A Village I Love

A Memory of Stainforth.

I was born in Edlington in 1940 but was soon given to my aunties Joan and Lilley Desborough to be looked after as my mother already had a child by my future step dad. I lived at 39 St. Thomas Road, second to end house, my next door neighbours were the Lunn family. I remember playing truant a lot until my friend's uncle saw us one day when we should have been at school, I didn't dare go into the house in case the uncle had told my friend's mum, Mrs Simpson of the name of the road was behind the fish shop on the main road.
I should have said that by this time my grandad was looking after me as he had moved in with Eddie's mum Mrs. Simpson. Some time around this time, I was up the side of the dog track, standing on the nails that they had put through the wood holding up the sides of the fence around the track. I was looking at the racing when some one shouted at me from inside the track, it made me jump and I lost my footings, the nails I was standing on were bent upwards and as I slipped on the wood I was standing on, a very large nail; penetrated my eerrmmm, you know what, anyway I managed to get off the nail and somehow got to my house on St. Thomas Road, with blood pouring down my legs. Grandad Bill Desborough told his woman to go for the doctor but also said I might not make it.
As the woman left the house my grandad clenched the hole together and I was told he just marvelled at the way the hole just closed up and stopped bleeding.
Grandad worked in Hatfield Main, he was married to Mary Sekina Bygraves, a relation of the well known comedian and singer Max Bygraves. I only met her once when I was about 5 years old. I was playing snobbs on the floor outside our gate and this woman came to me and said is Auntie Joan in and I said yes, she also said you don't know me do you, and I said no and carried on with my game.
My first school was Stainforth with the railings around the perimeter. I was ill one day and teacher sent me home, I was walking home and couldn't go any further so I just sat down on the kerb and the next thing I knew was a week later, they had been fighting for my life with babies nappies and bread poultices wrapped around me, I had pneaumonia. Anyway I survived. A little while later I moved to Dunscroft and went to the school just over the hill from the big public house, King George I think was the name, I'm not sure of it though.
Whilst playing outside on the fields at the back of Broadway I was passing an open patch of land where some lads were playing cricket with a real cricket ball, this hit me just under the knee cap, I still have a bone out of place to this day.
Anyway eventually I was taken in by my real mother and step dad.
I joined jhe Royal Navy in 1958 and have been back to Stainforth and Hatfield as the family slowly spread out. I've been back to the old school and also the sand pit and paddling pool, also the cemetery where most of my family are buried, my first name was Desborough, though my real dad's name was not told to me till about 1995, I met him once but didn't know he was my real dad, his name was Hopkinson and he is buried in Thorne cemetery I am told.
My name is Bryan Maloney and am equally proud of any of the name so I could have been under, I am now 71 in October, and have had a varied life. When I was out the Far East I found a book with a lass's address in it and I wrote to her, we have been married for 48 years now. I am an author and have published a book called 'A History of Awsworth' and am in the process of preparing a book called 'Awsworth Through Time', hopefully to be published by 'Amberly Publishings'.
I have published a lot of short stories and also lots of poetry.
I am hopeful that I might get back up to the village to which I owe my childhood years. It would be interesting to know whether they still do 'winter warmers'.

---

---