KEITH PICKLES 2015
I was brought up on Parkwood Street in the 1950s and early 1960s. My parents ran a shop at the top of Thorn Street. My friends and I used to play in and around the woods. We used to sledge down from the top of the woods (where houses are now but which were just farmer’s fields then). We came down the cobbled path, across the muck road(Kendal St) and quite often down Dundas St or one of those streets, across Parkwood St (in the days before traffic) and down the street opposite (no longer there), before coming to rest. It was a long walk back up.
In those days there were no trees below the quarry; the wood stopped at almost the top of the quarry. We were able to sledge down the hill at the side of the quarry and come to rest in the play area where the swings are now.
We went ‘progging’ in the wood. Something no doubt frowned upon now, but which gave us large bonfires.
As I got older I played cricket at Long lee Cricket Club and we cricketers from Parkwood St used to walk up through the woods on the cobbled path to play cricket and then walk back down again. I remember the workers from Dean, Smith & Grace and other firms using the footpath to walk to and from work daily.
I always seem to remember the woods as being very open. There was always room to play our games there.
My mother lived at Parkwood Top Farm when she was young. She used to walk down the side of the wood where the flat are now on her way to work. There were pens down there where they kept hens, pigs, ducks, etc.
I remember some of my friends I their early teens camping in the woods in summer (never my idea of a bit of fun).
I don’t know if there are any old photos of the wood left in my mothers photo box, but I will have a look.
In those days there were no trees below the quarry; the wood stopped at almost the top of the quarry. We were able to sledge down the hill at the side of the quarry and come to rest in the play area where the swings are now.
We went ‘progging’ in the wood. Something no doubt frowned upon now, but which gave us large bonfires.
As I got older I played cricket at Long lee Cricket Club and we cricketers from Parkwood St used to walk up through the woods on the cobbled path to play cricket and then walk back down again. I remember the workers from Dean, Smith & Grace and other firms using the footpath to walk to and from work daily.
I always seem to remember the woods as being very open. There was always room to play our games there.
My mother lived at Parkwood Top Farm when she was young. She used to walk down the side of the wood where the flat are now on her way to work. There were pens down there where they kept hens, pigs, ducks, etc.
I remember some of my friends I their early teens camping in the woods in summer (never my idea of a bit of fun).
I don’t know if there are any old photos of the wood left in my mothers photo box, but I will have a look.
