Manvers

From about 1957 to about 1963, my family and I lived in the detached council houses on the corner of Doncaster and Sandymount Roads, next to the school. Many memories have long gone but a few remain. Seeing your Memory has rekindled some of the remaining ones. Here are a couple...

1) About 1960, a big storm hit Wath. It was so strong I remember it blew a lot of roof slates, our chimney and half the roof off our house, which all fell on and flattened the outside loo; it downed a tree onto and smashed our back garden wall; the bus stop out the front of our front door was bent over, and some of the shops, on the other side of Doncaster Road, had their rooves partly smashed.

2) One day, my brother and I were playing on the banks of the canal, when I tripped (or I was mucking around) and pushed my brother into the canal. Fortunately, a bus was just coming over the bridge, one of the passengers apparently made a concerned comment of a young lad 'playing with his dog' that was swimming in the water', when another passenger blurted that it wasn't a dog but a young kid. The bus driver stopped his bus, jumped out and ran down to the water, dived in and rescued my brother. Needless to say I vanished very quickly in the allottments next to the school. Couple of days later my brother and I were photoed and storied in the Yorkshire Times.

3) My brother and I were sitting on the step at the gate of our backyard. Just then, mother calls out that it was time for a fresh baked scone. Just as we jumped up and headed inside, a car lost control, clipped the wall at the corner of the house across the road (Sandymount Rd), it then slammed into the brick and stone wall right where we had been sitting. One large cement capstone was dislodged right onto the step. Mum came out to see what we had destroyed this time! But hugged us both so close when she saw what had happened.
4) I remember attending school right next door - Victoria Infants School. I used to love winter. I remember making a 'slide' in the snow in the school yard (among other restricted places). One particular day, with a large crowd of kids (mostly boys) around the iced slide, half way down the slide I went head first on to ice. Hence a quick trip to hospital to have a check for any broken bones and a few stitches in the chin.

In 1963, my family moved from Doncaster Road to Quarry Hill Road, where there were many more memories. Then, at the end of 1968, we emigrated to Australia.