Where we lived

Townsend Lane

Remember when ... People in mourning could not always afford the traditional black clothing, so instead, a black band, or diamond, was sewn onto the sleeve of their coat.

Barbara Harrison - born 1932 "I lived in the Townsend Lane area and in the 1930s, many of the men were unemployed. I remember my father and his brothers and mates playing pitch and toss. The rules were a mystery to me, I remember a lot of noise and shouting "heads or tails". Sometimes me and the other children in the street would stand on the corners of the entries, where this illegal game was being played, on the look out for the police. It we saw one we would shout "Scuffers coming" and all the men would scatter, running into the back yards or through houses to escape".

Gillmoss

Remember when ... A typical junior school classs would have thirty to forty pupils.

Vera Jeffers - born 1925 "We were lucky, we were allocated a "pre fab" in Gillmoss which had built in wardrobes, kitchen units, an electric wall boiler - and a fridge! We stayed there for 18 years, and loved it. "

Everton

Remember when ... Discipline in schools was strict, and punishments consisted of being sent to stand in the corner, lines, detention, a rap on the knuckles with a ruler, or the cane across the palm of the hand.

Lil Otty - born 1919 "The small street in Everton where I was born had just six houses in it. There was a quarry at the end of the street which made mortar for an adjoining builder’s yard in Wye Street. We lived with the relentless noise of the grinding machine in the quarry and the steam engines delivering their loads, as well as the gentler sound of the shire horses clattering to and fro from the builder’s yard with their load of bricks. As well as the noise, a perpetual haze of dust and grit rained down on the houses". "On the day our street was demolished, the memories came floating back - I caught a glimpse of our old wallpaper; I remembered the fireplace, now choked with rubble, with no more potato cakes to be baked. No more steps lovingly cleaned with sandstone from the cemetery, and the old lamp post that we used to swing around on a piece of rope - all gone".

Fashion & Leisure		Children's Lives		War Time & Evacuees
Where we lived		Working Lives		Changing Times