The Old Becoming New!

A Memory of Weaverham.

I arrived in Weaverham in one of its transition periods. ICI had built many houses to house its workers in all the surrounding villages including Weaverham. So Weaverham had already transformed in a way when I got there, but of course for me coming from a city like Liverpool it was a quaint, peaceful village, there just happened to be the old Weaverham and the new!
Several farms still survived and I was fortunate to work on one at weekends for a few shillings. But the days of the big farms had long gone. The one that I worked on had one milking cow and a dozen hens and that was it!
But Weaverham, despite its Liverpool influx, remained a peaceful village with very little crime or social disorder. Seems a far cry from today. There were still orchards to 'scrump' in and ancient country lanes to ride to school on. I rode from Weaverham to Winsford everyday for several years come rain, hail or snow. Computers and the internet didn't exist in those days so we were amused by TV and social events.
I joined the Boys Brigade and danced rock and roll at the Owley Wood club and camped out in Delamere Forest and everything seemed sublimely simple and good and clean! We visited even smaller villages on our cycle jaunts, but Weaverham was home and met all our needs, apart from a good cinema which we found in Northwich and a few bigger shops. After Liverpool it was really a breath of fresh air - a new stab at life - a new beginning - the old could still be remembered but cast off! We had gardens and vast amounts of fields and rivers and orchards and sandpits - the world was our oyster and Weaverham was the pearl. We fell in love for the first time in Weaverham, fell out of love just as rapidly and avoided getting married too soon. We were schooled, found our first jobs and then finally spread our wings and many left. I don't believe I have any bad memories of Weaverham - it nurtured me and grew me up and finally let me go!

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