A 50`s Boys Spring

Boinggg, springing into spring after the fantastic highs of winter was in itself a great season and it seemed to be the shortest season when you’re a kid.

The soccer season coming to a head and the thoughts of cricket in everyone’s mind.

Almost time to chalk wickets on the various walls and fences we used to use.

In March the clocks were altered, which helped us to get more daylight, which meant more playing out time.

After tea the avenues began to fill again with the noise of kids playing.

Balls were still heard constantly banging on fences and walls, shrieks of goal and offside were heard.

May was marble month, going to school with pockets bulging with glass shinny beads.

The main game was between two players. You could only use one finger, bent and used as a pusher.

The first player rolled his marble on the floor, the second followed.

Then it was war, the name of the game was to hit your opponent’s marble.

The first person to hit the others marble won their marble. 

My dad worked in engineering and used to bring us home “Iron Bombers”, the ball bearings from bearings, they were great for swapping with. 

Easter time brought another couple of week’s holidays from school and an Easter egg, what a treat. 

Sometimes my aunty bought us one too, I remember once getting a small egg sized one in a Kellogs Corn Flake hens egg cup, I had no idea why Kellogs were touting egg cups then but now realise it was because of the Cockrel 

No Easter bunny hunts with baskets for us, we opened them and ate them before someone else did.

Our class was once taken on a “Nature Walk”, it was down towards the railway station to Isherwood`s farm to see the new spring lambs.

We had all seen sheep before but the way those guys bounced was amazing, I think we all bounced back to school after that, well, its what kids do.

Whilst soccer never actually ever left us, we’d always kick a ball about, cricket and rounders edged in with challenges from the other avenues for a game.

On reflection our parents must have dreaded the cricket season, with more broken windows than normal.

Most children’s parents were always home, few had cars, we did, it was a gangster style Citroen my dad bought from “Hattons Garge” in Burnley, it had massive running boards on each side and was the only colour available then, black.

It was so big it would not go in the garage we rented just off Dradishaw, one of which I rented some 40 odd years later for my classic car.

When it was time for a new car, a Ford Consul, my dad sold it to Tom Wrigglesworth, a larger than life character with a huge passion for shire horses, hell, they were big animals.

The weekly shop came via the local co-op in a cardboard box.

Fresh goods, or anything we ran out of, were from the Co-op at the end of the estate and if you gave your dividend number you could have a share of the profits at year end, ours was 115

We were the first to have a television and first to have a phone on our estate. Mum charged neighbours to use it and we often had to run to them with phone messages.

Spring was also the time I could earn a few pence as the gardens began to grow.

Clearing the previous years annual plants, cutting the hedges and the first cut with the Qualcast push mower.

Trees filling with leaves, birds singing, a year older, ahhh its back to summer.