your comments
Fred Knox, Carlisle
This could be a shot in the dark, this is a call to RON JEFFERIES, MONTREAL; Your letter brougth back memories. Bernies Garage, the Fire Station, Cannon Drew School.I lived in Hawarden, opposite the Hawarden institute. I was also in the fire service at Hawarden (B2 was its number). The Scou s in the village was run by Mr & Mrs Bonnewell, do you remember Frank Mills, David Roberts, Collin Barlow? Oh dear, so many memories. The school was pulled down and now has some fine houses built on the site, the mansonic hall is still there. But how the village has changed. I had 2 brothers, Allan & Trevor, sadly now passed away. Remember the "good old times"...
Mon Feb 4 09:50:04 2008
John Jones from Gloucester
I owe Brian Robinson an apology for keeping him awake in the fifties! At that time I was a fireman at Wrexham Rhosddu Shed. On many occasions I worked on steam engines hauling heavy trains from Shotton up the severe incline through Hawarden to Buckley and beyond. Alas, the sounds, smells and sensations of those days are a distant memory. But I well remember the skills required of a young fireman in maintaining the steam pressure - and the anxiety of drivers when the boiler water was at a low ebb! We would literally crawl up that hill, the challenge being to get to the top without having to stop because of lack of steam. I well remember drawing drivers' attention to the beauty of the full moon etc., to avoid them worrying too much about the water disappearing from the bottom of the gauge glass! Despite the conditions endured, especially in the winter months, it was a wonderful world. George Thomas was one of my regular drivers, and both he and I were keen on education and those night footplates were a cauldron of shared knowledge as we travelled through the darkness of the night. The footplate was our special University. We both gained a lot from that experience and in our old age George now lives near Cardiff and I at Gloucester. So, Brian, behind that Chuff Chuff of the straining steam engine, noisily ascending to the summit of that hill, were real people straining to reach higher levels of their career. So, thanks to you, Brian, and all the other residents for your forbearance all those years ago. (George and I worked our way up the ladder from the footplate but will always remember those wonderful early days).
Fri Oct 12 13:40:01 2007
Brian Robinson
Hi. I used to live in the Upperdale part of Hawarden in the fifties and sixties. Queensferry fire station used to use a very loud siren to call retained firemen in when there was a shout. It could be clearly heard in Hawarden. On the subject of sounds, does anyone remember the sound of the old steam locos pulling trains up from Shotton to Hawarden. Hundreds of people, lying in their beds, would listen to the slow, tortuous, 'chuff...chuff' as the train strained and climbed up to the Hawarden level, before accelerating away, and allowing people to go to sleep!
Thu Oct 11 08:39:02 2007
Bob Heaton, Sychdyn
Hi Rob, I remember back then being able to hear the blast warning sirens from the then working open cast mining at Drury and Buckley when the wind was in the right direction. All you can hear now is the traffic on the A55 (The Caravan Super Highway).
Mon Aug 13 10:19:37 2007
Ade Nicholson from Mold
Hi Rob & Rich, Ah yes, great memories! Sorry I've been a bit slow coming back on the site Rob! Rich, Gilbert Railton and his sister Anthea lived in the house on the corner with his mother and gran. John and Susan Lean and their mum lived in the house at the far end, next door to the Ramseys, Sian and Ruth Ramsey lived with their mum and dad. Next door to them were Robert and Janet Heaton then Rob Lee's house which was occupied by the Thompsons. Then came the house next to me which never had any kids apart from a baby boy (Peter?) for a short while. In our house there was me, and my sister Lee. Next door was the Lewis's, Anne Marie and her brother Albert. Then I can't remember the name of the Scottish people in the next house. Then we come to the Joneses, Paul and his sister Shirley. After that, apart from the Cardens, my memory is a bit hazy but I remember Rob Davies. I remember you, Rich, and your sisters, my wife (then Pauline Bryan) went to school with them. I remember walking home from Ewloe Green school accross the "Brickie" as we used to call it. We used to pick blackberries there. The big yellow house at the end of Brickhill Lane was the former Colliery office and was lived in by Mr and Mrs Homersley. They had a huge orchard of apple trees. (Scrumping anyone?) Please contact me if anyone is feeling nostalgic!
Fri Jul 20 14:00:34 2007
Rich Jones
That row of houses was just up the road from me. I lived in Bramley Way, just up from the entrance to The Brickhill. The house on the corner was the Railtons, maybe Gilbert and a sister, then the row of houses under discussion first the Cardens. From there I'm not sure of the order but there was Ann Marie Lewis, Robert (Bob) Heaton, Nicholsons (a son and a daughter), Gail Thompson, Paul Wynne and, at the end, John Lean. The back gardens of most of those houses were quite big. At the back of them we always built a fire on bonfire night. Does anyone remember the houses up Brickhill Lane, first one on the right where we had the bonfire, then one further up on the right that was standing for a long time, and the yellow brick house on the left. There was always lots of kids on the Brickhill, throwing ferns, riding bikes, sledging in the Winter. Then the coal board cut a large swathe up the back of it and then they decimated it to make way for new road. The Rassa, a pond that I learnt to fish in and fall in, had tiles on the bottom of it as it had been a baths for the miners? It had some of the biggest perch you could find in it. Another pond in the area was Eddy Weigh's pond - it had some huge tench (over 5 lbs) as the overflow of milk used to run into it. The ponds further down the lane towards Ewloe Green School were full of crested newts, that are now almost impossible to find. These places were places full of wildlife - some of it human. The coal board or whoever subsequently made a fortune from the development didn't seem to care what and who it moved at that time. My childhood memories of playing remain but unfortunately there is nowhere to visit to show my kids/grand kids. Wood Lane was full of kids of about the age, most of which went to Ewloe Green C.P. But that's another story. Anyone remember singing on the bus all the way back from school at the end of each day, but louder on a Friday! Great times.
Tue Jul 10 12:03:44 2007
Brian Stevens
Just been speaking to my neighbour, we're currently at 104 and 106 the Highway. Apparently the siren was to warn people that testing of aircraft would be taking place at the now airbus factory in Broughton. The siren was to warn people that the testing may well be noisy!
Tue May 8 10:17:57 2007
Richard Jeffries Montreal
Hi, I lived at 92 the highway next to Bernies garage, from about the age of 3 till 1986 when I came to Canada, used to ride my bike down Wood lane, it was safer than the main road! I went to Canon Drew then later to Buckley Elfed, I remember the old Fire station on the left as you went towards the center of the village had a siren mounted on a high tower it could have been that and they were probably testing it,
Richard
Thu Nov 2 08:05:43 2006
Rob Lee
Hi Ade
After so long, I've come back to check. Yes, we were certainly close... I lived at 68 Wood Lane in 63,64. Duplexes, I lived on the right-hand side of one, next door to the Heatons (at 66, if I remember correctly). Our house had a boomerang above the front entrance, with 'Gunyah' written on it (Australian aboriginal for hut/house/humpy) (my father was Australian). It's a small world.
I recall being told that embankment was an old railway line. There was a little pond on the other side of it, where my sister almost drowned. Cracker night up the street, chestnut tree up the road, and the old Bluebell wood on the other side. And stinging nettles in the ditches! LOL. What memories, Ade. Do you have any other recollections? Love to hear them...
And thanks, Ben. I remember the siren going on for a bit - say three or four minutes, but then again, I was young...
All great comments, and thanks.
Mon Jul 31 14:05:16 2006
Ade Nicholson. From Mold
Hi Rob. We must be about the same age, I'm maybe a couple of years older (born in 1955). I lived at number 72 Wood Lane, later re-numbered to 94, from 1960 to 1983. It's the same row of houses as you, with the old embankment at the back. We must have known each other.
I think the siren used to come from the MANWEB power station across the road from the houses. I'm not sure what the function was, but I'll check with my father to see if he knows.
Tue Feb 14 14:37:55 2006
Ben.
Castle (tunnel) Cement had a siren which used to sound at the start and end of shifts. I'm not sure if it was in operation in the 60s but was operational during the 70s-80s which is when I remember it!
Tue Jan 18 14:22:20 2005
