Bridgefield Road

[chrisyoung]

As a follow-on from Louie Catterall's Cloverdale thread I thought I would throw my recollections of names and addresses around Bridgefiels Road into the ring in the hope it would stir a few memories.

Getting off the bus (79 c or d depending if you had boarded in the Dale Street or Church Street end of the city) and going down Bridgefield Road:

The first building on the right was Our Lady of the Assumption Church. The earliest parish priest I can recall is Father John Carr. An irish descendant from north Liverpool he was a respected but feared man, even amongst the non-catholics. He lived at the end of the building in the presbetary.

Then came a crossroads, the name of the road going right I cannot remember. There then followed a square park, hedged all around and rich in shrubs. It had paths from all 4 corners meeting in a round rockery in the middle but I do recall the roses looked sadder and sadder with the course of time as the construction was just built for kids to walk on and not around.

The park was about 150m long, then came another junction with a right turn going down to the infants side of Joseph Williams School.

Now the houses:

2. Edwards Parents and 2 daughters, youngerst Barbara, a friend of my sister.
4. Tinman. Bill and ?, 2 daughters, Gail and Adele. They moved to Halewood and I later heard that Gail died very young. It saddened me, she was a lovely girl. I seem to recall they were related to the Steadmans, I think the parents of the actress Alison Steadman who was also raised in the pre-fabs.
6. Todd, Bill & Cathy, sons John & Richard. Bill worked for the Liverpool Past & Echo and they had a telly. I used to loved waiting for him to come home from work and give me the sarnie he didn't eat from his carry-out. They moved to Lee Park and were followed by the Downwards, Bernie and?, 2 sons Ray and Terry. They moved to Speke later.
8. Young (that's us). Mother and 2, my sister Angela and myself Chris. We later moved across the Valley Road to Chislehurst Ave..
10. Eastwood. Widow and son Dougie plus 2 Border Collies.
12. Sorry - maybe later.
14. Wilson. May and Bob(?). Loads of kids but can remember Barry the eldest (went out with Ann Wibley to the envy of all males who knew her) and Brian. They moved to Pennard Avenue on the Bluebell Estate in Huyton.
16. Draycott. Bill and Kitty with sons Kenny and (little) Billy. I think Kitty was one of the main organisers of the street Coronation Party in 1953.
18. Brophy, Leo and Cathy. Michael and sister. Nice family,good friends, don't know where they went.
20. Peterson. Son Norman. We lived in this prefab but we swapped to nr. 8 because my mother was concerned about the safety of my sister and I, given the close proximity of the then unfenced brook.

Back to the top of the road and we go down the left hand side. I am not sure of house numbers here so will add them only where I know them.

2 prefabs, occupants names escape me.
Junction at which a right turn would take you into Whinhurst Road.
Shops. The first was a draper/milliner. I think the name was Hooson or similar. He used to take pics of the kids from the area and when developed place them on a board in the shop for parents to purchase should they wish.
Harry the butcher. It may have been a Dewhurst, I am not sure.
Waterworth the greengrocer.
Gilliies the grocer. I used to love watching the bacon slicer on the left as you went in. The smell of fresh bacon made you hungry even if you'd not been well. Row upon row of loose biscuits in huge tins, "any brokes please?".
Begley's, the Newsagent. Easter, Firework and Christmas Club. "Give us your pocket maney so we can earn interest on it and you have to spend it all here aswell". They were OK though and I remember Miss Quick, a relation of theirs who worked there. Her job was the paper boys' rounds and showing us the penny tray when time allowed. Ron Begley was a miserable sod but with hindsight I can understand why with us scallys waiting for half a chance to gain pecuniary advantage over him.
The chippy. My earliest memories are of Mrs Wilson but to the delight of the estate it was taken over about 1961 by a family from, I believe, French Indo-China (thats Vietnam in simple terms). They changed the place completely. Chips were fresh, fishcakes crisp.They had these things called "spring rolls" and parents worked overtime to keep the kids quiet with chips form the "new" chippy.
There was then a unit which, obviously having been a shop at some stage, had been turned into a pensioner's abode. The resident is owed my apologies, and those of many more, for the noise and mess we made sitting on her wall consuming wares from the aforementioned source of epicurean delight.
Finally was the Chandler's, appropriately run by Miss Wick. Here we bought our mouse traps, parafin, firelighters, light bulbs and that which the other shops couldnt supply. The strange thing about this shop was that whenever you went in, before or after whomsoever, Miss Quick was always in the back!
There then came 2 more prefabs, in one of which lived, I believe, Linda Dawber and her parents and in the other lived Valda Waggott & family.
Another junction and then came the Taylors. Fred and plus daughters Lily and Maureen. Behind them (roughly) lived Lou Catterall (a contribitor to this thread) with his family.
Next - name unknown but it was one of the first prefabs to go.
Miss McCormack (Miss Mac). A spinster who kept the finest garden I can recall on the whole estate.
Phil and Doris Dwyer. He was a bookie's runner I think and drove a rather smart car from day one. I think they had a phone before AG Bell had patented it. She had the world's biggest collection of Jaeger Bags and would go shopping at C&A, M&S, Owen Owen and then put the stuff in the Jaeger bags before walking down from the Bus Stop to the house. Talk about fur coat and no nickers. For all that they were good people.
Another unknown.
43. Hall, Joe and . Sons John (joined the Navy) and Tony (was a photographer later for Granada).
45. Pritchard. 2 sons, Kenny and (big) Billy.
47. ??
49. Last one. Grant. Bill and ??. Erstwhile manager of Central Station. 2 daughters, Lynda and Janet. Nice people. Bill was a gentleman.

I apologise for drawing it out but confess to being on a nostalgia trip all day thinking about it. I have picked up on a few names in here already and hope there are those who will pick up on a few I have dropped and indeed enlarge on them.

There is more to follow, I have a stack of names from the other roads I want to throw in the ring.

By the way, the name of the cocky-watchman was Billy "Tin-Whistle" Seddon.

[sheila]

we lived in 77 whinhust road. i only have very vague memories, i was very young at the time but i do have memories of the chandler, i can still smell the parafin.

[chrisyoung]

Shiela,

You had to pass the Chippy to get to the Chandler from Whinhurst. I know which memorable smell permeating from a retail outlet sticks most firmly in my mind.

Chances are I may know you and your family. Please give me a clue in a PM if you don't wish to reveal the family name in the open.

Thanks.

[donmaddox]

I believe the name of the lady who had the chandlers was a Mrs Quayle and the sweetshop was run by a Mrs Jones before Mrs Begley came on the scene and she lived somewhere up the valley hill

[chrisyoung]

I don't recall a Mrs Jones Don, but I do recall the Begleys living on the left going up Childwall Valley Hill. I remember during the Begley era there was also Miss May Quick who used to mark up the Echos for the paper lads, whilst not doing normal counter duties. I have only pleasant memories of them all, that is except Ron Begley who I suspect would go into the storeroom to smile so that nobody would see him.
Your name rings a bell but nothing more. I also seem to recall a Dorothy Maddocks, not sure where from though.

[donmaddox]

Hi Chris yes Dorothy is my sister and funny enough we now both have 4 grandchildren each
Please note our name ends with an ox not ocks
Don

[chrisyoung]

My abject apologies for the mis-spelling Don.

Strange that I remembered Dorothy's name but I can't place your's. Something is nagging at me that you were also perhaps in the 7th Childwall Cubs/Scouts??

[donmaddox]

yes I did indeed go to 7Th Childwall scouts in fact I remained a member of scouts when I moved out to Winsford in Cheshire and ended up being in charge of a local scout group for many years.
That's all for now cheers Don

[chrisyoung]

You may remember Tony Hall who was also a member of Tom Brown's 7th Childwall. I made contact with him when I returned to UK in 2009 but have lost him again now that he has retired from the Echo. I also seen to recall a ronald East attending with us. Was Val the Akela? I remember going up to her house on a Saturday morning with a couple of others to do the Housekeeping and Cooking badge.

[donmaddox]

yes her name was indeed Val Evans and she was actually assistant cub leader the akala was away at Loughborough college