Tickhill and District Local History Society Dennis Walker A Wadworth Childhood – Part 1 Before the Second World War © Dennis Walker and Tickhill and District Local History Society 2011 A note from John Millington who interviewed Dennis Walker and prepared this record:- I have listened, with great interest, to Dennis Walker’s reminiscences for many years. They are full of humour and humanity. I am grateful to him for allowing me access to his writings and photographs so that this account of Wadworth life between the wars can be recorded. My particular thanks to Hazel Moffat for her advice and helpful comments. Finally, thanks to Steve Payne for preparing this record for the Historical Society’s website. Cover photograph : taken in 1934, during harvest time, in Mr Senior’s stackyard on Carr Lane. Left to right: Leonard Kilvington, George Green (Horseman), (Inside the cart) Dennis Walker, Robert Maxfield, Lewis Clark, and Dennis's father Harry Walker At the farm sale in the 1950s, this cart was sold for five shillings. 2 Part 1 – Before the Second World war I was born in 1926 and have lived in Wadworth all my life. My father, Harry Walker, was from Inverness. He came to Wadworth to work as a horseman on Charles Hutchinson’s farm on Carr Lane, and married Sophie, one of the farmer’s daughters. I was their only child. Up to the age of five, we lived on Well Lane, in a “two up one down house”. In the corner of our living room was a small sink with a cast iron water pump. Beneath the living room was a cellar with a stream running through it, and from this stream we pumped our water. Well Lane was appropriately named, as there were eight wells along it. There were twenty-eight wells in the village, at that time. In 1932 my family moved to 38 Post Office Row. Our new house had a living room, kitchen and three bedrooms, so it was a great improvement on Well Lane. However, it was still very damp. Within a week of the walls being papered, damp patches would appear. This was very disheartening for my mother. The tiled floor in the centre of the living room was covered in coconut matting. When I was small I used to play on this with my toys and it was very hard on my bare knees. Dust used to work its way into the loose weave of the matting which was rolled up, weekly, put over the clothes line and beaten with a carpet beater. Often the tiled floor was covered in a white powdery substance, which was caused by the damp seeping up from the ground. My mum would sweep it up and this “powder” would fill a 1lb jam jar. The school that I first attended is now the Community Centre in Wadworth. I started school on Monday 9 th November 1931, and my mother led me there through the snow. There were three classrooms. The infants were taught by Miss Saxton; Class two by Mr. Earnshaw; and the “top” class by the Headmaster “Dar” Healy. At playtime each morning we were given half a bottle of milk and two ginger biscuits. These items cost a ha’penny. Most years we had time off school when some pupils went down with diphtheria, an acute bacterial disease that was infectious and dangerous. The first family to be stricken with this disease was the Fogg family who lived on Cross Street. Children were taken to the Isolation Hospital on Crookhill Road, Conisbrough. The homes of any who were infected had to be fumigated and so was the school. In the playground we played the usual running and chasing games. From around St. Valentine’s Day we boys played whip and top. Tops came in various sizes but our favourite was the “Window Breaker”, which could be made to fly through the air and land, yards away, still spinning. 3 Wadworth School photograph 1935 Front Row: Albert Fogg, Clarence Mills, Blanche Mills, Charles Hill, Edna Thompson, Percy Mullins, Billy Beet, Eva Maxfield, Harry Ridsdale, John Caukwell, Leslie Willis, Fred Howitt, Dennis Walker, Beryl Huzzard, Margery Healey, Eric Hill, Douglas Marriott. Second Row: Alice Mullins, Nancy Maw, Pamela Slack, Bessie Healey, Tom Goodall, Charlotte Goodall, Hubert Atkinson, Raymond Maxfield, Hope Spalding, Evelyn Atkinson, Frank Mullins, Cynthia Saxton, Robin Marriott, Kitty Marriott. Third Row: Vera Bennett, Betty Bennett, Vina Slack, Clarence Caukwell, Fred Aldenby, Irene Aldenby, Winnie Marr, Donald Marr, Dulcie Marr, Nellie Hill, Gwendoline Constantine, Stanley Constantine, Ernest Hill, Percy Huzzard. Back Row: Alice Tuplin, B. Betts, Joe Howitt, Alwyn Mullins, Harry Mullins, Arthur Constantine, Leslie Fogg, Norman Carr, Iris Carr, Douglas Slatcher, Mary Ridsdale. 4 While we were playing whip and top, the girls played shuttlecock and battledore. The shuttlecock was home-made from a bottle cork and feathers. The battledore was like a large table tennis bat. We also skipped, both boys and girls. Here are some of the rhymes we chanted as the twelve-foot rope was turned. “Old Dar Healey’s a very nice man, He tries to teach us all he can. Writing, reading, arithmetic And he never forgets to use his stick. And when he does he makes you dance, Out of England into France. Out of France and into Spain Out of Spain and back again. When the girls were skipping, the following rhyme was chanted: Raspberry, Strawberry, gooseberry jam, Tell me the name of your young man. A, B, C, D (etc) A letter would now be called with each turn of the rope. When the rope caught the skipper’s foot she was “given a clue” as to the name of her sweetheart, but if you didn’t like her you used to give it a tug on the first letter of an unpopular boy’s name. Often there were “calling” in games. There’s somebody under the bed, Whoever can it be? I feel so jolly nervous ……..Come in with me A girl called a boy’s name and vice versa. Marbles were also popular, and one of the games we played was called “Poggy”. The vicar was Rev Saunderson. He served the Parish at Wadworth from 1930-1951. He ran a twice weekly Boys’ Club, which we enjoyed very much. The 7-11 year olds, attended from 6.30 to 7.45 pm and the 12-14s, from 8 'til 9.15pm. Here, we played billiards, darts and ring board. We also did some fencing and boxing. This cost a ha’penny a session and if you didn’t pay you had to leave. We used to try it on and say “We’ll pay you next week, sir,” but it never worked. Thomas Saunderson had a friend, Miss Beatrice Larder, who lived on Spring Well Lane, Balby. She assisted in helping the boys and girls from the village with the Christmas Pantomime and Garden Party. After Mrs Saunderson died in 1949, Thomas Saunderson left the ministry and married Miss Larder. They lived on Springwell Lane until his death in 1953. He was a very good Vicar and a caring man where the children's welfare was concerned . Percy Lazenby was a bit older than we were, but he was in our gang and wanted to stay with the younger group in the Boys’ Club. The Vicar allowed this, but called him “King of the Nips”, a name that remained with him all his life. 5 Having Percy in our gang had a particular advantage when it came to shopping. In Wadworth there were four shops; the Post Office on Carr Lane, Lucy Massey’s, Polly Gill’s, and Elvidge’s. Mrs Elvidge had a small shop attached to the White Hart. As well as weekdays, she used to open her shop between 2 and 3 o’clock on Sunday and we would all gather outside waiting for her to open. Elvidge’s sold monkeynuts, and for a ha’penny you could have as many as you could carry in one hand. This is where Percy came in. He had the biggest hands in the gang, so we would send him in. Sometimes Mr Elvidge was serving, and he realised what we were up to. So, when he was serving we went to Polly Gill’s instead. The girls preferred to buy “Orchard Fruits” because they lasted longer. We had to attend church three times on Sunday and most boys and girls were in the choir. We had quite a busy day, beginning with Family Service at 11.00am. In the afternoon we went to Bible class between 2 and 3.30pm. The evening service was between 6 and 7pm, and this was followed by choir practice at 7.15. The verger at this time was Robert Tuplin. One of his jobs was to toll the Passing Bell at 6pm in the evening. This signified a death in the village and had been a custom that had gone on for hundreds of years. If a woman had died the bell would toll twice. There would be an interval of three seconds; twice more and a further interval of three seconds; then twice more. Then there would be a pause of half a minute. The bell would then ring the number of years of the deceased’s age. If a man had died the bell pattern would be in threes, followed by his age. People would stand at their cottage doors counting the tolls, and they would have had a good idea which person it was because the community was very close.