Youthful memories of Stenson Road

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My father was the Methodist minister at Newmount from about 1951-56. Behind the church was a field which the Arcadians cricket team played on.

It was the first time I had met the word, which conjured up summer, buttercups, sweet smells, paradise. Whenever I hear the word now I think of that field. My brothers and I trainspotted on the bridge.

We attended Gayton Avenue School under Charles Brown and all passed our 11+. Stenson Road represents my youth, perhaps the happiest part of my life, though I haven't been back since leaving in 1956.

If ever I write a book it would have to include that poor but happy childhood; the poson gas rider who passed us on his motorbike on our way to school; Mrs Topliss and her dog Rip in the parade of shops; the raw council estate with the scruffy children.

It all comes flooding back and though, because my father moved us on every five or so years, we have lived in many counties, many towns since, those days of gritty smoke and wet walks to school, Pam Barton and her pigtails, Leslie Goode frightening the life out of us and his sweaty forehead will always be treasured.

To return would probably be to break a spell that has had me enchanted, locked into childhood for fifty years. Reading the article on Blagreaves Lane reminds me that it was all real.

Posted by Les Mortimer: Mortub@yahoo.co.uk

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