Farsley From 1937 To 1955

A Memory of Farsley.

Farsley was a great place to grow up. I lived there from 1937 till 1955. As kids we had great fun playing in the beck just above the Cricket Field, before the Council Estate was built. When it was wet we played in the Cricket Stand. In winter we made winter warmers from clay we dug out of the sides of the beck. We made lanterns from the turnips in the field next to the Cricket ground.

Sledging down the big dipper in Red Lane was the tops, or going to Farsley Feast in the autumn. In 1947 I built an igloo and it lasted for weeks, it was so cold, and we walked along the walls of snow by the side of the road.

Picnics on Bluebell Hill, and snacks of rhubarb, fishing for tadpoles in the pond. All very great. I have just finished a book about my childhood memories:"No More Cakes an' ale?" is almost ready for publishing.

I went to Pudsey Grammar School after spending one year at Wesley Street, and previously at Frances Street.

We went into Westroyd Park to the Air Raid Shelter under the big house for practise, not a real attack, although we got those and sheltered in the cellar or in the Andersen shelter in the garden at 1 Thornfield Avenue. The Shelter in North Street where I lived stank and no one used it.

The fish and chips from Edward's in Water Lane were always delicious.

The big fire at Woodhouse's mill was amazing, alarming, frightening, but no one was injured that I knew. Not like when the nightwatchman was shot and killed by a robber, who also shot and killed a policeman.

Colin Knight

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