Ken
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Dear Readers
We are sourcing what we can from the Library’s holdings and have added 1940-1941, 1943-1950 in the last 24 hours.
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/titles/id/staffordshire-sentinel
Thank you all for your continued interest in this title, and Happy Reading!
Regards
Team BNA
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Barlaston Village Green with the Old School
(now the Library) on the left behind the War Memorial
Photo JGG
Memories of Barlaston which I cherish most of all, are of the characters who have lived in the village over the past 80 years or so. They have left their mark in a way that should never be forgotten, however small their contribution. In my previous book, I mentioned a few, mostly the gentry and businessmen who lived here. There is no doubt that they were the mainstay of village life, but farming and the big estates also found employment for many who never had any need of transport to earn their daily bread. Other local occupations such as boat builders, cobblers, tanners, blacksmiths, joiners, wheelwrights, butchers, bakers together with other village shops, all provided employment and a contented life for almost everyone. In fact my early life which could only be enjoyed to the full amidst the English scene of a small village before the age of the motorcar and television.
Larger families were taken for granted and most survived on a pittance of a wage, which you would hardly think possible. There was no financial help, such as income support or other benefits that we know of today. I remember the excitement when the first old age pension of 10 shillings, or 50p new money a week came into force (in the early 1920's I believe) "Lloyd George" they called it after its instigator - people had never been so rich! However if a family did fall on very hard times and were not able to carry on it was the workhouse for them, but I never remember any family from Barlaston having to go in. Everyone seemed to look after one another those days with very little fuss.
It was inevitable that the urban sprawl would eventually reach Barlaston due to its proximity to Stoke-on-Trent, the old village would no longer be tranquil, so we all had to learn to live with it, as other villages throughout the country have done. I don't think any of us thought it would be as extensive as it had been.
Before the war, except for the Old Road, Meaford Road and properties alongside the canal, Barlaston was the village at the top of the hill and confined to little more than a square mile, with amenities that were sufficient for the needs of almost everyone who lived there.
We made our own entertainment. There was something going on most days, especially in the evenings -whist drives and dances in the Village Hall or Parish Room as we called it, a reading room and billiards for the men, an amateur dramatic society and choral society. We even had fancy dress balls. I can remember them well; nearly all the villagers took part.
The Village Hall was built in 1912 by public subscription and I believe that many of the local village men helped in its construction.
Dancing was very popular in the village hall and the Wedgwood canteen. Several local bands were engaged, chief of which were Deakin's band from Rough Close and Reg Bassett's band. Most dances went on until 2 am.
Cricket was the most popular sport in the village pre-war and many local people played and they were encouraged by well known local cricketers like Frank and Eustace Edmunds, Harry Waterfield, Stan Bennett, Bob Cliff, Godwin Gregory, Reg Lowe, Harry Morrey, Charlie Harrop and others. After the war came Geoff and Bert Lowe, Garry Gatensbury, John Sargeant, Ken Johnson, Bill Goodwin, Fred Cholerton, Gordon Castles, followed by many others.
We also had our football team, Barlaston United which played in the Longton and District League.
Miss Leah Greatorex, headmistress at the school, was a leading figure in the social life of the village, well respected and liked by all. Not only was she a very good teacher, she also organised dances and concerts in the Village Hall almost every week. She also provided private education when required. Her pupils included Joy and Star Wedgwood in their younger days.Ken
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I was born in Guy’s Hospital and we lived in Guinness Buildings in Pages Walk, Bermondsey (Just off the Old Kent Road). My Mum was born in the flats and lived in Guinness's until about 15 years ago.
The flats were large Victorian blocks built by the Guinness Trust for poor people. There were Guinness Trust buildings all over London. The flats were not luxurious by today’s standards but by Victorian working people’s standards they were a luxury and a great improvement on the slum housing that they replaced.
In Pages Walk, there were four large blocks of buildings and each block had about six entrances. These entrances let to concrete staircases and there were four flats on each landing. The size of the flats varied, but most were just two rooms. A living room/kitchen (this had a range run by coal or gas but no running water or electricity) and one bedroom. The toilets and sinks (two of each) were outside the flats on each landing and were shared by 4 families.
The baths were in two separate blocks and it was possible to bath on only two days a week. My grandfather, George Horton, was one of the caretakers (they were called porters) and one of his duties was to stoke the boilers to heat hot water for the baths. The baths were in cubicles and you had to pay the porter (I think it was 2d) and he would run the bath for you. There were no taps; the porter had the brass tap which fitted on the square spindle to operate the tap, so you couldn't take extra hot water.
There was no electricity in the flats, all the lights were gas mantles. There was electric light on the communal landings.
I lived there as a small child until about 1958 and they eventually put in electricity in about 1960/61.My Mum remembers one of the neighbours getting a TV and plugging it in to the light socket on the landing.
All the women used to take turns scrubbing the communal stairs and landings and they were always spotless. Once a week, the bag wash man came around. He used to shout out and then all the windows would fly open and white bags of laundry would come flying out. Woe betide anyone walking past.
My granddad used to sweep the roadways and paths every day with a great big broom. I remember standing on the brush end while he swept with it. He was my hero, but he used to chase the kids off the shed roofs and bins. He lived in a house next to the flats where the alleyway went into Leroy Street. He used to lock the metal gate at the Leroy Street entrance about 5 o clock every afternoon and people had to walk all the way round to Pages Walk to get home.
The flats were demolished in about 1970 and brand-new flats were built. They are still there.
We moved away to Guinness Buildings in Kennington Park Road (where we had our own bath) and they are also still there. This description of the flats makes me sound ancient, but I am only talking about 45 years ago in central London! I am only 56 myself. I am still an ardent Millwall supporter, but I must be the only Bermondsey boy who doesn’t like Pie and Mash!!!!!!!! I used to love the peas pudding from Young’s butchers in Tower Bridge Road and pints of cold sarsaparilla from Baldwin’s in Walworth Road. We used to pretend it was beer. Like granddads. My whole family lived in Bermondsey from about 1860. My other Nan was a Basham and they lived in Keyes Road (formerly Alfred Street) just of Grange Road and opposite the Town Hall. Most of my ancestors were Carmen. I do have a brilliant picture of my other granddad Charlie sitting on a wall in Cooksey’s scrap yard in Pages Walk. He is surrounded by bales of paper going for recycling (who says recycling is new).
Nearly all my family, including me, worked in F. M. Meyer Chamois Export in Weston Street Off Long Lane. My Mum and dad met there in the late 1940s and they are still going strong today.
None of us live in Bermondsey now but Bermondsey still lives in us!!!!!!! I am very proud to tell people that I am a Bermondsey boy.Ken
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I didn't live in Cheetham but I travelled up and down Cheetham Hill Road to and from work 5 days a week (1960 -65)
I met my then girlfriend ,who lived in Heaton Park, at work and every Wednesday night we would alternate between the Temple cinema and The Premier. This would be followed by a couple of drinks in The Temple and The Halfway House respectively before I put her on the bus.
Happy memories