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From Bill Aspden aspdenw@bburn406.fsnet.co.uk |
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From: "Tim Brookshaw" tim.brookshaw@virgin.net Thank you for your web site, which I found this morning while surfing for an old school!. I was looking for anything to do with Poulton High School, a private school which used to be on Lockwood Avenue at the corner with Elletson Street (I think - it's the first right turn on Lockwood anyway). On my last visit to Poulton in the mid 1990s (having spent most of my life living abroad, my UK visits were rare and infrequent) the playground has now been built on with what looks like a medical center. The building which used to be the school is still there however. I was born in Poulton-Le-Fylde on January 11th, 1951. I lived at 160 Hardhorn Road, a house which my father had built in the late 1940s. I was born in a nursing home which used to stand opposite the exit of High Cross Road from Hardhorn Road. That has now gone. Hardhorn Road was much narrower than it is now. Opposite 160 there is a grid in the middle of the road. That used to be in our front garden. In those days we had a hedge and not the wall which stands now. I remember the wall being built. I used to walk up to the bus stop and get on the #2 bus to Blackpool and sit on the front right hand side upstairs so I could look down into our house as the bus passed. The buses were all cream with green stripes in those days, run by Blackpool Corporation Transport. They look different now. I attended Poulton High School from just over 3 until I was 8, when I went away to boarding school. 5 years later my parents moved to the Yorkshire dales, and I lost touch with Poulton and my friends there. Then my parents and I moved to the Canary islands, and I eventually ended up spending most of my adult life in the southern USA. The only names I remember are Joanna Patterson, who lived on one of those steep roads which go downhill from High Cross Road near the High Cross end, and David Trotter, and where he lived I don't remember. Carr Head lane was virtually unbuilt on then, a nice country road. I used to cycle on it. The junction between High Cross Road and Hardhorn Road was just the two streets. The third road (opposite High Cross Road) was built when I was about 6-8. I could go on and on, but I don't want to bore you! I'm now back living in the UK, in Yorkshire, south of Harrogate. I really must make the effort to drive over to Poulton and spend another day wandering round! Thanks once again for the web site - I shall devour it avidly.. Regards,
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From Eric Kay (erickay982@aol .com) I was born in 1929 in the Market Place Poulton-Le-Fylde above my grandmother's (Mrs Kay) Toffee Shop, which is now the site of the HSBC Bank. I then lived at 23 Market Place for a few years until my parents moved to Chapel Street where they had a Fish and Chip shop. My grandmother Mrs Kay (nee Bunn) came to Poulton from Lincoln with Mrs Whitton whom she worked for before marrying my grandfather George Henry Kay who worked as a tailor in Poulton. After opening a sweet shop in Church Street. Grandma moved her sweet shop across the Square into part of Mrs Whitton's larger store which is now the site of the HSBC Bank (photo page 55 of Christine Storey's 'History & Guide - Poulton-Le-Fylde'). I well remember the occasion in the 1930s of the Methodist Sunday School Trip that should have gone to Knott End but ended up destroying the window and front of the corner shop at the bottom of Chapel Street. (Page 127 of Christine Storey's 'History & Guide - Poulton-Le-Fylde'.) My cousin Lionel and I having been lifted into the drivers cab out of the way, found this large lever (brake) was stopping us sitting together on the drivers seat so between us we managed to push the lever (brake) down, fortunately we were lifted out before the bus slowly started rolling forward gathering speed as it headed for the corner shop, needless to say we never got to Knott End or ever went on a Sunday School Trip again. I remember when during the war incendiary bombs were dropped in the fields alongside Garstang Road West between Poulton and Layton, My brother Jack and I found an unexploded one, which I hid under my coat from the prying eyes of the policeman (PC Oliphant) who was guarding the site. I took it home and showed brother Jack how to defuse it having seen it done by the ARP warden who visited our school. Unfortunately ours had a lot more magnesium than the one at school and caused quite a panic with our neighbours when I put a match to it. Happy Days. Before leaving school at fourteen I delivered newspapers for Mr MacWhinney who owned the paper shop on Breck Road. One of my deliveries used to be to 'Beryldene' on Mains Lane where George Formby lived .1 could always tell when George was at home his motorbikes (he about four or five) would be lined up outside his garage. I can remember on two occasions asking George for his autographs. I sold these to lads at school for half-a-crown each! Poulton in the 1930s was a very different place to live in than it is today, Where Teanlowe is now used to be Burlington Avenue which you entered under an archway between two buildings to be met by that terrible sight and smell of poverty and hardship, a smell I can still recognize 70 years later. Work was hard to find in Poulton and my father who in the late 1920s (having one of first driving licenses in Poulton) had been employed as chauffer to Dr Buckley. In the Mid 1930s he could only find summer employment with Walls Ice Cream Company pedalling a 'Stop Me And Buy One' ice cream tricycle from Blackpool to Fleetwood Regards. Eric Kay (erickay982@aol .com) |
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From: peter.axon@bt.com I happened on your web site by chance and after reading each section, decided to add my, not that ancient by comparison, memories. My first visit to Poulton was in 1959, ( I lived in Layton then and went to school in Blackpool ) My school chum at the time, John Bamber, who lived at 41 Tithebarn St, invited me to his house one day in the holidays and I was taken with Poulton even at the age of 15. John showed me round the village, where to obtain the best apples from an orchard where now stands the Teanlowe car park, fish & chips from Mrs Russell's next to the Golden Ball. Sunday night film at the Rialto. Youth club in St Chad's Church hall. Looking round that hardware store on the corner of the square, Richards I think it was called and the little delicatessen in Queen's Square, was it called Reeds ? He introduced me to his Poulton friends to name a few :- Jack Webster, Peter Ball ( his dad was the village bobby ), Stewart Entwistle ? Bernard & Mick Robinson, Jack Davey,Paddy Riley,Linda Robson, Mick Garvey, Sid Hodgkinson, Steve Nelson, George Dobson and others whose names have faded.............. When we reached legal drinking age, ( I'm sure it was 17 then.......) we used to climb some rickety wooden stairs up to the Comrades Club in Hardhorn Road, probably where La Piazza is now. Ronnie Forsythe at the Golden Ball was a little more critical of the age limit but once in, Sally Webster always poured the drinks. Sunday auctions of farm produce set out on the snooker table also in the Golden Ball. Traffic flowed through the village from every which way. Through the market place, both ways, I don't remember any road which was ONE WAY. Petrol pumps at the garage where Booths now stands in Ball Street. If there was a restaurant in Poulton at that time, I can't recall the name or where. Years later,in 1972, we ( Sandra & Myself) moved to Poulton. Our first house was 2 Leander Gardens and we lived there until 1988 when we moved to 18 Derby Road where we still live. Both our daughters, Helena & Jennifer, have My lasting memory of the first summer spent in Derby Road was hearing the sound of men playing bowls on the green at the back of the Club on Elletson St. This unfortunately didn't last long as the land was sold off for Once in the 70's, Sandra and I made our way to St Chad's for the Sunday Evening service led by Paul Goodson It was snowing quite heavily on the way there and the congregation numbered about 10. By the time Rev Goodson reached the dismissal, the snow was about 12 inches deep and still snowing heavily. Most of the people at that service decided there was only one course of action, The Thatched House, and there we stayed to wait out the During the 70's, Poulton still had that " villagey " feel about it, a night out in the village was quite enjoyable where most of the people appeared to be locals and after closing time, folk went home, some with fish & chips etc under the watchful eye of the local bobbies who were very evident during and after the pubs shut their doors. By midnight, Poulton was quiet. I am not saying that there was never any trouble, the old formula Beer + Men X Women = Trouble. Poulton was no exception. The difference between now and then is that the trouble continues Let me say that I am not a complete Ludite. I know that things have to change in order to keep abreast of "progress". But I firmly believe that with progress, things should also improve. What I see know in Poulton is far removed from when I first visited in 1959 and in some cases quite rightly so. I welcome the choice of eating establishment which Poulton now offers, some to quite a high standard, but I wonder just how many eating outlets one village can sustain ? It seems like when one shop ceases to trade, another I feel privileged to have known Poulton during the 60's to the present day and those memories will always be with me, I just hope that common since will prevail when decisions are made in the Council Chamber as to how further "improvements" will be introduced. Regards Peter Axon |
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Mike Walker recently e-mailed the following: I lived at 59 Station Road with my grandparents -Mr and Mrs Dodds. They had retired from Wakefield. My grandfather Bill, had an artificial leg. He worked for Mrs Hunter as a gardener. She lived on Hardhorn Road and was of the family who owned "Hunters" shop on Abingdon Street, Blackpool. The shop had a life-size huntsman on a horse displayed up a height outside the shop. Her son was married to the daughter of the "Derbyshire's" bread family. My grandfather was very active in Poulton band up to his death in 1963. In the summer my grandmother would sit in the back yard counting the Saturday excursion trains running through into Blackpool North-sometimes over 30. The steam from the engines drifted into our yard! I was at university 1957-60 and during the Xmas vacations worked as a postman in Poulton. Mrs Woods was the postmistress and I remember her early morning appearances in the sorting office and recalled that she was a member of the bowling club. After University I worked for what was then the UKAE, now BNFL, at Salwick. I used to get the works bus, the W10, in the Square and had about 26/- a month stopped out of my salary as bus fare. I remember the Rialto cinema, owned by a Mr Bishop, which he subsequently turned into a supermarket. The landlord at the "Golden Ball" at that time was a Mr Ainsworth. Mr Rawes, a retired longstanding master at what was then Baines Grammar School, was a frequent site about the town walking his terrier dog. He was organist at St Chad's and Mr Fog was the vicar. Mrs Russell [from Rotherham] ran the fish shop in the square and the late Saturday night sessions after the last bus from a night out in Blackpool were excellent. Football matches on the pitch opposite the "Queen's" were well attended. jmwalker@wakefield.gov.uk |
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Alan Binns writes: I am Alan Binns, father of the David Binns whose memories are listed above. I came to Poulton in 1945, just before the end of WW2. My father, Harold Binns was a Police Officer and we had always lived in the Fylde. I was born at Wesham in 1931. During the war we lived in Victoria St Fleetwood next door to the Market Hall and when we came to Poulton we lived in one of the pair of houses that used to stand at the top of the Police Station yard, through the archway leading from the Square. We were Methodists and the old chapel, now demolished, which stood in Chapel St was very handy for us. Poulton had only just started to expand and many of the older buildings still stood, especially the Tithebarn. I can remember the common lodging house which was adjacent to the rear of our house. Many Irish agricultural workers came over during the summer and autumn to work on local farms. They spent their leisure , and their money, in the Golden Ball and some of them spent time in the cells at the Police Station when they became boisterous.I remember Joseph Locke getting into trouble there because he insisted in singing and was told by the landlord that the pub had no entertainment licence. The Square was much busier in those days as all the buses came through. I travelled each day to Kirkham Grammar School and had only to cross the road to board the 162 Preston service. I was always a keen sportsman and had happy times at Thornton Cleveleys Rugby Club and at Fylde Cricket Club, where I was an up and coming tearaway bowler. Bernard Nabb was my mentor and told me to bowl as fast as I could. This was in the pre Statham and Trueman era when England was short of fast bowlers. It was not always the best advice but when it worked it was very effective. I remember Bernard and Stan Bowman and the Marsden brothers with particular affection. I played tennis at St Chads courts which were behind the Church Hall. I played my tennis like my cricket with the result that I never won the tournaments but left a few bruised opponents on the way. I have happy memories of Skippool Creek. Old Mr Pomfret from chapel had a dinghy there and as he was growing old he used to take me as crew. I can recall sailing under Shard Bridge when the tide was strong and missing one stanchion as we went in and grazing the other as we emerged. I was a good swimmer but I shudder to think how I would have managed Mr Pomfret. I still visit Poulton but rarely meet anyone I recognise. I used to come back to the new Methodist Chapel on special days when I was Tenor Soloist as their Easter Oratorios but that has now gone. Harold and Ethel, my parents have been dead for many years and my sole contact is Grace Halstead, now resident in Queensway Lodge and approaching her hundredth birthday. She ran errands for my mother when they both lived on Garstang Rd. Mother thought Grace was a young woman because she was so active. I have lived in Burnley ever since my National Service in 1952 and have always been happy there but I still have happy memories of a Poulton that has now altered so much. These memories have been prompted by the wonderful book that you compiled and which came into my possession at Christmas. Keep up the good work.
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