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In the 1960s and 1970s I grew up in the eastern village/dormitory settlement of Spondon and there was much to commend it although there were also - and inevitably - a few problems.

Spondon has one of the best geographical settings of all of the Derby suburbs with the wonderfully prominent and beautiful church of St. Werburgh standing on its hill overlooking both the floodplain of the Derwent and the historical core of the village. When walking from the more industrial and heavily populated south to the north of the area the journey is always uphill. And when not taking the 408 school bus service I dutifully lumbered up to my school, the former Spondon Park Grammar School, with my briefcase and books. One of the steepest routes was and still is offered by Willowcroft Road, which rises very steeply to the façade of “The Homestead”. At the top you can make a left turn towards the church and go past an old horse trough (thinking back to days before the car) before reaching Church Street. It’s also a curving uphill walk around the church walls to Park Road and the school bus park and turning circle and then a quick left into Park Road and down to the dual-arched entrance to the two schools of the time. As an alternative route I would sometimes cross the Borrowash by-pass bridge (linking the north and south parts of Lodge Lane), Gascoigne Drive and walk up a rising path that eventually threaded its way through the back of the church itself where the blackened gravestones were lined in rows against the walls of the church. Other favourite uphill routes from south to north included:

Ladybower Road – Trent Rise – Gravel Pit Lane Borrowash Road – Stoney Lane Nottingham Road – Merchant Avenue

Spondon at the time had a lot of greenery and also many long and twisting alleys which were ripe for exploration. One of my favourite walks home would take me past the barber shop and bakery (Pearts I think) down a wide but short lane, across South Avenue recreation ground and along a path that skirted Moult Avenue, ran parallel with Gravel Pit Lane and eventually opened out onto Kirkleys Avenue North. The views from this grassy area were great. To the right was St. Werburgh’s and the old village and ahead and slightly to the right the industrial complex of the Celanese (aka Courtaulds Acetate and other names). Getting away from the roar of the by-pass at Kirkleys Avenue I would cross the pedestrian bridge to Arnhem Terrace and the many blocks of flats that were named after many of the more exotic places in Derbyshire, e.g. Matlock House. There was an alley that went past a small rec to Craddock Avenue and from there it was a hop, skip and a jump down Langley Road to the Anglers Arms pub and Nottingham Road.

Two events that I especially looked forward to were the Easter and Autumn fairs that were held on the upper part of the South Avenue Recreation Ground (Gravel Pit Lane and South Avenue). It was there that I would regularly go for a ride on the Speedway (sometimes called the Noahs Ark) and took my first tentative steps onto the Octopus (and wished I hadn’t). These were great events to meet up with friends from school. There was one other: the Spondon Carnival, which back in the day would take place on Brunswood Rec and would feature display marching band competitions featuring the Spondon Legionnaires and other bands. My brother and sister were members of the Legionnaires and practices would sometimes take place at the Anglers Arms pub.

Another pleasant feature of living in Spondon involved the fields that lay around its edge; across these there was in fact a low road and a high road (or should that read path?) through to Ockbrook and its Queens Head and Royal Oak pubs. The high path, which could be accessed via Sandringham Drive, would traverse the Dale Road Army Camp (another great place to explore) and come into Ockbrook close to the Moravian settlement; the lower path would almost follow the route of the By-Pass and come out on Victoria Avenue, Ockbrook. Taking this route you sometimes had to run the gauntlet of some very spry horses. Other pleasant places within walking reach were the Elvaston Castle grounds (via Borrowash) and Locko Park via Dale Road or Locko Road. If visiting via Dale Road I would subsequently walk to the ruined abbey at Dale Abbey and the return to Spondon via Sandiacre and Risley. Yes, I did like my long walks in the area.

In the early 80s (and perhaps before) Spondon earned itself the CB nickname (citizens’ band radio) of “Smelly S”. This was the downside of living in the village, and especially in the south. Sometimes when I was walking to school I would think that I had stepped in dog droppings and having checked my soles discovered that it was not Fido’s fault but rather the general air quality. It only happened at certain times and I could never work out why but the Celanese chemicals/industrial complex would sometimes cover the lower half of the village in the most awful smell. I remember also that after the Flixborough chemical plant explosion we received notices informing us that much the same thing could happen in Spondon and providing us with evacuation details in that eventuality. Something of a double whammy really.

With its greenery, topology, many secret paths and its very village feeling (even though it was soon to become a suburb of Derby), Spondon was a great place for me grow up and the smell was something that you could get used to if you tried hard enough. There was more than enough in and around the village to compensate for it at any rate.

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