Wanda
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9,321 votesOpen - Digitisation underway ·
AdminThe British Newspaper Archive
(Head of Data Development, The British Newspaper Archive)
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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
Wanda
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Hello, I just came across your site and what a bunch of memories came flooding back. I was born in 1952 in Pretoria Avenue, where my parents had 'rooms' in the upstairs of a lady's house. At age 2, my grandmother died and my parents moved into her council house in Priors Croft off Higham Hill where my mother grew up. At age 5, I went to school at St Andrews Road, first the infants and then the adjacent junior school. In my class was a girl called Veronica Horst. Her father was Eric Horst, mentioned in other posts for his infamous carryings on. We had the 11-plus exam in those days and I somehow passed and went on to McEntee Technical School (as it was then) on Billet road.
Throughout my school days, I remember spending summer days exploring Folly Lane (where the gypsies had their caravans, horses, dogs and the constant smell of burning rubber). We also went down to the River Lea nearby and along the 'New River' which I think must have been an overflow canal. At the bottom of the High Street was Coppermill Lane which ran into Sandy Alley... a sort of bridlepath that led between the resevoirs across the marshes and down to the River Lea again at Springfield Park. Hollow Ponds was another favourite, as was our local Lloyds Park with its tennis courts and large playing fields.
My first real job on leaving school was at the old Bowater Scott paper mills on St Andrews Road. My local pubs were the Prince of Wales virtually next to the firm, the Higham Hill Tavern and the Woodman. There were some tough old characters around back then: there were the two local gypsy families, the Smiths and the Lights, who seemed to be at loggerheads on various occasions, hard men Billy Gudgeon and Ginger Mac, who could empty a pub in a minute flat when their tempers flared and the up and coming Southgate brothers. If we went to the Chequers on the High Street, we'd see people like the Murphys or Eric Horst. I remember one night when Eric had been released from a prison term and called in at a pub on Willow Walk. The landlord refused to serve him so he jumped over the bar and helped himself to a bottle of something strong, whacked the barman and made off. I believe the police had him back in custody the same night.
I had many regular watwering holes on those days. When I changed jobs and was working up Orford Road, I used to go in the Queens Arms, Nags Head, the Castle and Windmill. The Windmill became my regular and I made good friends in the landlord Wally and his son (little Wally). I lost touch with so many friends when at age 29 I moved north to live in Leeds. Since then I've worked in some 30 different countries in my role as an engineer, but I never forget my mis-spent youth and the old days in the Stow.