Celebrating Seacroft!
Audrey Ward
I came to Seacroft when I was a small child. The house belonged to my grandparents and I lived with them because my mother died when I was very young so dad and I came and lived here with grandma and grandpa which worked out very well. Of course dad had to go out to work and I always wanted him to get married again, as I was dying for a stepmother, but he wasn’t interested in anybody else.
I went to the village school, Seacroft little church village school, and I’ll show you the thing I’ve written about the school and what we did at the school but during the war it had to close because it was quite unfit to live in so we all used to go to Manston School and then it re-opened so we all came back again. But by that time I went to Roundhay High School, which was a bit unheard of round here so it took a bit of getting used to. People used call me snobbish but I wasn’t really.
To get to Roundhay High School, comparing how children get to school these days, we used to have to walk into Crossgates and then get the bus to Roundhay and I had friends that lived in Scholes and Barwick and they used to come to Seacroft and then we used to walk to Crossgates to get the bus. We never thought anything of it. I was quite happy there. I went there until I was 16 and did school certificate and all the things you had to do. I wasn’t particularly brilliant. I can remember once being Form Captain. In fact I’ve got the report now which I thought was a bit unkind of the teacher: ‘Audrey has been a good Form Captain in some respects but her habit of grimacing has sometimes taken away the dignity of expression expected by one set to be a leader and example to the rest of the form.’ I think that was a bit unkind because she never said anything to me to give me chance to stop grimacing. I wasn’t aware I was pulling faces. I still do it I suppose. I thought it was a bit hard. I thought what’s my father going to say? He just laughed. He was a gentleman.
Then grandma and grandpa died and I started going out with Gordon and dad said that we could live here if I house-kept for him sort of thing. I can’t really say that we bought the house. I sometimes think in retrospect it’s maybe a mistake to live in the same house for so long. I think perhaps you ought to move.
I was here when it was the Coronation and we danced round the maypole on the green. There was one occasion, it must have been the Diamond Jubilee when Queen Mary and King George were going to Harewood House and they came through Seacroft and I’m sure it was an open carriage. We were going to dance round the maypole and of course me being the clumsy thing I am, I fell in the morning and mucked all my dress up so I had to have shorts on and be a boy.
Obviously Darcy Wilson who was the Lord of the Manor, he had the one son who is buried in Seacroft at the crypt in the church. I became very involved in Seacroft Church. I worked at Schofields in 1945. In those days you had to have your School Certificate to get to work at Schofields. I absolutely loved it and I got on quite well actually. Then I left to get married and have children and then I went back part-time in my 40s and stayed there until my 60s when I retired, when it became House of Fraser. I was there when Mr Schofield was there. He was typically Yorkshire. The customer was always right. I hadn’t been there very long and this lady came and she ordered a reel of cotton and said could she have it delivered. I think my bottom jaw was open and she reported me to Mr Schofield because she lived at Headingley which was
the place in those days. He came and said, ‘Aye lass don’t worry about it. Just go along with what they say.’ He was a sweetie. It was an exceptional place Schofields. When you go into a shop now they don’t know the first thing about personal contact. It sounds a bit unkind but they’re that busy pressing the buttons that there’s no personal contact. I was on the haberdashery. I used to measure the things. It was lovely. I went to work on the bus and the fare was 2d old money. There were trams but they ran to Crossgates. You know where Chiltern Mills is, that was the Regal Cinema and I went there with my grandma the very first night it opened which was November 16th 1937 and it was a George Formby film. It was a marvellous picture house. That’s where the number 18 tram finished.
I think I could name about six of us in Seacroft that I went to school with. Mr Noble’s a little bit older than me and I can’t remember him when I was younger. He remembers things that I don’t. if you read that little thing that I’ve written. Its more or less about my relationship with St james’s church. Eventually at church I became a Eucharistic Minister. Well, that was the icing on the cake. Then I thought I’d do some voluntary work and I started as a chaplaincy visitor, I trained and I passed and got Seacroft and when they told me what ward I’d got I nearly died. I got the infectious diseases ward. It wasn’t as bad as it seemed. There was a lot of cystic fibrosis. All the patients were in separate rooms and you went in and explained who you were.
It wasn’t just about religion. I learnt about how to do the garden. I remember the very first gentleman I went to see. ‘Now lass what you selling then ? ‘ I got quite friendly with him. He wanted to take a little bit further. He asked to take me out but I said I didn’t think it was a good idea and the chaplain didn’t think it was a good idea. But then it closed well actually moved to St james’s and its so peaceful and restful and then I went there as a voluntary worker until I got a little bit hard of hearing. I really loved working at the Robert Ogden. Now this gentleman, Robert Ogden and his wife had cancer and he set up this centre. He was a millionaire and he set up this centre.
My eldest boy was born in St James’s. it has changed a lot, when grandma and grandpa first came to live here in 1933 they lived down East End park, Kitson street. He wasn’t anything grandpa just worked on the railway and took the challenge and got a mortgage. He was only a foreman on the railway.
I think the village hall was built a bit before 1939, I’m not of my facts there. Then there’s the king George’s garden at the side of it. Its locked up which is a shame. When I was young it was open, in fact the day my second baby was born in the afternoon I took David and he wwent round and round on his tricycle and I thought ‘ it was a lovely garden but its been wasted’ but they have this l;ast few years started doing it on Remembrance Sunday, you know a bit of service. St James’s is not as you think really but I left after all these years- a few years ago. I’m the oldest one there- I don’t mean in years I mean in attendance. So I thought ‘Right I’ll give Methodist a try’. The Methodist church is older than St James’s and evidently John Wesley came to Seacroft. There’s not many of them but they’re so caring and they’ve just accepted me. They’ve even started asking me to do readings on a Sunday. Isn’t that fantastic?
My little boys used to play out and we didn’t used to have to lock the doors. My boys never once crossed that road. It was much busier in those days because there was no ring road and then it was the main road to get to the coast. On a Sunday it was choc-a-bloc, we used to have a job getting the car in and grandpa used to stand at the gate watching the traffic going up and down.
When I went back to work at Schofields part-time I got friendly with this lady and we’re still friends. One of her sons was in the police and the first time I asked her to come see me the son said ‘Oh mother youre not associating with someone who live at Seacroft are you?’ His interpretation was a certain part of Seacroft that had become very, very rough and he thought all Seacroft was like that.
Seacroft Hall
I never saw the hall but I did see the old vicarage. I was very friendly with the Carters. I still associate with one of the daughters who lives in America. They were quite a big family. She came back to Seacroft and she said, ‘ What have they done to this church!’ maybe ive moved a little more in the times. I can see why. They got rid of the pulpit and the eagle, though I don’t know what happened to it. Then, we had the back of the church extended because we wanted toilets and a kitchen. The school closed in 1950 but it was used by the youth organisations and the first girl guides were formed. I was with them. Mr Carter left in 1952. He prepared me for confirmation then he married me. Then there’s Cyril Adams, hes actually buried just outside the church door. He worked too hard, killed himself. He was the church army, a confirmed bachelor until susan changed all that. Their wedding day was such a happy occasion at St James’s followed by a reception at St Paul’s given by the St Paul’s ladies.
Norman became rector and David our new vicar, there was no more congregational participation and then in 1973 came our winter of discontent or discomfort, the restoration fund was launched. Then David Grice became rector and his wife Cynthia and his two daughters. His dream was to install a kitchen, toilets and community room, so the community area was eventually opened in 1983 by Jane Young, and what an asset it has proved to be especially the toilets. 1994, was Tony Bundock. We suffered the loss of some old stalwarts – Jean Myers, Frank Myers, my Gordon – but God sent Adam so we thank God for the fellowship of St James’s. The Church of England as a whole has changed. You sometimes wonder ‘Do we need all these rules and regulations?’ They have a ladies’ group at the Methodist on a Tuesday. I really love that. I’ve really made some nice friends there who are all in the same boat (I’ve got a plastic knee and a plastic hip) and they don’t go on about their illnesses and there’s three of them in their 90s. We always have a decent speaker. Yesterday, we had a lady talking to us about the Jewish faith and we were allowed to ask questions. We were a bit early so we were just chatting amongst ourselves and I just happened to say ‘When you’re cremated what happens to your artificial hips?’ And someone said, they use them again, they take them out and recycle them. I’d never thought about that, but it’s an obvious question isn’t it?
The church is condemned. South Seacroft Good Neighbours work from there. The church itself is leased out at the weekend. Going back to the way the Methodist works. We have one part-time. There was one David Laycock, I could talk to him and I miss that. I had the confidence of most of the clergy. It was very special. I was the first lady to give communion and it was a real honour. That piece of paper I gave you about the church tells you when it was built and it’s not as old as you think. At one time Seacroft was part of the parish of Whitkirk. The stone had been laid by John Wilson who was the Lord of the Manor in 1844. John Wilson’s family gave a thousand. They’re a little bit before my time. The council took the house over and it was knocked down. The vicarage where Mr Carter lived was knocked down and that was lovely. John Gilligan does a lot of writing. Have you been and looked at the church properly? I’d love to do it with you some time.
I’ve had a successful life in Seacroft. I go on little trips from the Good Neighbours. Linda’s in charge, Linda Goodhall. The fact that there is a Good Neighbours group is very important. They have lunches twice a week. They had a keep fit class, that’s where I first fell. But the gentleman who takes it just has you in stitches. We play this game at the end, you have something in your hand and he tells a story, he’s written these stories himself, the most gruesome stories and when he says left you got to pass it to the right – well you can imagine the confusion. If I can pluck up courage I’ll go back again soon.
There’s another Good Neighbours situated on Kentmere Avenue near St Richard’s Church. They go on holiday, they do shopping trips to Wetherby. A few weeks ago we had a trip to Ripon on market day. They have a special coach which opens up at the side. They have those little pusher things and they’re marvellous, much better than sticks. I walk marvellous with a shopping trolley. When I go to Tesco my friends lose me. If it wasn’t for your white hair we’d never find you. You sit on the bus and look at all these heads like cauliflower.
I go to the hairdresser round the corner, Havs. Originally Havs was a doctor’s surgery. That was the only land that was available and years back it was a dentist. Yes, the dentist was there and Gibbons hairdressers. I went to her as well. They moved to Scarborough.
That’s the old blacksmith’s, just near the post box. It consists of lots of yards and that was what they called Taylor’s Yard, where there was the butchers and one thing and another. And this man, Tom Gibbon, was quite a character. I think he was a relation of my husband’s. He was the village undertaker and the village joiner and everything else. He cut his thumb off with a circular saw and he just stuck it back on again. We used to play in the coffins in the yard when we were kids.
How did you feel when the estate came?
Well the first houses that were built were built by the Tarrants. We always called the kids the Tarrant kids. We were a bit standoffish about it but you just accept it eventually. I think we felt worse when they started this other thing – the original plan was that every house in Seacroft was coming down including these private ones here but they found they didn’t have the money to do it. But they pulled down the yards and everything. The idea was to keep it to look like a village like there’s one at Chapel Allerton but it wasn’t right because they used the wrong type of brick. It’s horrible. When we knew they were going to build this one here we were gobsmacked. They compromised. We couldn’t have had nicer neighbours. We were cross that they were sticking a house in between the two. This house was built in 1933. The rest were all little cottages. There’s still some of the original ones on the Village Green.
Jean Lindley, she never married, she’s an old Seacrofter and she’s very, very intellectual and during the war she was in the intelligence service in Milton Keynes. She got a little medal and she showed it to me. We were seeing the same consultant and we got talking. I’ll put some feelers out. She feels like me when she had to go into hospital, when you’re over 80 and you’re on your own they bring this social worker to look after you. It would be better if they had some sort of pastoral workers coming round that you could talk to. We’ve done it all before.
My husband came from Crossgates. He lived down old Manston Lane. How I met him was we had a youth club at Seacroft and we were putting this pantomime on and it wasn’t going very well and somebody brought Gordon and he just took over. He did this monologue, Albert and the Lion, and as it happened I knew it because my uncle used to do it and I must have been mouthing it. Well, he thought I was a stuck up snob and I thought he was a country gorby. He just took over sort of thing. I’ll never forget once he said – there was a crowd of us and we decided we wanted to go to Butlins that summer and we said that even if we weren’t friendly we’d be friendly for that week. And then we got married after about two and half years. I remember he said, ‘I’ll make a bargain with you. I’ll teach you to play table tennis if you teach me how to speak properly.’ I said, ‘Well neither of us succeeded.’ We had a Women’s Guild in Seacroft that started up in Parklands High School. We were 38 and we decided to give it a whirl and I ended up as secretary and I had to do minutes. The only minutes I knew were on a clock and I came home and said to Gordon, ‘I’ve got to do minutes, what are minutes?’
Life would have been different if I’d had my mum. My mum was from East Leeds. She was a Catholic but she didn’t bother about it, and her family gave dad a hard time especially when they didn’t bring me up as a Catholic. We were married in 1951 and it will be our Diamond wedding this year. I have another friend and they were married the fortnight before us and she’s a widow so we we’re going to go out for a meal, and to buy a new outfit. At Ripon Cathedral they used to do a celebration for Golden Wedding so I wrote and asked if it was alright for me and my friend to go and they said it was. I’ve always been pally with the vicars and I told Tony and he said, ‘I hope they don’t think you’re a couple…’ It was a lovely service.
Gordon hated trousers. I go to the White Rose occasionally and I like to sit on the benches and watch the people go past and you can count how many are wearing skirts. Martin my youngest son has three children and they live at Churwell. Both my boys were brought up here. They went to Swarcliffe School on Swarcliffe Drive and then they went to Abbey Grange, the first C of E high school. Miss Gawthorpe taught there. Betty Gawthorpe, I was at Roundhay High School with her and she had a younger sister called Mavis who was in the same class as me and she was my age. My boy David, the journalist he’s 57 and the other one is 53. You had to be a church family and you had to get a referral from the local vicar. Both my boys were in the choir so there was no problem. They got the number 9 bus on the ring road.
What was the village school like?
You didn’t have many classes like they do these days. The headmaster was a Mr Chadwick. He was very strict. There was one teacher called Mrs A and she was a darling. You used to stay with that teacher for everything. I think there were only about three teachers. I can remember Mr Chadwick throwing the chalk and things like that. They lived in the house attached to the school. Mrs Chadwick was the most placid person you could wish Village Green. We daren’t have walked over the green; it was sacrilege, you wouldn’t dare walk on it like they do these days. From church we had Sunday school and once a year we had the outing to Bramham Park. I used to be in the egg and spoon race and we thought it was lovely.
I came to Seacroft when I was a small child. The house belonged to my grandparents and I lived with them because my mother died when I was very young so dad and I came and lived here with grandma and grandpa which worked out very well. Of course dad had to go out to work and I always wanted him to get married again, as I was dying for a stepmother, but he wasn’t interested in anybody else.
I went to the village school, Seacroft little church village school, and I’ll show you the thing I’ve written about the school and what we did at the school but during the war it had to close because it was quite unfit to live in so we all used to go to Manston School and then it re-opened so we all came back again. But by that time I went to Roundhay High School, which was a bit unheard of round here so it took a bit of getting used to. People used call me snobbish but I wasn’t really.
To get to Roundhay High School, comparing how children get to school these days, we used to have to walk into Crossgates and then get the bus to Roundhay and I had friends that lived in Scholes and Barwick and they used to come to Seacroft and then we used to walk to Crossgates to get the bus. We never thought anything of it. I was quite happy there. I went there until I was 16 and did school certificate and all the things you had to do. I wasn’t particularly brilliant. I can remember once being Form Captain. In fact I’ve got the report now which I thought was a bit unkind of the teacher: ‘Audrey has been a good Form Captain in some respects but her habit of grimacing has sometimes taken away the dignity of expression expected by one set to be a leader and example to the rest of the form.’ I think that was a bit unkind because she never said anything to me to give me chance to stop grimacing. I wasn’t aware I was pulling faces. I still do it I suppose. I thought it was a bit hard. I thought what’s my father going to say? He just laughed. He was a gentleman.
Then grandma and grandpa died and I started going out with Gordon and dad said that we could live here if I house-kept for him sort of thing. I can’t really say that we bought the house. I sometimes think in retrospect it’s maybe a mistake to live in the same house for so long. I think perhaps you ought to move.
I was here when it was the Coronation and we danced round the maypole on the green. There was one occasion, it must have been the Diamond Jubilee when Queen Mary and King George were going to Harewood House and they came through Seacroft and I’m sure it was an open carriage. We were going to dance round the maypole and of course me being the clumsy thing I am, I fell in the morning and mucked all my dress up so I had to have shorts on and be a boy.
Obviously Darcy Wilson who was the Lord of the Manor, he had the one son who is buried in Seacroft at the crypt in the church. I became very involved in Seacroft Church. I worked at Schofields in 1945. In those days you had to have your School Certificate to get to work at Schofields. I absolutely loved it and I got on quite well actually. Then I left to get married and have children and then I went back part-time in my 40s and stayed there until my 60s when I retired, when it became House of Fraser. I was there when Mr Schofield was there. He was typically Yorkshire. The customer was always right. I hadn’t been there very long and this lady came and she ordered a reel of cotton and said could she have it delivered. I think my bottom jaw was open and she reported me to Mr Schofield because she lived at Headingley which was
the place in those days. He came and said, ‘Aye lass don’t worry about it. Just go along with what they say.’ He was a sweetie. It was an exceptional place Schofields. When you go into a shop now they don’t know the first thing about personal contact. It sounds a bit unkind but they’re that busy pressing the buttons that there’s no personal contact. I was on the haberdashery. I used to measure the things. It was lovely. I went to work on the bus and the fare was 2d old money. There were trams but they ran to Crossgates. You know where Chiltern Mills is, that was the Regal Cinema and I went there with my grandma the very first night it opened which was November 16th 1937 and it was a George Formby film. It was a marvellous picture house. That’s where the number 18 tram finished.
I think I could name about six of us in Seacroft that I went to school with. Mr Noble’s a little bit older than me and I can’t remember him when I was younger. He remembers things that I don’t. if you read that little thing that I’ve written. Its more or less about my relationship with St james’s church. Eventually at church I became a Eucharistic Minister. Well, that was the icing on the cake. Then I thought I’d do some voluntary work and I started as a chaplaincy visitor, I trained and I passed and got Seacroft and when they told me what ward I’d got I nearly died. I got the infectious diseases ward. It wasn’t as bad as it seemed. There was a lot of cystic fibrosis. All the patients were in separate rooms and you went in and explained who you were.
It wasn’t just about religion. I learnt about how to do the garden. I remember the very first gentleman I went to see. ‘Now lass what you selling then ? ‘ I got quite friendly with him. He wanted to take a little bit further. He asked to take me out but I said I didn’t think it was a good idea and the chaplain didn’t think it was a good idea. But then it closed well actually moved to St james’s and its so peaceful and restful and then I went there as a voluntary worker until I got a little bit hard of hearing. I really loved working at the Robert Ogden. Now this gentleman, Robert Ogden and his wife had cancer and he set up this centre. He was a millionaire and he set up this centre.
My eldest boy was born in St James’s. it has changed a lot, when grandma and grandpa first came to live here in 1933 they lived down East End park, Kitson street. He wasn’t anything grandpa just worked on the railway and took the challenge and got a mortgage. He was only a foreman on the railway.
I think the village hall was built a bit before 1939, I’m not of my facts there. Then there’s the king George’s garden at the side of it. Its locked up which is a shame. When I was young it was open, in fact the day my second baby was born in the afternoon I took David and he wwent round and round on his tricycle and I thought ‘ it was a lovely garden but its been wasted’ but they have this l;ast few years started doing it on Remembrance Sunday, you know a bit of service. St James’s is not as you think really but I left after all these years- a few years ago. I’m the oldest one there- I don’t mean in years I mean in attendance. So I thought ‘Right I’ll give Methodist a try’. The Methodist church is older than St James’s and evidently John Wesley came to Seacroft. There’s not many of them but they’re so caring and they’ve just accepted me. They’ve even started asking me to do readings on a Sunday. Isn’t that fantastic?
My little boys used to play out and we didn’t used to have to lock the doors. My boys never once crossed that road. It was much busier in those days because there was no ring road and then it was the main road to get to the coast. On a Sunday it was choc-a-bloc, we used to have a job getting the car in and grandpa used to stand at the gate watching the traffic going up and down.
When I went back to work at Schofields part-time I got friendly with this lady and we’re still friends. One of her sons was in the police and the first time I asked her to come see me the son said ‘Oh mother youre not associating with someone who live at Seacroft are you?’ His interpretation was a certain part of Seacroft that had become very, very rough and he thought all Seacroft was like that.
Seacroft Hall
I never saw the hall but I did see the old vicarage. I was very friendly with the Carters. I still associate with one of the daughters who lives in America. They were quite a big family. She came back to Seacroft and she said, ‘ What have they done to this church!’ maybe ive moved a little more in the times. I can see why. They got rid of the pulpit and the eagle, though I don’t know what happened to it. Then, we had the back of the church extended because we wanted toilets and a kitchen. The school closed in 1950 but it was used by the youth organisations and the first girl guides were formed. I was with them. Mr Carter left in 1952. He prepared me for confirmation then he married me. Then there’s Cyril Adams, hes actually buried just outside the church door. He worked too hard, killed himself. He was the church army, a confirmed bachelor until susan changed all that. Their wedding day was such a happy occasion at St James’s followed by a reception at St Paul’s given by the St Paul’s ladies.
Norman became rector and David our new vicar, there was no more congregational participation and then in 1973 came our winter of discontent or discomfort, the restoration fund was launched. Then David Grice became rector and his wife Cynthia and his two daughters. His dream was to install a kitchen, toilets and community room, so the community area was eventually opened in 1983 by Jane Young, and what an asset it has proved to be especially the toilets. 1994, was Tony Bundock. We suffered the loss of some old stalwarts – Jean Myers, Frank Myers, my Gordon – but God sent Adam so we thank God for the fellowship of St James’s. The Church of England as a whole has changed. You sometimes wonder ‘Do we need all these rules and regulations?’ They have a ladies’ group at the Methodist on a Tuesday. I really love that. I’ve really made some nice friends there who are all in the same boat (I’ve got a plastic knee and a plastic hip) and they don’t go on about their illnesses and there’s three of them in their 90s. We always have a decent speaker. Yesterday, we had a lady talking to us about the Jewish faith and we were allowed to ask questions. We were a bit early so we were just chatting amongst ourselves and I just happened to say ‘When you’re cremated what happens to your artificial hips?’ And someone said, they use them again, they take them out and recycle them. I’d never thought about that, but it’s an obvious question isn’t it?
The church is condemned. South Seacroft Good Neighbours work from there. The church itself is leased out at the weekend. Going back to the way the Methodist works. We have one part-time. There was one David Laycock, I could talk to him and I miss that. I had the confidence of most of the clergy. It was very special. I was the first lady to give communion and it was a real honour. That piece of paper I gave you about the church tells you when it was built and it’s not as old as you think. At one time Seacroft was part of the parish of Whitkirk. The stone had been laid by John Wilson who was the Lord of the Manor in 1844. John Wilson’s family gave a thousand. They’re a little bit before my time. The council took the house over and it was knocked down. The vicarage where Mr Carter lived was knocked down and that was lovely. John Gilligan does a lot of writing. Have you been and looked at the church properly? I’d love to do it with you some time.
I’ve had a successful life in Seacroft. I go on little trips from the Good Neighbours. Linda’s in charge, Linda Goodhall. The fact that there is a Good Neighbours group is very important. They have lunches twice a week. They had a keep fit class, that’s where I first fell. But the gentleman who takes it just has you in stitches. We play this game at the end, you have something in your hand and he tells a story, he’s written these stories himself, the most gruesome stories and when he says left you got to pass it to the right – well you can imagine the confusion. If I can pluck up courage I’ll go back again soon.
There’s another Good Neighbours situated on Kentmere Avenue near St Richard’s Church. They go on holiday, they do shopping trips to Wetherby. A few weeks ago we had a trip to Ripon on market day. They have a special coach which opens up at the side. They have those little pusher things and they’re marvellous, much better than sticks. I walk marvellous with a shopping trolley. When I go to Tesco my friends lose me. If it wasn’t for your white hair we’d never find you. You sit on the bus and look at all these heads like cauliflower.
I go to the hairdresser round the corner, Havs. Originally Havs was a doctor’s surgery. That was the only land that was available and years back it was a dentist. Yes, the dentist was there and Gibbons hairdressers. I went to her as well. They moved to Scarborough.
That’s the old blacksmith’s, just near the post box. It consists of lots of yards and that was what they called Taylor’s Yard, where there was the butchers and one thing and another. And this man, Tom Gibbon, was quite a character. I think he was a relation of my husband’s. He was the village undertaker and the village joiner and everything else. He cut his thumb off with a circular saw and he just stuck it back on again. We used to play in the coffins in the yard when we were kids.
How did you feel when the estate came?
Well the first houses that were built were built by the Tarrants. We always called the kids the Tarrant kids. We were a bit standoffish about it but you just accept it eventually. I think we felt worse when they started this other thing – the original plan was that every house in Seacroft was coming down including these private ones here but they found they didn’t have the money to do it. But they pulled down the yards and everything. The idea was to keep it to look like a village like there’s one at Chapel Allerton but it wasn’t right because they used the wrong type of brick. It’s horrible. When we knew they were going to build this one here we were gobsmacked. They compromised. We couldn’t have had nicer neighbours. We were cross that they were sticking a house in between the two. This house was built in 1933. The rest were all little cottages. There’s still some of the original ones on the Village Green.
Jean Lindley, she never married, she’s an old Seacrofter and she’s very, very intellectual and during the war she was in the intelligence service in Milton Keynes. She got a little medal and she showed it to me. We were seeing the same consultant and we got talking. I’ll put some feelers out. She feels like me when she had to go into hospital, when you’re over 80 and you’re on your own they bring this social worker to look after you. It would be better if they had some sort of pastoral workers coming round that you could talk to. We’ve done it all before.
My husband came from Crossgates. He lived down old Manston Lane. How I met him was we had a youth club at Seacroft and we were putting this pantomime on and it wasn’t going very well and somebody brought Gordon and he just took over. He did this monologue, Albert and the Lion, and as it happened I knew it because my uncle used to do it and I must have been mouthing it. Well, he thought I was a stuck up snob and I thought he was a country gorby. He just took over sort of thing. I’ll never forget once he said – there was a crowd of us and we decided we wanted to go to Butlins that summer and we said that even if we weren’t friendly we’d be friendly for that week. And then we got married after about two and half years. I remember he said, ‘I’ll make a bargain with you. I’ll teach you to play table tennis if you teach me how to speak properly.’ I said, ‘Well neither of us succeeded.’ We had a Women’s Guild in Seacroft that started up in Parklands High School. We were 38 and we decided to give it a whirl and I ended up as secretary and I had to do minutes. The only minutes I knew were on a clock and I came home and said to Gordon, ‘I’ve got to do minutes, what are minutes?’
Life would have been different if I’d had my mum. My mum was from East Leeds. She was a Catholic but she didn’t bother about it, and her family gave dad a hard time especially when they didn’t bring me up as a Catholic. We were married in 1951 and it will be our Diamond wedding this year. I have another friend and they were married the fortnight before us and she’s a widow so we we’re going to go out for a meal, and to buy a new outfit. At Ripon Cathedral they used to do a celebration for Golden Wedding so I wrote and asked if it was alright for me and my friend to go and they said it was. I’ve always been pally with the vicars and I told Tony and he said, ‘I hope they don’t think you’re a couple…’ It was a lovely service.
Gordon hated trousers. I go to the White Rose occasionally and I like to sit on the benches and watch the people go past and you can count how many are wearing skirts. Martin my youngest son has three children and they live at Churwell. Both my boys were brought up here. They went to Swarcliffe School on Swarcliffe Drive and then they went to Abbey Grange, the first C of E high school. Miss Gawthorpe taught there. Betty Gawthorpe, I was at Roundhay High School with her and she had a younger sister called Mavis who was in the same class as me and she was my age. My boy David, the journalist he’s 57 and the other one is 53. You had to be a church family and you had to get a referral from the local vicar. Both my boys were in the choir so there was no problem. They got the number 9 bus on the ring road.
What was the village school like?
You didn’t have many classes like they do these days. The headmaster was a Mr Chadwick. He was very strict. There was one teacher called Mrs A and she was a darling. You used to stay with that teacher for everything. I think there were only about three teachers. I can remember Mr Chadwick throwing the chalk and things like that. They lived in the house attached to the school. Mrs Chadwick was the most placid person you could wish Village Green. We daren’t have walked over the green; it was sacrilege, you wouldn’t dare walk on it like they do these days. From church we had Sunday school and once a year we had the outing to Bramham Park. I used to be in the egg and spoon race and we thought it was lovely.