Hello again. It’s an awful day so, I thought now that I’ve done my housework, I’d do an article that I know Dean always needs.
Won’t it be lovely when the weather gets warmer and we can sit out again and have picnics in the garden or around the river; we like to watch the boats passing on their way to Castleford and other places. We do love to eat our picnic and talk to other people who are out walking their dogs, most people are very friendly and stop to talk to us. The people on the boats aways wave to us which is very nice. It’s true that when the sun is shining it brings everyone out!
When I was a very young girl, I used to like to go down Cinder Lane which was opposite to where I lived. I was allowed to go on my own as it was less than a quarter of a mile from my home. There, I could sit and watch the boats go by. But my mother decided that it would be better if someone accompanied me as she started to feel uneasy about me going on my own.
Anyway, when I was 12 or 13 years of age, I used to go to Three Lane Ends High School and met a couple of girls with whom I played rounders, and also netball which I excelled at and thoroughly enjoyed. During school holidays, I used to go and watch bands playing in Queen’s Park with a couple of other girls. The park is situated in Castleford, not far from where I lived in the Potteries. Some days, we played at the back of the houses, and when we heard the ice cream van, we would rush to get one – my favourite ice cream was called Hokey Pokey which was wrapped up in white paper. Other ice creams had cornets or wafers. Unfortunately, my mam didn’t always have money to pay for it and so, put it on a slate. The ice cream man trusted my mother as she always paid, as she said she would, when she had some money.
I broke off writing this article as we decided to go to a place called Lumby (a garden centare) and we went to a large room there where you can buy Jacket Potatoes, burgers and chips etc. I’m having a break from cooking at home as my grandson is having a leaving meal this evening, in Kippax, as he is going to live in Australia. However, we haven’t seen him a lot recently, as he works very hard. The place he works for has given him a glowing reference and he’ll start work in Australia for the same company very soon.
