Aston Terrace

A Memory of Aston.

I was born on Alexander Road in 1944 and moved to 79 Aston Terrace in 1945 and these were one of the best times in my life. We were known as the middle row and I can remember most people in the row; Tylers, Barnses, Davises, Scotts, Hibberts, Hazards, Marshes, Tipples, Jones, Adsetts, Scarfs, Dewicks, Tompkins. I remember we used to go down to a place called 'the hillies' where there was a small pond and sand and pebbles. We would catch sticklebacks in the pond; the hillies are now under the Rother valley buried forever. The old iron bridge is still there though I often walk over it and remember the old times. We also played cricket & football on the old playing field which is now the Aston bypass. I also remember going over the old wooden bridge at the bottom of Pit Lane. The garage down Pit Lane used to be our school till it burned down, it was called the Chappel School. Mrs Ritson was our teacher, we used to have our dinners delivered by Beals from Swallownest. My dad worked at Brookhouse Pit and there were no baths so he had to come home in his pit muck and get the old tin bath out. I used to knock about with Jimmy Devine at that time and we would go out at 9am and stay out till dark when we were about 7. We were transfered to Wales Primary School till we were old enough to go to Swallownest School where I went with best friend Tony Newell. We remained good friends till leaving school at 15 then lost touch.