Hi everyone

I was facinated to find this site because both my mother's parents were born and brought up in Goldenhill, although they moved away in the 1930's.

However my Great Aunt May Eplett was headmistress at on of the primary schools in Goldenhill (I think it was attached to St john's church) and I remember visiting her there on several occassions during the 1960's just before she retired.

I would love to hear any stories or memories that anyone has of her or "The Collinsons" who were my Maternal Great grandmothers family.

I would also be interested if anyone could tell me anything about a small chapel near Acres Nook, my greatgreatgreat grandfather, Edward Eplett is apparently buried there – I recently visited the area but could find no trace of any chapel, so any information as to where it is or what happened to it would be of interest.

As a very young boy I can remember the big earth scrapers working on the new sports field for the senior school.

10 years later everyone in the school was involved in digging out for a concrete base on which to stand the new sports pavilion.

The pavilion was actually bought second hand from an RAF base somewhere in the Midlands.

It was erected but was never used, apart from storing materials for bonfire night in the last year that I was there.

We also dug out to make bases for the cricket practice nets, this was a really professional job.

We dug out the soil and then threw in a load of old bike frames before the concrete was poured in.

Opposite the sports field at the bottom of Heathside Lane was the Rec.

I was told on good authority that “Rec” is short for recreation ground.

In its early days it wasn’t grassed over, it was just a black ash playing surface.

On a sunny day you could see the bits of glass glinting in the sunlight.

It was grassed over eventually but I can’t remember exactly when.

Don’t tell the city council, they’ve obviously missed some good bits of ground they could have sold off.

Further up Heathside Lane was a long line of allotments where the bungalows are now.

A chap named Brian used to have his racing Greyhound’s kennels there.

I seem to recall that the British Legion Club was there too and that was of a Nissen hut design.

Talk of demolishing and redeveloping Goldenhill Workingmen's Club at it's Mobberley Road site goes back in time showing how the club used to look at it's old location (pictured on the Home Page)in the middle of the 20th century.

It must surely bring back good memories to those people who remember the club being there, and if anyone has stories or information to share about the club

i was born in goldenhill in 1951 i lived there until i was eleven we lived in the barracks very old houses my family lived all close by my grandma lived next door.the street was called central street No 11 . i had a lovely childhood there my mum and i went to the cinema most saturday nights then home to tea and the radio.we did not have a telly until i was about seven we used to play on stoniers buses go to bathpool with a bottle of water and jam pieces.i have many happy memories

I too grew up in Charlotte Street Goldenhill, and remember clearly Jeffreys bus garage – these clearly marked brown and yellow buses took workers to the ROF Factory at Radway Green, all the home matches at Stoke City when they played at The Victoria Ground and to Blackpool at 6pm every Friday evening that Blackpool Illuminations were on returning on Sunday without fail.
I even remember going on a bus trip on Jeffreys to Tatton Park in Knutsford with my local school.
Happy memories, I could never remember whose chips I liked most, either Lanes, Chadwicks or Vera’s, they were always delicious, plentiful and yummy!

I lived at Linehouses when I was a child and went to school at St Joseph’s in Brakespeare Street.
Therefore, although I am not strictly speaking a Goldenhill ‘native’, I do have lots of memories of Goldenhill – all good ones!

Hello the village of Goldenhill encompassed Sandyford, Latebrook, Acres Nook, Linehouses, Woodstock and any other parts I have missed out.
The village even used to extend to the top of Jack Bank above the old Goldenhill railway station, Birchrnwood Road I think it called now.
I think that the common bond was the schools, churches and chapels and the fact that our parents and their parents had always attended the schools there as well.
We might have gone our seperate ways at home time but as I remember we were all reasonably good friends during school time.
My mum was born in High Street Goldenhill but dad came from Woodstock and he always thought of himself as a Goldenhiller.
You would be amazed at the people who come to the Memories Club at the Community Centre, some of them only went to school and didn’t actually live there, but they are still proud of being associated with the village.
Tell us some of your memories

Living at Linehouses, I remember doing a LOT of walking to and from Goldenhill! Skylarks in the fields in summer and digging a way, sometimes shoulder deep, through snowdrifts up the lane in winter. However, none of us missed a day from school because we weren’t relying on cars to get us there.
Earliest memory of Goldenhill is my first day at school at St Joseph’s on a snowy day in January 1963. Lovely Miss Loftus – our Reception Class teacher – and the smell of hyacinth bulbs coming into flower in her classroom. All these years later, the perfume from hyacinths takes me right back to that classroom.
I remember the hardware shop – buying paraffin with my dad for the Aladdin heater at home. Across the way was a proper Chemist (I remember the assistant was called Judith) but I can’t remember the name of the shopkeeper.
The chip shop – was it Lane’s? As a child I was fascinated by the hand operated chipping machine and watching the chips fall into a big bucket ready to go into the fryer.
I also remember two sweet shops – one on the crossings which we used to visit each day either on the way or coming back from school (I wish I had a pound for every time I have used that crossing) and another one further along on the other side of the road. I think this is a recycled clothes shop now. This sweet shop used to sell boxes of chocolates and was a bit more ‘upmarket’. Possibly because it was close to the cinema. A box of chocolates for a special date at the pictures perhaps?! I remember the lady who kept this shop used to clear out the glass display case and fill it with fireworks (bunters as we called them.) My older brother would buy a huge brown paper bag full of these fireworks and then we would take them home and lay them out on the floor and look at each one in turn. Simple souls!
Around the corner was the ‘dinner centre’ at the Secondary School. Fish pie on Friday – yuk!
Two lovely crossing wardens – Mr Gratton and further up the road, Mrs Embury.
Going with my mum to pay the papers at (?) Mr Scott’s paper shop. Those wonderful comics – Dandy and Beezer on Monday and Beano and Topper on Wednesdays!
Goldenhill – a nice village. Busy, self-contained and friendly

What good memories, I can associate with them very much.
Can you remember the Hulson family, the eldest Geff was a very good friend and work colleague of mine, unfortunatelt both he and hsi wife Win passed away a few years ago.
Christine Caldecott is in Australia and e mails me a few times a year.
Ted Simpkin gave a talk about Linehouses at the Community Centre Memories Club earlier this year.
Incidentally the Memories Club is on the third Tuesday of the month at 2-00pm starting again in February I think.
The chemist was Mr Ward and I definitely remember Judith, I was about 15 and she seemed to me to be the most sophistacated person I had ever met, I was besotted for quite a few years.
The original lollipop ladies were Mrs Embrey and Mrs Rawlinson, one of them, I don’t know which was the first lollipop person in Stoke on Trent.
I’m 67 now so ask your brother if he can remember me.
The surnames I recall are, Pass, Hawkins, Holloway, Jones, Walmsley, Hulson.

Margaret barlow my grandad patrick kelly lived at 13 central street my mum is patricia she is cousin of joy jeanette and garry. She thinks kathleen is cousin too
Mums gran was Sarah kelly her husband was thomas kelly who died age 37
Alan devine married mums aunt eileen kelly who was my grandad patricks sister
Mum says can you remember her. She has a sister Pamela kelly

Hi there was a family named Holloway who lived in Heath Street I think and one of them was named Paul. he was bit younger than me so he is about 64. Can’t recall anyone else in the family just Paul.
Try asking on Goldenhill Memories Facebook.

I have lots of fond memories of Goldenhill, I was born in Cotton rd Sandyford, I had 5 brothers, 3 of them worked at Meakins pot bank and each lunch time I came home from school to pick up fresh butties that me mam made and i’de cycle of to Meakins and deliver the butties to my brothers who worked in various departments before returning home for my lunch before going back to school ! Sunday’s my mum and I along with my brother Norman (who only did a satchel full) would do a paper round, well my mum had so many papers to deliver that we used a pram to get them all in, I had a big satchel on my bike which I used to fill each time and the round would last about 3-4 hours, money was tight in those days so every penny helped, and that’s how I earned my pocket money ! I have memories of my dad taking me down towards line houses but he took me where the trains exited the Harecastle tunnel and he would sit me on the wall and keep hold of me as the train passed, then walk across the other side of the path and sometimes we would see a barge that had been walked through the canal tunnel, I remember the colour of the canal as orange ! Happy days

I am a newcomer to the area, only lived here for 31 years, how time flies.
You talk about Meakins, which is now Churchill China, and it is funny you talking about the pottery firm because last month we had the General & Works Manager from Churchills to give a talk about the company.
If you look at the 4th article down on the website home page you will be able to read some of what was said at the SAGE public meeting.
If you have any further stories/memories then please share them with us.
Thank’s.

I have a lot of fond memories of my childhood growing up in Sandyford / Goldenhill, I only remember Alfred Meakins as the old factory before moving to Shelton in 63 when my parents split up, I only know Churchills new factory that’s built on the old shawdruck (pottery tip) but pot banks have all but disappeared now ! Every thing is imported now as it’s cheaper – inferior but cheaper, I visit Stoke every so often to see my family and the place looks different each time, I used to work on the pot banks in all the various departments from the slip house to the packing house when we used to use straw and mesh crates ! even worked on Richards Tiles before they were bought by H &R Johnsons, later on in life I became a truck driver working for Berisfords and BRS, retired from trucking these last 4 years and glad of it,relaxing and reminiscing now.

It’s nice to know you have fond memories of the area and that you come back to Stoke from time to time.
I don’t know if you have noticed but when you enter Sandyford you see the sign “Pottery Village of Sandyford” the reason for that is to highlight the area, and to let people know about our pottery heritage.
It was the residents association who pushed to have the 4 signs erected, along with the “Historic Mining Village of Goldenhill” which is on both sides of the High Street when entering the area.
If you have any more stories about Sandyford/Goldenhill then please forward them onto us.
Speak soon,

I was just reminiscing again about the old days in Goldenhill during the 50’s and 60’s, I attended the GSM from 57/61 then left and took an apprenticeship at Cowlishaw & Walkers iron foundry at Knypersley, after 12 months taking home a pittance I went to work in the pottery industry and my wage trebled, wow I thought I should have done it earlier ! Anyway I worked in various departments at various factories untill the age of 20 when I became a van driver delivering pottery to various shops and at 21 became a truck driver working for a small company top of Snead hill called Henry Fox, I stayed there for a while before starting with BRS and Beresfords, good old days, 1980 saw me doing my first continental trip to Italy with them, what an experience that was, no sat nav and very little motorways in those days, just your book of lines (atlas) but after a good while you get to know where and where not to stop ! Well I retired from the trucking industry 7 years ago now, my last job being a container driver, easy job that as you only have to open and close the doors, it’s loaded/unloaded by others, as an active pensioner of 72 I still like to travel about so I’ve got a caravan and tour the UK and travel to Spain for the winter, I love life, until I next reminse I’ll say cheerio for now,

Wow, i was born on Goldenhill and these short stories have brought back loads of memories for me.
How good had it used to be, it was brill as a child.
I attended St Joseph’s RC in Breakspeare Street and always called into ‘Crawshaws’ on the way to school, ha ha when I see Arkwright’s on the telly now I always think about that, Mr Crawshaw sold everything that the household needed. Very very fond memories.
My Father and siblings still live there.

Well this all strikes a chord as I was brought up at in Brakespeare St. in the sixties/seventies, though I left the Potteries thirty years ago. We relied on Jeffreys buses to go on holiday every year to Blackpool. The “banks” and the fields beyond the allotments made an idyllic childhood playground as they continued uninterrupted all the way to Newchapel in those days (the open-cast mine brought a stop to all that). Simon Finney, whose parents owned the newsagents during the 70’s was a mate, as was Robert Jones, who’s mum owned the High St. Sweet shop IIRC. My family were big church-goers and thanks to Paul for reminding me of Mr Hancock, Mr Beech and may I add Mr Wakefield. I laugh when people go on about mod-cons etc and wonder how they would have coped with our tin-baths, outdoor loos, open-fires and hot water-bottle amenities, lol! SkyTv may have its place, but watching Neil Armstrong on an old B&W set, with a rack full of washing suspended from the ceiling above your head is hard to beat!

When I was avery young lad the newsagents were owned Billy Barlow and Albert Fryer.Barlow’s was bought by Reg Scott and his wife and Fryer’s was bought by Bernard and Joan Ault.I delivered papers for Bernard for 2 years until I left school at Christmas 1961.I think Ron Procter bought the business from Bernard and then Gerald and Joy Finney bought it from Ron.I met The Finney’s again around 1997 when I repaired their Freezer at their home in Ash Bank, they were both well.Back in those days if you wanted to do a paper round, you had to go to the school clinic and have a medical to prove you were fit.Imagine toting a hundred Sentinels on a Saturday night, the bag was barely liftable.As young lads most of us had air guns, nothing fancy just a Diana or Gat pistol.We bought our slugs from Scott’s, probably about sixpence for a hundred.Because we were law abiding citizens, we went to Hanley police station and withstood the third degree by the desk sergeant and paid 7s 6d for a license.

I was a Valdette at the Stoke studios in 1978 and 1979. I appeared in Jack And The Beanstalk in Blythe (Northumberland), West Hartlepool and Barrow-in-Furness.
In 1984 my wife and I resurected the Valdettes name when we formed a carnival entertaining troupe. The troupe ceased to operate in 2002