Wren Street

A Memory of Gorton.

My name is June Griffiths nee Crook I remember living at 3 Wren Street with my three brothers Philip, David and Andrew Crook. Myself Philip and David attended St Marks school in the 50's. I too remember Mr Platt, he used throw chalk at the students and sometimes even the chalk eraser would fly! My younger brothers would wag school sometimes to go to the Lake fishing near Belle Vue! The were always up to something.
Steven Hardy and Susan Yarwood are some of the names I remember. We used to play hoola hoops and whip and top in the street as well as hop scotch using the tin of empty boot polish! I also remember Bon Fire night in the back entries. The rent man used to come in for Apple Pie and a cuppa. Most times Mum was short on the rent and that was her way of deferrjng it until the next week!
Like most of us, we had no bathroom inside and we had our weekky bath on a Sunday night. I was always the first in being the only girl. However, my younger brother Andrew always fared worst as he was the youngest! Probably the dirtiest if the truth be known!
My Nana was a friend if the elephant man at Belle Vue and she sometimes we would get a free ticket fir his show. Mum used to go to Ballroom Dancing and had some lovely dresses that she wore.
I remember that the houses were two up and two down, us four kids shared a room, it was pretty crowded in one bed! It used to be cold and we never bad enough blankets so we used to use coats for extra warmth in the winter months. Does anyone remember our family? We all live in Australia now and it is a far cry from West Gorton!

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