Hylda Sugden was born in Worsbrough,
Ward Green, on 7 June 1932. She grew up in a Council house with her older sister.
Both her parents were also from Worsbrough. Her
Father first worked at Barrow Colliery, Ceag and then
the Labour Exchange. Her mum worked 11 years as the Cook at the Sanitorium.
Sugden attended the Board School, Worsbrough Dale,
between the age of five to 14 before doing a secretarial course at the Barnsley
Technical School College. She worked for the Barnsley British Co-operative and got
married in 1956. Hylda talks about her happy
childhood and school memories. Her family went on holiday to Bridlington even during
the War time. They were not affected by the rationing as her father had three
allotments and her Mother was a Cook who was able to
make use of everything. She attended Elim Church in Barnsley between the ages
of 10 to 17. She met her husband whilst dancing at the Three Cranes Hotel. She
remembers the Coronation in 1953 when she was 21 then and the first Ward Green
Gala (about 1948) which she didn't win. She ends the interview by talking about
how happy everyone was when the war was over.
KH: Right then,
so this is an interview at Worsbrough Library on the 19th
of July,
2018,
with Kate Harper and….
HS: Hylda Sugden.
KH: Thank you. So,
just for the record, could you eh give us your age please?
HS: I’m 86. I
was born on the 7th of June 1932.
KH: Lovely.
Thank you, and were you born in Worsbrough?
HS: Yes I was born at 21 Cromwell Mount, Ward Green, in a council
house.
KH: Right. So what were the house like? Was it just …
HS: A two bedroomed, beautiful house. I
remember it well and it was a lovely house, in a good position, right at the
top of Ward Green.
KH: And it had
a ba-
HS: … and it
was a new house.
KH: A new house
so it would have had indoor bathroom and …
HS: It had a
bathroom, just simply a bath.
KH: Yeah.
HS: No toilet
or sink, simply a bath.
KH: Yeah.
KH: So were toilet outside?
HS: And the
toilet was outside.
KH: Yeah.
Lovely right so erm where do you live now?
HS: Er in a in a council bungalow. A one
bedroom council bungalow, on Saxon Crescent, Worsbrough,
which used to be called Ward Green, but now is called Worsbrough.
KH: Right.
HS: I’ve lived
there for nearly 12 years.
KH: Right.
HS: We have a beautiful view all over Stainborough, and eh and all over Worsbrough.
It is a lovely, lovely bungalow.
KH: You’re
lucky then are you ….
HS: It would be
much better if it had two bedrooms, but of course it’s only got one.
KH: Yeah and have you lived in Worsbrough
all your life?
HS: Yes. When we were first married er we lived with me mother as you did when you were waiting
for a council house. We lived there five years and four months. That was how
long the waiting list was.
KH: Hmm…
HS: Erm this was - we were married in 1956.
Erm from then, we got a counc- a new council house,
where they’d erm pulled the Jarratt’s down in Worsbrough
Dale, they built new council houses; very, very nice council houses. They
weren’t in an extremely good position, but they were very really
good council houses, and we lived there 45 years.
KH: Right. So
going back to your your family when you were little,
your mum and dad were they from Worsbrough?
HS: They were ob–
yes from Worsbrough. Mum was born in Powell Street which
is where the doctors is now, that was pulled down to build the doctors. She was
born in Powell Street, and er father was born in James Street, in Worsbrough Dale.
KH: Right.
HS: He wasn’t I’m sorry. He was born in
Green Street Worsbrough Common, and moved to James
Street, Worsbrough Dale.
KH: Right, so so
all your family are from Worsbrough and…
HS: Yes, yes.
KH: … they’ve not come in for work, or
anything like that?
HS: No, no.
KH: Right. Were you from a big family?
HS: No. There were two of us. I had a
sister who was five years and six mon– and eight months
older than I was. There were just two of us.
KH: Yeah, yeah. Where did your Dad work?
HS: He worked in the, he worked at
Barrow Colliery, until he was 40 then he had a bad health and had to come out
of the pit, er or- when he was 40 and then he went to work er at the Ceag er in Barnsley was in charge of the night shift. He’d been a deputy in the
pit, so he was used to being in charge, you see …
KH: Yeah, yeah…
HS: … so and from there he went to work
as a head cleaner at the Labour Exchange, in
Barnsley.
KH: Right, right. Yeah. Did …
HS: Now me mother, she didn’t work at
all until father had this bad health, when he came out of the pit. They thought
he was not going to work again, at that time. So she
went out to work…and went to work at the sanitorium.
KH: Oh where
was that …? Ah.
HS: Sanitorium was at the top of Mount
Vernon, which has recently. It’s the hospital.
KH: Right. Yes.
HS: The geriatric hospital, which is shortly
to be pulled down. But at the time when mum
went out to work, it was a sanitorium for TB [tuberculosis] and that she
was the cook.
KH: Right.
HS: And she worked there 11 years.
KH: Yeah.
HS: She never worked gone out to work
before and she worked there 11 years.
KH: So how old were you when your mum
went out to work?
HS: Eh I would be nine.
KH: So did
someone look after you? Did you manage between you? Did it …
HS: [laugh] No, no you you simply went to school, remember they worked shifts, a cook
you
see so she was either on days or afters.
[00:05:07]
KH: Right.
HS: Days consisted of 6.30 while 1.30,
and afternoons was 1.30 while 8.30.
KH: Right.
HS: You see. So that some of the time
she was at home.
KH: Yeah, yeah …
HS: And remember I had this older
sister.
KH: Yeah, yeah. So where did you go to
school?
HS: I went to Worsbrough
Dale, what we called the Board School. The school that was pulled down to make
the new health centre. I went there from being five to 14.
KH: Right.
HS: Eh when I was 14, which I could have
left school, that-that was the leaving age, 14,
the
following year it was altered to 15. But I could have actually
left school at 14 but I went on to further education, to the Barnsley
Technical School College…
KH: Yeah.
HS: …eh to do a clerical course and I
did shorthand and typing and eh, eh a secretarial course.
KH: Yeah, yeah. Eh where did you work?
HS: From there I went to work for the
Barnsley British Co-operative in the general office, I went in the accounts. I
worked there very, very happily. Er now they weren’t supposed to employ married
staff, married women…
KH: Yeah.
HS: So that you were told when you were
interviewed for the job that eh they didn’t employ
married staff, which I couldn’t have cared less of at 16 [KH laughed]. Eh but
however, erm by the time I come to be getting married, now quite truthfully they’d nobody trained for the job that I was doing.
KH: Right.
HS: So, I sprung it on them that I was
getting married and that she said “Oh dear, er you know
that’s dreadful because we’ve nobody trained for the job”. So
I was one of the very few that was kept on.
KH: Right.
HS: And was told it was because I was a
good worker. It was nothing of the sort. It was simply because they’d nobody
trained for the job.
KH: Right.
HS: Now then I only worked a year after
I got married because I had my first baby. So I’m
afraid I walked up and down the office six months pregnant much to their
absolute horror [laugh].
KH: [laugh] Oh dear.
HS: Er so they weren’t supposed to
employ married staff and I was walking about six months pregnant I’d to yo-you left at six months at that time, and of course I were
wanting to work as long as possible eh because we were supposed to be build er trying
to buy a house you see.
KH: Right.
HS: It never got to that stage. We had a
council house! [laugh]
[00:08:00]
KH: [laugh] So…
HS: So that’s, that’s the tale of er woe
[laugh].
KH: So when you
was little, what sort of games did you play? What’s did-did you play out on you
know … where did you play? What did you do?
HS: I think I-I think it would be termed
that I had a-a really good childhood.
KH: Yeah.
HS: Eh there were only two of us remember
[pause] we-we and we were- we had parents; father’d
go out and show you how to play with a ball er he-he-he played with you… he-he
were a... they were good parents. And yeah that were- I
had a happy childhood and played all games marbles and... you know everything
it er I-I think I would say that I had a very happy childhood. Yeah. Very
fortunate.
KS: Yeah. What sort of things do you
remember from your childhood you know growing up, school and food? What sort of
food, comes back to you?
HS: One’f-one
of the things that sticks is in my mind is walking from Ward Green right at the
top of the er we couldn’t have been any farther at top of the estate, Cromwell
Mount, er to Worsbrough Dale, in all sorts of weather
remember. There were never- nobody had cars so you
always walked, both there and back. Er me mother took me on the first day, I
remember that and then it was just going with Mary and all the crowd from Ward
Green. You all walked down together. You called for each other, and then a
great crowd of you walked to school together. You know erm …
KS: Yeah.
HS: So that, I found that quite nice
sort of thing you know….
KS: Bit of freedom.
HS: Never worried me.
KS: No. No. Did you stay for school
dinners then?
HS: Remember
there were no school dinners at first when er …
KH: Ah, right.
HS: ...when I
was first at school.
KH: So you had to walk home with…?
[00:09:58]
HS: No, no remember Ward Green? Worsbrough Dale to Ward Green, no you took a packed, a
packed lunch. Eh now then unfortunately this sister that were five years and
eight months older than eh than me, I particularly remember being sat we- you
sat in the classroom in your classroom, but because I were young sister, I went
into Mary’s classroom to eat my dinner because Mary looked after me- her din-
me dinner you see. Eh so eh I was sat in front- eh behind Mary and and so a girl you had cocoa. The older children made cocoa
and put your cocoa on the desk. The girl in front of me sister Mary turned
around knocked the cocoa [knock sound made], Mary got burnt on-on her leg. And eh
that’s one of the really things that sticks in me memory and Mary screaming and me being ever so upset
that Mary had to be taken to the hospital. And she she
had that scar right until she died where she been scalded ’cos you remember yee-you wore short skirts you know. Eh and you think of having
the cocoa on on desk. Sloping desk like that, and you
put it where ink pot was, turned round and knocked cocoa over Mary… [soft
laugh]
KH: Did you
have a favourite lesson at school?
HS: I loved school altogether. I were
particularly good at maths and things like that so that eh I like anything like
that you know. I didn’t particularly like- funnily enough I do now but I didn’t
particularly like geography. Eh just never gelled onto it until I was much
older. And then then liked eh that sort of thing. But I were
more into English and maths and yeah arithmetic as we called it.
KH: Did you have a favourite teacher? Is there any particular teacher stands out in your mind?
HS: Yeah. Funnily enough they lived
local, Miss Helliwell, Margaret Helliwell who’s long since been dead. She was
absolutely my- she was wonderful. She was a Miss.
KH: Yeah.
HS: And eh she was everybody’s favourite,
a really good teacher. I can’t say that I had a
teacher that I disliked. I don’t. Eh I don’t remember anybody well particularly
disliked.
KH: Hmm. What other things do you
remember from your childhood?
HS: Now then.. [pause,
laughter in background]
KH: Did you go on holiday or club trips?
HS: We went on holiday every year.
Remember war were on. It were wartime to me when I was
seven to 13.
KH: Right.
HS: Eh but we still went away. Eh it had
to be somewhere like Bridlington. Bridling- we didn’t go to Blackpool much, we
went on East Coast, and eh we went in boarding houses you know eh just simply
boarding houses. And eh had good holidays there. I
mean everything were all boarded up and but didn’t bother you when-when you
were only a child. It eh…. I particularly remember walking on-on sands with father.
He were a chap that he take his shoes and socks off
and walk with you on the sands you know…
KH: Yeah.
HS: Eh so that I can’t say the war
bothered me all that much [laugh].
KH: What about rationing? Did you feel
that?
HS: Well, father had three allotments.
He had, he had two brothers and when I said three allotments, they each had an
allotment these three brothers, next to each other, up on Worsbrough
Common. Remember we almost lived in Worsbrough
Common. Living right at the top, so they had these allotments. And one would
grow all the lettuces, one would grow all the beans and then they like went on
each other’s land…
KH: Right.
HS: …so that we were just never without
food because with a pig, you could have one pig…
KH: Right.
HS: …then you didn’t have a bacon ration…
KH: Right.
HS: …but you could have one pig so that
with this one pig you see.
KH: Yeah. Do you remember when they killed
the pig and it were all…
HS: Yeah but
you-you didn’t kill the pig on the property, it had to be taken away to go to
an abattoir. You know it were done properly.
KH: Yeah.
HS: Eh so that to me all
of a sudden pig disappeared that- that’s all it did to me you know.
KH: [laugh] Yeah.
HS: Eh
so that we were very very fortunate with food. Also
remember me mother were a cook, so she were a person
that made use of everything. I’m afraid I’ve grown up same because I were, I
were made like that [laugh]. Eh she never wasted anything, so when she came
home from work, she was continuously making jams or pickles or
from the produce.
[00:15:18]
KH: Yeah.
HS: You know. So
we were one of fortunate ones that we never went short of food so eh…
KH: Yeah you
were lucky then wouldn’t you?
HS: Well. It-it were just that they saw
to it that we didn’t get shor- you know we didn-we weren’t short of food.
KH: Yeah.
HS: Because when he were
working erm he’d come home from work and then go up to the garden, you know he
were continuously busy because of these allotments but that’s how he liked it.
He were a keen gardener.
KH: Yeah.
HS: So…
KH: Remember Christmases and special
holidays and Whit walks and things like that?
HS: Yeah.
Yeah. Christmases, me mother wasn’t a person that
showed a great deal of affection now I realise. I didn’t realise this when I
was smaller, but she were- for instance, when I were-
I should imagine six or seven, they bought me a doll’s house but she took me to
Baileys in Barnsley. Remember I was only six or seven. But there were all these
dolls houses up on a, on a shelf and I picked which one I want. And then we
brought it home and she put it on top of the wardrobe, not wrapped up.
KH: Yeah.
HS: So that I could lay in bed and look
at this that Father Christmas was supposed to be but … [laugh]
KH: [laugh]
HS: But...”She
knows about Father Christmas…” I-I weren’t very old. Well
I was young enough to have a doll’s house but yeah I used to look at me dolls
house [laugh] so I had to pretend that he …[laugh] he brought it [laugh].
KH: [laugh]
HS: I-I saw to it that my children
didn’t eh… that we had t- so that were one of things that really could’ve been
better.
KH: Yeah. Yeah.
HS: But eh, however… [laugh]
KH: Yeah. And did you do Whit Walk and church
eh Sunday schools and things like that?
HS: Yeah. When I got to- me mother and dad
did go to church occasionally to Saint Thomas’ they had been married at St
Thomas’ at Worsbrough Dale…
KH: Yeah.
HS: …
and they went at Easter and Christmas and times like that. I remember, mother were working eh so that when I got to about 10, I decided meself a group of us all 10 or 11 year old, decided we
wanted to go to Elim Church at Barnsley.
KH: Oh,
right.
HS: So from being 10, while I was 17, I went to Elim Church and
enjoyed every minute of it. And eh we’d walk it over Worsbrough
Common into Barnsley then back again.
Three o’clock on a Sunday. And eh thoroughly enjoyed it. But then when I
got to 17 I decided I were a bit too old for that sort
of thing. You know. So I didn’t go anymore. Poor Elim Church
[laugh].
KH: [laugh] Did you go to like youth
clubs, or dances or pictures or... things like that as you got bit older?
HS: Yeah,
yeah. I were a person that loved going out, so that if
I’d any money, yeah we went to the pictures. Eh we went dancing, that’s where I
met my husband there. If-if I had some money to go dancing on a Saturday night,
we went every Saturday night. And then that’s where I met my husband at Three
Cranes Hotel. So eh yeah we loved dancing out, right
until I were disabled. We loved any form of dancing.
KH: Yeah. Is there’s anything else you
want to add about your childhood and growing up and… what other things stick in
your mind?
HS: No that I would say that if I were
talking about my life, I’ve being one of the fortunate ones. I’ve not had very
good health but yet I’ve managed to live ‘till me 86 and…
KH: Yeah.
HS: Eh still managed to be one of the
lucky ones. I-I had cancer in 2000 and still managed [tap on table – assuming
‘touch wood’] to eh to be one of the lucky ones. And eh so then I think I’ve
had a, a quite a fortunate life. You know a good upbringing and...
KH: What about Worsbrough
itself? What changes do you remember about eh Worsbrough
itself? How has it changed? What, what things do you miss from Worsbrough?
[00:20:00]
HS: Do
you know I can’t answer that because …. to me everything’s been alright.
KH: Yeah. Do you remember this-this
estate where we are? Do you remember when it…?
HS: Very,
very well cos’ remember this…
KH: What was it like then?
HS: … this is where we walked to school
you see when there were none of these houses. You walked thru- all the through
the trees and you know. This is the way. We had different ways it…
KH: Yeah.
HS: … the older ones decided which way
you were walking to school, and younger ones just had to follow.
KH: Yeah.
HS: You see.
KH: Yeah.
HS: And so you
might go one way one day and one way another, and it was all through eh lanes hmm
… there always seemed to be a lot of snow.
KH: [laugh] Yeah.
HS: As
you were walking through yeah, it-it always seemed to be every s-so… you know deep
snow you wearing your wellingtons then when you got to
school… eh now you-you’ve asked me the question had we any favourite teachers,
there was a Miss Walker who lived, lived eh locally all her life. And when the
Ward Greeners, as we as we were called. Remember you’d
long black stockings on, wool stockings in the winter. And when you got to school she’d look at your stockings, if your stockings were
wet, they had to come off. And then she had a- there were a, a fire, that had a
big guard round it.
KH: Yeah.
HS: And she put them over the, over the
guard and dried them for you you see. Now the point
is, remember you’all got long black stockings. So me Mother put me some red
cotton on all me, all me stockings so that you knew which were mine. When Miss
Walker had dried them you knew you got the right
stockings back.
KH: Yeah.
HS: You
know eh… I mean things like that were wonderful when you think, how bi-how many
they had in the class. When you think about it they’d
ever so many children in the class, but yet she were taking, telling you to
take your stockings off and drying your wool stockings.
KH: Yeah. Yeah.
HS: Which…that’s fabulous when you think
about it.
KH: It is in’it.
Yeah, yeah. What about the shops on the High Street and on Park Road? What do you remember about the shops?
HS: Yeah. Well remember I came from Ward
Green, so that it was only on odd occasions that you came into Worsbrough Dale.
KH: Hmm.
HS: Eh but I do remember all the shops
they-they were all thriving shops. One of the ones that I particularly
remember. I knitted and sewed a lot. So even as a child I was interested in
anything to do with sewing ‘cause me mother sewed as
well. So that there were eh Kilner’s Wool Shop, up
the High Street on the left hand side going up. And she sold everything.
KH: Right.
HS: This, this eh haberdashery we call
it now. She sold anything that you wanted. Yeah, yeah. And, and that were there
for many years, when I moved into that council house it was still there.
KH: Yeah.
HS: Eh
run by the same people. It-it were a-a…there was a library at the right hand
side of the road, going up, at the end of Green Street. There was a-a library
a-a for a period of time.
KH: Did
you go to that library?
HS: No.
Because remember how I lived at Ward Green…
KH: It
was too far from Ward Green.
HS: Because at Ward Green we had a very good
library.
KH: Was there one there as well?
HS: Yeah,
at the bottom for a few years, not a lot of years but a few years there was a,
at the bottom of Cromwell Mount, at the right hand side, eh there was a a library and it was a-a really good
library. When father was off work when he’d had this illness eh when he were 40, he read a lot. And that librarian…father sent me
with his books, she wrote down each time he-I took a book so that she could
pick him a book and she knew what he’d read. Yeah. She looked at his, you know,
Mr Bower’s list. And when I took book back and eh when she were
picking him a new book, I didn’t pick them. She picked them.
KH: Did
you enjoy going to the library?
HS: Oh, I loved it. ‘Cos
I read a lot myself you see. Oh I-I just loved that eh there were just this one
girl who worked there. It weren’t very big, and eh I-I
just loved, she were, and-and she tell me if I a new book had come in and she
knew what I liked you see. And eh she
knew father, what father liked sent him you know… because at one time he was in
bed and eh this- so he were doing a lot of reading,
read all his life, he read a lot. All-all the eh all the Bower family were one
of the Bowers. Andrew Bower …
KH: Yeah.
Yes I remember Andrew.
[00:25:04]
HS: … yeah was his brother you see. And
eh all the Bowers read a lot.
KH: Yeah. Ah. Do you remember the big
events like the Coronation do you remember them?
HS: Oh yes, aye. Well of course, Coronation
in 1953 I’ll be 21 then you see. So I do remember that
well you know. Eh I did see it on a television eh not that we had one, but this
boyfriend who I later married, they’d got one. So I
can remember sitting on the floor because you know I were 21 and then there
were all aunties there that were 60 odd so they’d to sit on chairs [laugh]. I
remember sitting on floor and being uncomfortable watching Coronation [laugh].
KH: [laugh]
HS: But
I’d be 21 by that time.
KH: Yeah. Yeah. What do you remember
about it?
HS: The
pomp and ceremony; the beautiful dress. I-I love anything like that so to me,
it was wonderful, wonderful. Yeah.
KH: Yeah. Is
there any other major national events that stick out in your mind, like the men
landing on the moon or winning World Cup or…?
HS: One-one of the things that I do
remember. I-I’m not talking about man on the moon or anything like that was the
first Ward Green Gala.
KH: Oh right! When was that?
HS: Eh
now I were, I were 16, so it-this would been about 1948
wouldn’t it? And eh so all of them, everybody who was of the age, I don’t know
what age from, but a 16 year old definitely. They were-were going to have a
Miss Ward Green. We’d never had anything like this before.
KH: Yeah.
HS: So you went to this dance in Ward Green School, that’s still
there. And eh walked round and they made everybody
get up that were of of the correct age, and you walked
you walked round, and eh they were picking a Miss Ward Green. Eh now one by one
you were told to sit down, while unfortunately I were
in second lot that were told to sit down like, but the girl who lived next door
to me, who was only eight weeks older than me- younger than me, she were Miss
Ward Green. So I went home from this dance that we’d all been talking about for
weeks and went in and said to me Dad.
“You never guess who’s been picked Miss Ward Green” and Father got hold
of me and said “Congratulations love!” [laugh].
KH: [laugh]
HS: And he thought it were me [laugh] and
he were ever so disappointed.
KH: [laugh] Oh dear!
HS: So, eh I mean I thought it were
extremely funny. But eh because I were thrilled to
bits that my next door neighbour who were me friend, eh she got Miss Ward Green,
Doris Robinson her name was. She looked absolutely beautiful.
KH: Yeah.
HS: Yeah, yeah.
KH: What other things were at the gala?
Do you remember much about the gala?
HS: Yeah because
there-there were a roundabout in the field at Ward Green, where the Community
Centre now is. That’s where they held it. Eh and that there were things like a
small roundabout which we never had before. Because remember, war had only been
finished three years.
KH: Yeah. Yeah.
HS: So
that this were really new and exciting and you know
eh… I remember that and penny, when you put penny down
the slots that sort of thing. We never had anything like that in Worsbrough you know. Eh really, really erm wonderful. And
especially at 16 when you were met- meeting everybody else you know [laugh] you
can imagine.
KH: Yeah. Yeah. Oh
bet it was something quite special that.
HS: Well it
was, remember as I said the war had been on so you hadn’t had anything like
that. So all of a sudden you were blossoming out, to
eh going to these events that you-you found wonderful.
KH: Did… ‘cos Worsbrough
village is quite separate from… rest… did you ever go up to Worsbrough
village?
HS: Yeah. My Grandparents, me Mother’s parents were buried at Worsbrough
Cemetery. So on
fine Sundays, only fine Sundays, father would put his trowel in the...remember
men wore suits on a Sunday then. You-you always had your suit on on a Sunday but he’d eh a trowel wrapped up in-in a cloth,
in his suit pocket, and we walked up to Worsbrough…
KH: Yeah…
HS: …eh
to see to grandma and grandad’s grave.
[00:30:00]
KH: Yeah.
HS: If
the weather was at all good you went. We called at the Edmonds and had a
drink. And there’s a stiller form
outside the Edmonds. I was told to sit on the form and
he brought me a drink of orange out, which we didn’t have things like that at
home, me mother didn’t buy things like pop and … so
that to me that were a great treat. So that I went then… the church was always
open. So when we’d been to the cemetery; on the way
back we called in at the church. And I’ve gone to this church now for over 20
years. Regularly I go to Saint Marys.
KH: Do yer? Yeah. Yeah. It’s a beautiful church, int’it?
HS: Yeah.
Yeah.
KH: Hmm.
[short pause]
HS: Yeah. When eh when I met my husband he’d been a churchgoer, but we weren’t going to
church then. And when we’d been married a little while, he decided he wanted to
go to church. Now Saint Thomas’ would be our parish church, at that time, but I
took him to Saint Marys at Worsbrough and when he was
saying he-he you know we’ll go to church. And this is how I’ve come to go to
church because he’s sat in the church and said if ‘aught happens to me bring me
in’ere [in here]. So I did
[laugh] and I’ve gone to church ever since, Saint Marys.
KH: Do
you remember anything about the Worsbrough Mystery Plays?
HS Oh
yes, yes.
KH: Yeah?
HS: They
were absolutely fantastic. You would have never
thought that amateur people were doing it because they were so very, very
fantastic. It always seemed cold. It used to happen in July
but it always seemed to be cold you-you imagine when it gets to evening and the-the
seats were tiered you know and eh so that many a time you were sat quite high
up, so if there were any wind, you were catching the wind. But even then it were fantastic.
KH: Where
were they held? Where did they do it?
HS: In-in the … a piece of land to the
low side of the church, I don’t know what it was called. I can’t exactly, I
can’t exactly remember where it took place, very near to the church.
KH: Yeah.
HS: And
they had seats that where all tiered and eh a lot of seats. They came from all
over the place to eh… it were a very, very busy time.
You never saw any sp- any spare seats. It were always full.
KH: Could
anybody take part or were it a cert- just people from…?
HS: Oh anybody eh
could take part, they were training them for…I think they were held every three
years. There were…
KH: I
think it was something like that wasn’t it?
HS: Hmm.
It was certainly wasn’t a yearly because it took so
much preparation. And remember they were all amateurs that were making the the clothes you know eh...
the clothes were absolutely beautiful, but made
by ladies that went to the church and all that sort of thing hmm. Yeah it were a great, a-a great thing and-and you learnt a
lot about religion through it. You know, you were wondering why they were doing
that, that it made you look it up as to, as to what had happened…
KH: Yeah.
HS: That’s how it affected me anyway I-I
didn’t know quite a lot, it learnt me a lot.
KH: Yeah. Hmm. Is it I- it’s interesting
you know trying to remember things in’it you know
such as the eh getting people to remember Mystery Plays, I had forgotten to ask
other people, but erm…
HS: Oh it- even… y-you could go. It
might be a night that “Oh god, it’s going to be cold tonight” but you still
took your rugs, anything that you got [background noise of door] that you
could. You know you see people arriving with rugs over their arms and you
didn’t want them at first, but bye gum you needed them by and by the time it
had finished you didn’t care it was just, it was just wonderful. Hmm, it was.
KH: Yeah.
Is there anything else particularly you chat at…?
HS: I’m just thinking, I can’t think of
anything…
KH: Did you do bonfire nights and things
like…pea and pie suppers and all that…?
HS: Oh yeah. Eh
did bon- me-me sister had a very, very large garden. Now I’m referring to, remember there were nothing when I were a child because because of the war you see, but now I’m referring to when
my children, I had two children and eh bon-bonfire nights we went up to me sister’s
at Ward Green…
[00:36:07]
KH: Yeah.
HS: …who
lived in a council house with a very long garden and she
did the bonfire.
KH: Right.
HS: Eh now I wer-
I were a person that baked and things in so I took the
toffee and the you know lots of the food and eh you know Mary saw to the
potatoes and, and all the neighbours came [drilling sound in background started
from 00:35:29 to 00:36:12], and it were really good you know very well
organised. You know all the men did the lighting of the Catherine wheels and
things like that. Eh but eh you know we, we had bonfires, but I am referring to
when my children…
KH: When
yours were young….
HS: Not
remember not-not when eh…I’m, I’m talking… you saying do I remember anything? I
remember war finishing.
KH: Do
you?
HS: When
eh when I were 13, so I were old enough. And and when
war finished, they had a big, a big big
bonfire at the top of Cromwell Mount where anybody who knows the area there’s
quite a lot of… the road, the road is on a corner like that sort of, there’s
quite a lot of road. You know it’s not just any ordinary road. They lit the
bonfire there and eh this is when the war had finished and oh, it were a great occasion you know eh… I can remember it ever so
well. Everybody were happy, the war was over and…
KH: Do
you remember the actual announcement you know somebody telling you that the War
was over or?
HS: No.
Do you know, I can’t remember that. I can remember the announcement when the war
started.
KH: Really?
HS: Yeah. Eh th-this
was on a Sunday, I particularly remember that and this, this girl Doris that
ended up as Ward Green eh queen eh there were the two of us at the gate and me dad came in through the gate and I knew that there was
something wrong. It-it-it you know didn’t speak to us and… he went in, so I
went in hous- there’s something wrong here so I went
in I’ll be seven you see. And eh he told me that the war had started and eh you
know, I-I thought it was quite exciting! [laugh]
KH: Yeah, yeah. At that age, you not
understood…
HS: No
idea what it meant you know eh but I-I can remember
him all being sad and him and me mother talking and “Oh dear” and you know
“I’ve expected it” and all this sort of thing yeah. But I-I can’t remember the annoyin- the announcement when it had finished because we
expected it for a, a little while. You know it weren’t... you, you expected
that it was going to happen you know.
KH: Yeah. Yeah. Do you remember soldiers
coming home, men coming home?
HS: Y-Yes, I do. But not a specific
thing. Remember my dad didn’t go war because I tell you he hadn’t good health
and eh, well he’d be too old in any case. Eh [short pause] so really and truly
that didn’t worry me too much about... sounds selfish but…
KH: But that’s…a child…
HS: … but that’s, that’s how you’re as a
child int’it you know eh... I were
one of the lucky ones that father were there.
KH: Yeah. Yeah.
HS: Hmm. So…
KH: Right, well thank you very much.
That’s lovely.
HS: I don’t think there’s anything that
of interest to eh…
KH: That’s it. Oops, wait a minute.
That’s it, switch that off now.
HS: I suppose you know when, when you
think about it, on there’ll be two of us most…
[00:39:04]
(End of interview)