• Article |
• Discussion |
• View source |
• History

Former resident of Borrowash, Lily Pidgeon, describes her memories of the villiage in which she grew up.

Once again I have had my memory box opened to write about my birthplace, Borrowash. I now have to go each Monday to collect my pension from the Post Office because our nearest one was closed quite some time ago.

I really enjoy Monday because I meet the people from my childhood and it is wonderful.

Some time back the little street where we lived – Chapel Row – was demolished and although the woodshop is still standing, there is only rubble where the Galaxy shoe shop once stood.

Beneath that rubble lie the footprints of us youngsters when we would stand at the corner of Chapel Street waiting for the fish and chip shop to open.

When my mum and dad first went to live in the street in 1928, the shop was a haberdashery called Coddy Spencer’s.

Then along came Mr and Mrs Holmes with the idea of opening a fish and chip shop.. We kids were allowed to help peel the potatoes, which was great.

Times were very hard and my dear mum used to clean at the house next door belonging to Mr and Mrs Chamberlain.

Dad, was a coalman and would deliver round the backs of the houses. Sometimes he would have to go through the front door and out the back to the coalhouse.

Each Monday, I think of all the good times we had as kids when a bag of chips and fish bits was a luxury.

I remember the old fashioned mangles with wooden rollers we used to turn in the back yards, and the dolly tubs and dolly pegs at Dolly Chamberlain’s.

We didn’t have time to be bored like today’s youngsters because we never had as long off school and we were always found little jobs to do.

I hope the developers don’t make Borrowash an eyesore. It has and always will be, in my mind, “a village of enchantment”.

Thank goodness the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel still has loads of memories left for us to look back on – Sunday School anniversaries and pantos etc.

Wonderful Borrowash will always be my favourite village. As I look back 79 years, I haven’t got one bad memory of those special years spent in Borrowash and that load of rubble at the corner of Nottingham Road and the bottom of Chapel Row brought it all back to me.

FEEDBACK

Did you enjoy this article? If so, why not comment on it? Perhaps you disagree with something in it, or you know something the writer doesn't and can add some extra facts. You may want to ask a question about this article. Making a contribution is easy - either click 'edit' to insert more information or 'discussion' and then 'add comment.' This is your site. Please feel free to use it to the full and share your memories, thoughts and knowledge about Derbyshire with others.

If there is no 'edit' link showing it means the article has either previously been published in the Derby Evening Telegraph, or it has been protected by the site administrator and cannot be edited.'

County:  Derbyshire

Return to Orphanage_children_were_part_of_my_life_in_the_1920s