My mother was a florist, and made all the bouquets and sprays of flowers for the queens and attendants. She arranged flowers in the Chapel too, especially at the Harvest Festival. The local brides came to her for bouquets and buttonholes and she was also kept busy with wreathes for funerals. She regularly got up before 6.00am to catch the early train to Preston flower market. Whenever we went to St Cuthbert’s churchyard to see to the graves she would collect her old frames, a bit of early recycling! At Christmas in St Anne’s Road our house was carpeted with holly wreaths, the little space left was filled with my father’s array of dressed poultry and game waiting for collection or delivery.
Marshside Life 2
Again, like my mother, I went at the age of eight to Churchtown School and met (at close quarters) “the cane” for the first time. Not surprisingly we worked hard and the result was most of the “A” stream passed the 11+ ( including me), escaping to the grammar school.
My mother said it had been stricter in her day and she rather regretted the grammar school because the leaving age was sixteen not fifteen.
The Rose Queen
The big event of the year for girls was the annual Rose Queen, I never made queen myself but I did get to be an attendant. Everyone had some dressed up role and we rode in the procession behind the wonderfully decorated horses with the band playing and all the neighbours watching.
We ended up on the “Rec” (Fleetwood Hesketh Recreation Ground) with the band, carts and Morris dancing. All the things of a village summer fair, pop, crisps and other refreshments were available on the field or in “the hut.” The event was finally ended in the late fifties, although the
The big event of the year for girls was the annual Rose Queen, I never made queen myself but I did get to be an attendant. Everyone had some dressed up role and we rode in the procession behind the wonderfully decorated horses with the band playing and all the neighbours watching.
We ended up on the “Rec” (Fleetwood Hesketh Recreation Ground) with the band, carts and Morris dancing. All the things of a village summer fair, pop, crisps and other refreshments were available on the field or in “the hut.” The event was finally ended in the late fifties, although the
Churchtown School around 1918
( my mother age about 11, is 5th from the right, second row back with clasped hands.)
( my mother age about 11, is 5th from the right, second row back with clasped hands.)
Marshside
Life
Life