys went down it but I never did as I fell off enough on the small slopes. We knew of one boy who broke his arm and another who almost lost an eye. Then it was all over grown and we should not have been in there. At one time they were going to make it into an artificial ski slope, which would have been nice but never happened. If you go in there now it is quite breath-taking, you can walk along a path that goes round all these chalk hills. I would suggest you take your dark glasses with you.
Our main play ground was Cherry Hinton Hall park. No car park, recreation ground or paddling pool – it was just overgrown with wild trees, twine which was so thick and tangled you could sit on it or hide underneath tall grasses and overgrown shrubs. It was ideal for hide & seek. Along with the territory came the flashers. If we screamed loud enough or the boys ganged up, they soon went. They only wanted to show us their bits & pieces.
If you wanted to paddle, you could in the stream next to the mini waterfall and duck pond. You could also go stickleback fishing. The water was as clear as clear. This part of the hall had already been cultivated. A little bridge went over the stream which led you to a path that you could walk round to find a little island in the middle of water, which we think came from the big pond. You came out almost where you started from. You had to be wary of a family of swans, as Mum & Dad are very protective of their young and if they opened their wings they must have been at least 12ft across.
At the back of the big house stood greenhouses owned by the council growing flowers and shrubs for our roundabouts, flower beds & hanging baskets situated all over the city. Behind the greenhouses, which were fenced in by a 6ft hedge, was a large cut grass green mainly used for playing cricket and some football, also a small pavilion to get changed in – it really was a large shed. Then the overgrowth started, went back to Walpole Rd.'s back gardens.
Apart from a few trees left all the undergrowth was taken away, and the car park, paddling pool and recreation ground appeared, much nicer. The flashers had gone – it was too open for them now.
The house itself was used for many things like a baby clinic where you could have baby weighed, buy powered milk, orange juice, rose hip syrup, gripe water, jars of baby food, rusks and of course cod liver oil yuckkkkk. Also a pre-school nursery, foreign students lodged there. A small cafe opened at one time.
I only left this area for 3 to 4yrs. We rented a house just off the Broad Way, Mill Rd. I came back to my parents' house in Birdwood Rd. to have my 2 daughters Debra in 1964 and Karen 1966. Our house was too small and did not have a proper bathroom.
We were lucky enough to get a council house in St.Thomas's Sq. where my son Robert was born in 1969.
We had great times as my children grew up, several families would go over the hall and have a picnic, sometimes if on a Sunday, the fathers would also come. Most of the time we played rounders and go for a paddle, or go and feed the ducks.
In the hot summer of 1976 there were 6 if not 7 ice cream vans dotted around the square, all with queues. The heat was quite unbearable that year.
The children at that time were allowed to play on the green in front of our house. Trees had not been planted. My Karen had a boomerang which a few children had a go, threw, and it came back to them. Not my Karen. She threw it straight through the shut bathroom window of the corner house. We said we would pay for it to be mended but the lady of the house said no, the council would pay for it and they did. Sometimes 20 a side, well it looked like 20 a side football was played. Goodness knows how they knew who was on their side. But they did.
Several mums decided to celebrate the Queens Jubilee (1977), including myself, by having a party. We went round every house in the Square. They all donated either money or food on the day. We all got our decorating tables out and what a spread. There was so much food that parents could eat as well. Some of the older boys set their Disco up on the green. We used their P.A. System to organise the games, running, different age groups, sack race, three legged, what's the time Mr Wolf, and games that adults could join in with the children, egg and spoon race and throwing the wellies, prizes were given to all winners. Then we had a fancy dress. I think more adults dressed up than youngsters. We ended the children's day with the okey cokey, they all went home with a goody bag – inside a jubilee coin, a note book with the Queen's face on, a pencil, sweets and a smile on their faces.
We were lucky as it then started to rain.
Children tucked up in bed. Rain had stopped, parents came out with tables and chairs,and of course bottles of wine or cans of beer. We even put candles on the tables and the disco started to play, what a lovely evening to end a perfect day.
Gone are the cornfields, cement works, greenhouses, pavilion and Netherhall lower school. Sadly, over the years, some neighbours have moved away and some have passed away. Only a handful of us left with our memories. Now that I am 70yrs of age, I have many of them.
As I grew up we were allowed to play in the street, very few cars came by so we tied our skipping rope to the lamp post and left it there for months.
At the top end of Birdwood rd. on the other side of the round-about, was a garage, Maloney & Rhodes. They were dealers for Mercedes cars they also owned the shops on the other corner, Pernela's, a paper/sweet shop, a grocers & a hair dressers with flats above. The garage was not self serve, they came later. A man came out and put petrol in your car. My husband, Dave, was one of those men. He worked full time as a telephone engineer for the GPO, and part time evenings & Sundays on the pumps to boost our money up.
Maloney & Rhodes sold the shops and flats, moved the garage to Budgens corner. They were two rich men, well known and liked in the community, and Dave went with them. His favourite story was about the little man who came in every Sunday in an Austin 7. It always seemed to be raining. He would wind down his window one inch and through the gap he asked for one gallon of petrol and check the oil water & tyre pressure, please. Dave got soaked. Not once did he ever give Dave a tip.
As he worked an 8 hour shift on a Sunday, my mum or one of my neighbours would keep an eye on my children and I would bike round with his dinner wrapped in tin foil and newspaper, gravy in a flask in the hope it stayed warm. No matter what time I got there, Dave would just get his dinner ready and along came this Austin 7.
At the bottom end of Birdwood Rd was a broken down wire fence which stretched right across. It was supposed to keep people out of the field, but it never did. It was used as a short cut to and from Cherry Hinton Rd. Also left on this field were two Nissen huts, which in the later years were used to hold Sunday school classes. I was told the huts housed Polish refugees up until1946, the year I was born.
In the blink of an eye the huts came down and prefabs went up, mainly for family men coming out of the Armed Forces. We previously came from prefabs in Lichfield Rd. A few years later the prefabs in the field also came down, houses went up and Walpole Rd. was truly born.
Where St Bede's School is now there were cornfields, where we would play and make dens. They stretched right back to the old cement works. If you sat down, the corn was so high you could not be seen, but it scratched your legs to pieces. Many a happy hour was spent over there. After the harvest the farmer would set fire to the stubble, which we loved to watch. Our parents weren't happy, as they had to close all their windows to stop small particles of soot getting in as it drifted into Birdwood Rd. They already had enough to cope with, as the cement works chimney churned out a white powder which covered everything. The leaves on the trees, shrubs, vegetables all turned white. The vegetables had to be double washed, and of course the cars, not once but often twice a week. If the wind was blowing in the right or wrong direction, however you looked at it, the smell was horrendous, like rotten eggs. This happened when the filter wanted changing.
On Cherry Hinton Rd. was a small shop owned and run by Mrs. Coe and her son Cyril. Mr. Hanley worked for Mrs Coe. He always wore a brown dust coat similar to that of Arkwright, in 'Open All Hours'. He seemed to be the only one to cut slices of cooked meat and bacon on this new cutting wheel with very sharp blades. The shop was open seven days a week, sold every thing from bread to shoe laces. They even sold fishing nets. It was stocked from floor to ceiling but they knew exactly where everything was. It was dimly lit, with room for only two, maybe three people at one time with a push. There always seemed to be a queue outside.
They also had an orchard/field at the rear, which backed onto St Thomas's Sq. and Walpole Rd, where they grew numerous fruit & veg to be sold in the shop. It was naughty, but a lovely place to go scrumping. If you dared. Running along the back of Walpole & St. Thomas's was a small drainage ditch, also trees and a copse, one of the trees had been struck by lightning, many a den has been made over there. These trees have always been called the Monkey Woods. No one knows why.
The Coes also owned land across Cherry Hinton Rd. which later became a housing estate with a petrol station built to one side. To the left of the Estate is a path that runs from Cherry Hinton Rd to Gunhild Way. On the left of the path was a newly built school known as The Netherhall Lower school and the Upper School was on Queen Edith's Way. I was one of the first pupils to attend this new School. St. Bede's School was built a few years later.
As we moved into Birdwood Rd. St Thomas's Sq. had just been built and a lot of young families moved in with children who I played with as I got older. The residents started to organise coach trips annually to the seaside. I wasn't allowed to go as I did not live in the Square but I now think it was more of my mum not wanting to go.
In the corner of St. Thomas's Sq. a pathway / passage runs through to Ward Rd. I have always called it The Hole in the Wall. It must have been named as they built the estate as my Father was a gas fitter and worked on the site, he always called it the hole in the wall. Perhaps he was the one who named it. We will never know. I just hope the name carries on with each new generation.
The 102 bus used to run down Birdwood Rd. into St. Thomas's Rd., turn round go into the lay-by as this was the terminus end of the line. This was handy for my sister as she could see the bus from her bedroom window and knew it usually waited there for three minutes or more, until it was the right time to go according to the bus time table.
Every Sunday I would bike up Mill Rd. to the little shop on the left hand side – it only opened Sundays – to buy 1 pint of winkles and ½ pint of cockles for our Sunday tea. When I got home it was my job to de-winkle them, I had black spots all over my face. It looked liked I had big measles & the smell of fish stayed on my face all day.
Where Queen Edith Way meets Cherry Hinton Rd. there is a nature reserve, it has a spinney and next to that chalk pits. When we were children we would go on bikes, ride up and down the chalk slopes. There was one big slope that was really quite dangerous, the boys went down it but I never did as I fell off enough on the small slopes. We knew of one boy who broke his arm and another who almost lost an eye. Then it was all over grown and we should not have been in there. At one time they were going to make it into an artificial ski slope, which would have been nice but never happened. If you go in there now it is quite breath-taking, you can walk along a path that goes round all these chalk hills. I would suggest you take your dark glasses with you.
Our main play ground was Cherry Hinton Hall park. No car park, recreation ground or paddling pool – it was just overgrown with wild trees, twine which was so thick and tangled you could sit on it or hide underneath tall grasses and overgrown shrubs. It was ideal for hide & seek. Along with the territory came the flashers. If we screamed loud enough or the boys ganged up, they soon went. They only wanted to show us their bits & pieces.
If you wanted to paddle, you could in the stream next to the mini waterfall and duck pond. You could also go stickleback fishing. The water was as clear as clear. This part of the hall had already been cultivated. A little bridge went over the stream which led you to a path that you could walk round to find a little island in the middle of water, which we think came from the big pond. You came out almost where you started from. You had to be wary of a family of swans, as Mum & Dad are very protective of their young and if they opened their wings they must have been at least 12ft across.
At the back of the big house stood greenhouses owned by the council growing flowers and shrubs for our roundabouts, flower beds & hanging baskets situated all over the city. Behind the greenhouses, which were fenced in by a 6ft hedge, was a large cut grass green mainly used for playing cricket and some football, also a small pavilion to get changed in – it really was a large shed. Then the overgrowth started, went back to Walpole Rd.'s back gardens.
Apart from a few trees left all the undergrowth was taken away, and the car park, paddling pool and recreation ground appeared, much nicer. The flashers had gone – it was too open for them now.
The house itself was used for many things like a baby clinic where you could have baby weighed, buy powered milk, orange juice, rose hip syrup, gripe water, jars of baby food, rusks and of course cod liver oil yuckkkkk. Also a pre-school nursery, foreign students lodged there. A small cafe opened at one time.
I only left this area for 3 to 4yrs. We rented a house just off the Broad Way, Mill Rd. I came back to my parents' house in Birdwood Rd. to have my 2 daughters Debra in 1964 and Karen 1966. Our house was too small and did not have a proper bathroom.
We were lucky enough to get a council house in St.Thomas's Sq. where my son Robert was born in 1969.
We had great times as my children grew up, several families would go over the hall and have a picnic, sometimes if on a Sunday, the fathers would also come. Most of the time we played rounders and go for a paddle, or go and feed the ducks.
In the hot summer of 1976 there were 6 if not 7 ice cream vans dotted around the square, all with queues. The heat was quite unbearable that year.
The children at that time were allowed to play on the green in front of our house. Trees had not been planted. My Karen had a boomerang which a few children had a go, threw, and it came back to them. Not my Karen. She threw it straight through the shut bathroom window of the corner house. We said we would pay for it to be mended but the lady of the house said no, the council would pay for it and they did. Sometimes 20 a side, well it looked like 20 a side football was played. Goodness knows how they knew who was on their side. But they did.
Several mums decided to celebrate the Queens Jubilee (1977), including myself, by having a party. We went round every house in the Square. They all donated either money or food on the day. We all got our decorating tables out and what a spread. There was so much food that parents could eat as well. Some of the older boys set their Disco up on the green. We used their P.A. System to organise the games, running, different age groups, sack race, three legged, what's the time Mr Wolf, and games that adults could join in with the children, egg and spoon race and throwing the wellies, prizes were given to all winners. Then we had a fancy dress. I think more adults dressed up than youngsters. We ended the children's day with the okey cokey, they all went home with a goody bag – inside a jubilee coin, a note book with the Queen's face on, a pencil, sweets and a smile on their faces.
We were lucky as it then started to rain.
Children tucked up in bed. Rain had stopped, parents came out with tables and chairs,and of course bottles of wine or cans of beer. We even put candles on the tables and the disco started to play, what a lovely evening to end a perfect day.
Gone are the cornfields, cement works, greenhouses, pavilion and Netherhall lower school. Sadly, over the years, some neighbours have moved away and some have passed away. Only a handful of us left with our memories. Now that I am 70yrs of age, I have many of them.
