Linda’s Butterfly Memories of the 1950s

LINDA’S BUTTERFLY MEMORIES OF THE 1950’S
Linda’s McCarthy is a new contributor
Up until we moved to Victoria Avenue, opposite the old tram/bus depot at Torre Road, in 1958/9, I lived in Walford Avenue just opposite Victoria School. Compared to that address, the place I live now is a palace – with three bathrooms and four toilets – all indoors. However as kids my brother and I were well fed – with best butter on the table – we were always clean and tidy and most importantly always loved.
The first time I was smacked or struck by an adult was when I went to school at Vicky as it was known. When I started in the infants at 5 ½ years old, I was considered uppity and a bit of a show off, by kids and teachers, because I could read and write before I went to school. My dad – a tram/bus driver – had taught me and he always took me to York Road library twice a week – come hail or shine. Dad was great pals with Mr. Glover, the librarian with a quiet voice and sandy hair, who always reserved the latest books for Dad. I think they must have known each other from the war because those were the sort of books they both enjoyed. When they chatted I went and looked at the books displayed on the spinning table which stood, polished to a glassy sheen in the middle of the floor. If you spun it too fast all the books fell over and I’d get a ‘look’ from dad and Mr. Glover. I delighted in spending time with my dad in reading, going on long walks, especially to Temple Newsam, naming birds, other wildlife and plants. The only time we didn’t share was when there was a test match on the radio. Then you interrupted him then at your peril ‘’ Not now Linda!’’ was enough to keep me quiet.
One of my favourite jaunts was to East End Park. We would have a wander around to see the trains filling up with coal at the bottom of the park and then a visit to the playground which had a paddling pool. Mum would never allow us (my younger brother and I) to go in as she said the bottom was covered in glass and other nasty stuff. Maybe – but dad let us paddle and he’d wipe our feet with his hanky with the warning ‘Don’t tell your mum and we’ll get an ice cream tomorrow’. We never squealed and dad always kept his promise.
On Sundays Mr Carrazzi would come round the streets with his horse drawn ice cream cart. The best treat was to get ice cream in a glass and then fill it up with Tizer when we got back home. Who cared if the ice cream was a bit crunchy in parts? We thought we were in heaven. Then it was a slice of Yorkshire pudding with gravy, jam or marmalade. That filled you up really well before the meat and two veg came along. That joint of lamb used to last until Tuesday to feed four at tea time– cold meat and chips on Monday, shepherd’s pie on Tuesday plus sandwiches with piccalilli for dad’s lunch .
You always knew what day it was by what we had for tea. Wednesdays and Fridays it was fish and chips from the shop in Ivy Avenue. Extra scraps if you were polite and remembered to say please and thank you. Then egg and chips on Thursdays and usually a stew of some kind on Saturdays, with dumplings if mum had time.
On Mondays during the summer holidays we’d go with mum to the wash house behind the library. My brother and I would swim in the indoor pool with the horrendous wooden floor racks – no wonder we were always getting verrucas – until our skin started to pucker on fingers and toes. Meanwhile mum would have washed clothes, sheets and bedding, dried them on the pull out driers and then folded the warm, sweet smelling laundry into our old pram to wheel it up the hill and home. On top of everything else, mum did home sewing for a local tailor. She kept the bundles of coats on top of the bath in the kitchen! A man called Tommy would come twice a week to collect completed men’s coats and deliver a fresh batch. Because I was good at writing it was my job to enter the coat numbers in mum’s record book and I also got to pull out bastings if she was pushed for time.
Friday nights were a family night out – always to the pictures. We usually went to the Star on York Road, sometimes the Shaftesbury, the Regent or may be the Princess. I adored the cinema and until I was about 10 years old believed that the film stars lived at the pictures. Dad loved the ‘road’ movies with Bob Hope and dad’s idol, Bing Crosby. I do remember being taken to the Star with a ‘big girl’ called Jean. We went to see ‘Francis the talking mule’. I was terrified of this weird creature that could talk. Apparently I screamed my head off and had to be taken home. Jean never took me to the pictures again – but did lend me her long black taffeta shirt to wear as a cloak when I played the Lord Mayor in ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’ at Victoria.
As a special treat my dad sometimes took me into town to the news cinema next door to the Queen’s Hotel in City Square. We howled at Woody Woodpecker, Tom and Jerry and Mickey Mouse along with a news programme and usually a travelogue and a tube of Spangles as a treat.
On Sunday mornings I sometimes woke up around 6 a.m. to the lowing of cattle being driven, on foot – or should that be hooves – down York Road to the abattoir, which was behind the bus station. To a city kid it was like an invasion from the countryside. But one of the most magical memories was waiting up, with the house lights turned off, just before Christmas, to see the illuminated tram go down York Road. To a small child it was like looking at wonderland. Whatever happened to that custom I wonder?
The next time I felt such delight was watching the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in black and white on next door’s tele – it must have measured 12’’ x 8’’. There must have been 20 or more neighbours crammed in with spaces on the floor at the front for the kids. Amazing.
I’m sure my short trip down memory lane will be familiar to many – I hope it gave pleasure – I really enjoyed the mental jumping about in my memory bank!

MY TOP TEN PLACES IN OLD EAST LEEDS (PART ONE)

I’m going to list my top ten places in OLD East Leeds – (in no particular order). As this is quite a lump of material I propose to do five this month and five next month. The five for this month are: 1.the Cinemas, 2.the Pubs and Clubs, 3. The Market District Bous Club, 4.The East Leeds Cricket Club, 5.The Football pitches. Remember to ‘click’ on pictures to enlartge.

No One: The Cinemas. Or ‘the flicks as we called them. The Easy Road, The Princess and The Star were the favourites for we who lived in our area of Gross Green, Richmond Hill and East End Park. With: The Regent and The Shaftsbury on the periphery. We were spoilt for choice, the evening papers would advertise two full sheets of alternative cinemas and the films they were showing in other parts of Leeds should we wish to go further afield. Each cinema would show one film Mon Tue Wed and change the show Thurs. Fri and Sat. Sunday openings did no come along until well into the 1950s. Everyone went to the cinema at least once a week they were ‘The theatre of Dreams’ during the austerity of wartime

I’ll just pick out a couple of films which I recall from that period which was surprisingly: Abbott and Costello Meet the Ghosts. You would think that would be a comedy with those two in it and it probably was to adults  but to we juveniles it scared us to death we were introduced to Dracula, Frankenstein and Wolf man. Usually the ‘baddie’ turned out to be a real person in disguise but these three were the real thing the class at school the next day was buzzing with everyone who had been to see the film. Another landmark film was: The Wizard of Oz. We were used to seeing films in black and white and The Wizard of Oz started off in black and white but part way through it turned into Technicolour which made us gasp.

The owner of the Easy Road (The Picture House Easy Road was its real name) was the genial roly poly Abe White and his sisters ran the pay box. You were not supposed to see ‘A’ certificate films if you were under 16. But you could always say, ‘Will ya tek us in missus?’ to some adult and they would usually oblige to pose as your guardian until you got passed the pay box. I recall the screen was just white material held up by scaffolding but the ‘Talkie’ was claimed to be the best in Leeds. The show would usually consist of: The News a cartoon, a short cowboy film or sometimes a serial which wold leave you on a cliff edge so you would want to come next week. Then it moved on onto the feature film. The flicks were our staple diet we never missed. If it had been a cowboy film you would tie your coat round the back like a cloak and run down Easy Road slapping your backside as if it were a horse and shooting  folk with you finger like a gun.

The Easy Road Cinema had wooden forms at the front: ‘the five pennies’ but it had a balcony if you could afford a shilling the ‘Upstairs’ as we would call it. The ‘Princess’ our other favourite didn’t have a balcony but it didn’t have wooden seats either. Who can forget Big Ernie the commissionaire in his green uniform controlling the crowds and shouting out the miscreants?

The Star a more modern and larger cinema located on York Road came into its own later when Sunday showings were allowed and was a good venue for ‘boy meets girl’. All in all our lives would have been far poorer without ‘the flicks’

 The Star Cinema

No Two: The Pubs and Clubs.  We had some great pubs and clubs in our area, popular for our generation and for our dads ‘The Greatest Generation’ that came before us and enjoyed them through the war years and before that.

I’ll name them all for a start and then pick out a few of my favourites.

The Hope Inn, The Accommodation Inn, The Prospect, The Hampton The Spring Close, The Yew Tree, The Hampton, The Fisherman’s Hut, The Black Dog, The Cross Green, The Bridgefield, The Waterloo, The White Horse. The Shepherd, The Slip Inn (New Regent), The Cavalier. And the Clubs: The Liberal Club, The Labour Club, The Conservative Club East End Park Working Men’s Club,

The Edmund House.  As you can see we were well served in the forties and fifties but tastes have changed today. A few of the clubs are still with us but only The Hope Inn pub which is way up on York Road remains and was my least favourite anyway.

I have been in ‘em all but I think the first local pub I entered was the Spring Close. I was way too young to drink but if you were a big lad nobody looked for proof of age. I remember there was a piano in ‘The Spring’ and a glass case on top of it with a piece of decaying parkin in it and a note saying this had been sent by a mam to her son serving in the First World War but unfortunately he had been killed before it arrived, a sombre start to my drinking career. The Prospect with its singing room that expanded over the years to suite the many great turns that graced it’s stage: Ronnie Dukes and Ricky Lee used to nearly blow the roof off you could hear them in Dial Street, The White Horse was another popular venue they had a talent night on Wednesdays which always packed it out. The Hampton was possibly my favourite it had previously had the legendary Dolly Dawson and Mine Host and in my time I played football there and one year we won the Sunday League Cup. We would get bathed in a tin bath provided for us in the cellar and then drink in the pub after the match. Another favourite was The Cavalier an Irish pub near to Mount St Mary’s Church and on Saturday night we would be regaled with Irish songs some were rebel songs but nobody seemed to mind. The Slip was probably the most popular pub in the area, it was waiter service in the singing room but you had to fall in with the doors to get a seat. And we shouldn’t forget the clubs Great nights could be had in the clubs if you could get signed in. The East End Park Club still offers a good night and The Edmund House Club on Pontefract Lane used to hold our East Leeds Old Codgers Reunions until The pandemic put paid to them

 No three: The Market District Boy’s Club

You might not think The Market District Boy’s Club was really in East Leeds but it was, just about, it is in the Leeds 9 postal code and more importantly it was the magnet that drew we East Leeds Lads and it wasn’t just a boy’s club either girls had their own night and we had shared nights where we mingled for dancing. The club played such an important part in our young lives and many of life’s partnerships were forged there. I feel it has to be included

In the case of the boys the great football and rugby teams they ran at all age groups were the initial draw but the club turned out to be much more than that, the week revolved around the club. Monday was girl’s night, Tuesday and Thursday were football training, Wednesday was for rugby training and boxing,  Friday and Sunday we all came together for dancing in the basement we had done out ourselves like a disco. In the midst of the Sunday dancing we would break off for half an hour in the on-site chapel taken by a curate of the Leeds Parish Church who were benefactors of the club this half hour intermission from our frivolity was accepted in good grace for the chapel was a powerhouse of many years standing of old members many of who had attended the chapel before going off to fight in the two world wars. In addition to the training there was always a café available and games like table tennis and billiards there was always a resident club leader who ran things and arranged trips etc. and many brilliant voluntary helpers

Originally it was designed to keep young folk in a ‘difficult‘ area on the straight and narrow. It was a great success for which I am ever grateful.

No Four: East Leeds Cricket Club

East Leeds Cricket Club makes my top ten due to its longevity. It has always been there throughout my lifetime (and I am over eighty) through thick and thin and it is still there today.

Good old Stan pickles an author on this site writes of watching East Leeds winning the Hepworth cup as long ago as 1923 and that of course is now almost a hundred years ago. I played for East Leeds in the 1950s it is located in the ‘Vee’ between the start of Red Road and Black Road and although a relatively small playing area has always been well maintained by generations of aficionados. It always pleasantly surprises me that local and village cricket clubs generally have a progression of retirees willing to cut the grass and generally maintain the area.

I watched cricket there as a young child, they had a wooden fence around it then and you had to pay two pence to an old guy sitting at a table just inside the gate. But I had an ulterior motive I collected train names and numbers and while Mam would not allow me to watch from Neville Hill as being too dangerous I could sit and watch the cricket and see the trains and collect rain names and numbers at the same time from my seat in the East Leeds Cricket Ground. But of course the trees surrounding the ground have grown much higher today and you wouldn’t have been able to see the trains pass and my eyesight was better ha-ha.

When I played in the 1950s we played on some other well maintained Leeds League pitches, I remember: Holbeck, Hunslet, Hunslet Nelson, Horbury Works, Carlton, Claytons, Colton, Leeds Police at Woodhouse, Yorkshire Copper Works, North Leeds at Roundhay. Many companies that had nice cricket grounds found them swept away by new owners when the companies were taken over.

My two mates Eric Allen and Gordon Brown made a few bob far taking it in turn to be the scorer and lugging the great heavy cricket bag between them on the tram to away fixtures for which they would be paid the princely sum of six pence but if they were lucky they might get a sandwich and a cup of tea along with the players for their tea..

Now I pass the ground on my walk some weekends and if there is a match on I can stand a moment and take it in as they have got a wire mesh fencing now so I can see through. Oh and they have moved on to a fancy electronic score board.

    East Leeds CC

No five: The football pitches

I suppose few girls played football in the 1940s 50s and most girls sports netball etc. was played on concrete so the grassed pitches were mainly the province of the boys

Snake Lane, nick named ‘Snakey’ was the school playing field for St Hilda’s and Ellerby Lane. St Hilda’s played their matches in Green jerseys with a red vee and Ellerby Lane in their red and white squares Mount St Mary’s School sometimes played on there in their all green. There were two pitches, we called them: the top pitch and the bottom pitch, (there is only one pitch now but it is superior to the two we had.)

                                     ‘Snakey’ today.

On Saturday afternoons and later Sunday mornings the men’s teams took over the pitches there were two terra cotta dressing rooms as dark as Hades inside with no light or water but there was three grass tennis courts and a prize winning bowling green and of course  the infamous drinking trough with its  attached iron cup that everyone and his dog drank out of but miraculously never poisoned each other  On evenings and Sundays we would have impromptu games of twenty-thirty aside anyone who turned up paired up with the next one who turned up and went one on each side you always got a game. How we loved those games and hated it when it got two dark to play and we had to pack up. I played in those impromptu games from being a school boy to turning up in a car in my thirties. Folk would disappear for two years on national service and then after two years turn up and join on as though they hadn’t been away, we were very competitive especially keeping the score when it got into the twenties someone would say ‘what’s the score,’ and someone would answer say ‘25 – 26 to us’ and there would be a squabble and someone else would say, ‘How can that be we were winning 23-22 a minute ago’. And we would argue when it was time to finish those winning would want to end and those loosening would say no let’s go on a bit more sometimes we would say we’ll finish when the Paddy train gets to the Bridgefield no one ever had a watch and we didn’t have a referee but anyone who was a serial fouler usually met a nasty end. Those games were one of the happiest times of my life we couldn’t wait to get home from work or school get our boots on and out onto Snakey.

East End Park itself was another venue for football pitches, over the years the pitches moved around but in our time there were three pitches which was a bit much for the area available and they had to be very narrow, there was only a couple of Yards between the touchline of one pitch and the touchline of the next and supporters from the two matches sometimes jostled each other. Victoria School played their matches on there and it was said that in pre-war days when mount St Mary’s and Richmond hill School played there it attracted four figure crowds and with no barriers mothers often ran onto the field with umbrellas to extract vengeance on those who had fouled their sons. I once had to referee a match on there when the proper referee did not turn up, as I had no watch or whistle we went by the clock on the engine sheds and I waved a hankie in lieu of a whistle. They too had these twenty side impromptu matches on the park just like us on ‘Snakey’ and often local professional footballers would join in. Who can resist the thud of a football? Their managers would have gone ballistic if they had seen the tackles they were taking, for nobody held back on them.

There were numerous other pitches at Halton Moor, St Bridget’s, Burtons or the Soldier’s and Skelton Road where East End Park Club played in the Yorkshire league and where we held our district sports and Osmondthorpe YMCA ground a lovely enclosed ground where we held our semi-finals but I’ll finish up with the three pitches opposite the Shaftsbury Cinema on York Road for it was there we trained and played football for The Market District Boy’s Club.

 Here is a picture of us getting changed to train there. This must be one of the earliest colour shots taken by a normal individual, note the red tram passing the Shaftsbury Cinema and the little cases we carried our kit in – before sports bags, this picture will have been taken around 1953.

There were three football pitchers on the Shaftsbury but no changing accommodation so we had to change in the club in Marsh Lane and ride up on the tram which was OK riding up to the Shaftsbury when we were clean before the match but after the match when we were muddy it was not very nice for ordinary citizens who were going shopping in town to be jostled about in the tram cars with us lot in our muddy gear, but for us there was a huge warm bath waiting for us back at the club.

Thar’s it for my five favourite spots in OLD East Leeds for this month but look out for five more next month.