That's very funny. I remember a family on Boothferry Road called Liversedge. I had a school friend who lived near them and I now have a family connection with the same surname!! Also, the cinder track you mentioned which went through to Boothferry Road which you went along the tenfoot past Ounsworth's fish shop, alongside the drain to get to it. Sometimes if I was walking I had permission to cut through one of the gardens on that side of the street, as it .was quicker than going all the way past the shops! On one occasion I had to go to a grocer's shop at the junction where Boothferry Road meets Beverley Road to fetch some milk for my mother. This was before I caught the school bus! I was rushing back on my bike along the tenfoot, when the shopping bag got caught in the forks, the bike came to a sudden halt and I sailed into the air and landed on somebody's back fence. As I could no longer ride it, as the bag was trapped, I had to lift up the front wheel and push the bike home. I think that I did catch the school bus, as the only time that I missed it, a friend and I went on our bikes and we actually arrived at the same time as the bus,as we could go on a direct route.Oh, happy carefree times!!
Talking about drains Joanna, I remember the one that ran along the back of Penshurst Ave, at the bottom of Bedford Rd - that went all the way from Boothferry Road to Sunningdale Rd I think. In the wet autumns & springs it was often flooded, but in the summers it was often totally dry, and a lot of kids used to walk through the big concrete pipes under the several roads it went under. In some sense it was exciting to do that, but for me it has rather unfortunate connotations. It's where a handful of lads from Penshurst went to illicitly smoke cigarettes. I had my first ciggy at the ripe old age of 10 in one of those pipes. 60 years later I'm still smoking - what a stupid sod I am, but I wish I could roll back those years and refuse the cig that I was offered by the lad who stole a tin of Capstan Full Strength from his seafaring dad (trawlers) that dark day ! I remember the chippy on Cambridge Rd, but had forgotten the name. Thanks for reminding me.
That brought back memories BMB...although I'm not sure our bunch of ruffians in Beverley bothered to sing along....too busy committing mayhem on each other and any poor unfortunate little girls who mistakenly had wandered in...poor things. It was bedlam in there during the "picture" and afterwards in the nearby streets. Our Mams were just glad to see the back of us for a couple of hours and give Dad some peace. Still no luck with Barluze. Seems like i was the only drinker. No wonder it didn't survive.!!
[/QUOTE] We called them " Slingadings ". We never had an accident with them. Played with bows and arrows,air rifles and guns too without incident. Most injuries in our street were caused by a discus found in a nearby field when I was around 10.We played hurling it to, and at one another - after a few weeks one of the parents of a kid who had been struck a few times, confiscated it. In my final high school year I competed in the sports day event and set a new school discus record...........75 ft!
I tell you what, if a flight hits someone directly it would probably keep going till it hits a bone or comes out the other side. I'd say the second most dangerous activity I recall was shinty. For those who don't know, it is like a combination of hockey and hurling. It was introduced to the much mentioned Penshurst School by the much mentioned Mr Goodrick, but it only lasted about three weeks. In that time two lads were taken to the Infirmary to have their heads stitched up.
That's the same drain that crossed Cambridge Road near the fish shop. I seem to remember that my brother's bike ended up in the drain when it was dry and he was only young at the time. It seems amazing that he would have biked on his own so far away from home. If I was going to Hessle Square on my bike, I would go along the tenfoot opposite the shops, passing all the streets, until I came to Richmond Road and then Beverley Road. I remember someone called Audrey Marshall who lived in that area. I think she became a policewoman.
I remember playing shinty when I was there, but I thought it was the female teacher who later married Mr. Haymes who introduced it!
Steve Wallace was a goalkeeper for Penshurst. David Bedford's Dad was a staunch supporter of Penshurst and used to shout often and missing the 'S' "Come on Penhurst" I will know you I'm sure! Those famous green and grey halves, very thick cotton too. Always proud to pull on Penshurst's shirt. Do you remember the football's then? Beige or tan coloured, plastic coated.
That was it Plas Y Nant, wonderful little chapel to do our notes in the evening. We played football on the tennis court having taking the net down.
Steven Wallace got the goalie position after me. I was kicked out of goal to right half after the first three games in the B team. By then it was into November and getting cold. I suppose it was then that standing in front of Wally the hard plastic ball smacked the inside of my thigh. It stings! Another lad I forgot to mention was Paul Johnson. He lived on First Lane near Hull Road. And there was a little lad called Martin who looked like Pinocchio. Then there was that Jehova's Witness lad, Kevin McLaughlin, and David Ralph who lived on Boothferrry Road. Of the lasses I forgot was Gail Beddington. How on earth could I forget Gail? She was my first choice for a girlfriend. Nice plaits.
Did we have Chip Spice before Yankeeburger, I don't remember it before then? They also introduced me to sweetcorn relish, it seemed very exotic at the time.
WOW The double Bacon Egg burger was bloody good. The old lass who uses to shout the orders to the cooks she didn't take any **** from anyone.
