Eileen Baines' Story
I was born in the living room in the house I live in now on East Dean Drive, 56 years ago. My brother was born in this house too. The rest of my brothers and sisters were born in St Marys.
Growing up I went to Our Lady of Good Counsel Primary School, until I was 11 and then I went to Mount St Mary’s until I was 16. Afterwards I got a Saturday job in the market on Annie’s Sweet Stall at the Old Seacroft Centre. I also worked at the launderette at the back of the Centre, opposite the library. I loved working there as I met so many people and I still see them now.
When I was little there were no houses on North Parkway. There were four blocks of maisonettes and garages. We played in the woods at the top of the street. We played in the back field. We never went far unless we told our mother. I felt safe. When we were kids my mum used to go to the shops and leave all the doors open. You could in them days. We never heard of child molesters. Compared to what it is now it was brilliant. We used to sledge down Ramshead hill, when it was snowing, where the Digital Lounge is now. We used to go down the hill on gas boards and milk crates. We didn’t have sledges or anything like that.
Before the old Seacroft Centre was built, it was a farm where Queensview is now apart from the Village green. I always remember when cricket season started they were cricket matches on there. The Springfield Nursing home that is there now used to be The Grange School. That was a listed building. It was a primary school.
We all went to Foxwood (High School) which is now the David Young Academy. I think Seacroft has changed for the worse. The Seacroft Centre was better than it is now. There was more of a variety of shops back then. There was wallpaper shops, furniture shops. It was crownpoint wallpapers at the top of the Seacroft centre. Then there was the cobblers in the corner and then there was Misses Brown where you could buy your baby clothes and cottons and needles and every. The wool shop was downstairs, Mrs Woolly. It was fantastic. It was scruffy and old but it was brilliant. There was a cafe there where you could go. We called it the mucky caff. And that was at the bottom right in the corner next to the furniture and carpet shop. Opposite was Woolworths, Man for all Seasons was next to that and then there was the ramp coming upstairs. Opposite Man for all Seasons you had Thrift Super Stores. You came round and there was the Gas Board, Jewellers and The Wimpy Bar, then you had the Market then you had Dewhirst Butchers then you had Mr Patel’s who sold Womens clothes then the Curtain Shop - Wiltechs Bras. Then there was Mr Patel’s big DIY Shop which sold everything you could think of. Then you had Mikes Fruit and Veg, Malcolms the Bakery, Harvey Smiths the Butchers, Weigh and Save, Mrs Woolly and at the very bottom I think it was either Rumbelows or Radio rental – television place. Up there you could get everything you wanted, now you can’t. It was a proper town centre.
I remember the Queen opening it. I was stood on the Coal Road with the school, waving our flags. She went on the band stand in the Seacroft Centre. She called to a house on Kentmere for a visit. I think the lady was Vera. In Seacroft you take us as you find us. It’s as simple as that, but it was royalty and you had to behave. We all had to be in our Sunday best and everything. Just waving a flag for a car to drive passed us.
On York we used to go to Shaftsbury Picture House (York Road). Where the Gipton Fire Station is. There was the Odeon in town. Shaftsbury was the nearest picture house. We were not allowed in town without our parents. We could go with my oldest brother and sisters to the Shaftsburys but not into town. Up here there was a bowling alley. That used to be where Queensview is. There was a youth club at the side of the library. It was demolished. There is a lot of loss. The youth club was great. We enjoyed it. The lads would play football, the girls used to bake or make plaster of Paris figurines and make cups of tea etc. There was never any trouble when I was a kid. You never heard of any violence like you do nowadays like stabbings and what have you. We had the Fair on the Green every year. We had galas. The cricketers used to organise all the events. They used to have their own Gala. When there were cricket matches on you wasn’t allowed on the grass because they used to mow and line it all. It was brilliant. I wish the kids nowadays could see what we had. They would be so shocked. Now it’s all computers etc. When we were kids we had set time scales so when we played out we’d have to be in for our tea at a certain time. We would get a picnic for our dinner, off on our bike to Thorner, or Chippys Quarry. We used to bring loads of frogs home. Mum would make us get rid of them. We had some good fun when we were kids. When I was older I used to go drinking in the Pathfinder. The Sovereign Pub was inside the Seacroft Centre. We went to the Cricketers Arms and down on the Duftons you had the Wilsons Arms. And the Melbourne, but if you weren’t in their gang you were sort of shunned. We were not allowed to drink until we were 18. There is only The Cricketers Pub left now. It used to serve meals and everything in there. It used to be known as The Cricketers Restaurant. Then it went to the Cricketers Arms and it isn’t the same. The Pathfinder was like coming from home to home. You could walk up to the Seacroft Centre in the Summer and just pop into the pub for half a lager. There was a beer garden and the kids could play outside but they are destroyed. There is a big difference between when I was growing up and how it is now. If my mum was still alive today she would have been in this property for 69 years. When my mum moved in here the houses over the road wasn’t built yet on North Parkway because the bus terminus used to be down where Our Lady of Good Council Church is. You could get a tram at the Windmill (Seacroft windmill). Its used to be called Windmill Farm. There was no hotel there. The tram took you Austhorpe road way to Crossgates and into Leeds. The only way you could get to Crossgates was by tram up at the top on the Ring Road. They stopped in the early 50’s because that’s when they started doing North Parkway and the buses came up then. The Town Centre wasn’t built until the 60’s. There was no bus station until the Seacroft Centre was built.
There was no bus to take you to the coast when I was a kid. We always got took by our parents. There was one and it only ran in the school holidays. It ran from the East Coast starting at Filey. It was quicker to go by your own transport. When I was six I used to travel in, a what we called, a Bessy. It was my dad’s work van. He worked at Reddings Concrete and I fell out of it one time because I was being nosy, I fell out of the Jeep door. My mum never even knew until she got the bill for the ambulance. My dad was too scared to tell her.
You had to pay in them days. I was fine, just a graze. We were never allowed in the van after that. Now in the street we have a carpark but when we were kids, my dad, and we called them Aunty and Uncles because we were taught that. We called our neighbour either aunty or uncle.
When I was about 3 when my dad stopped working for Robbies he used to drive the old otty wagons. You couldn’t even see my dad behind the wheel that’s how big there were. He worked for the Robinsons and worked with the Irish. It was brilliant. We didn’t have the best of everything when we were growing up but what we had was the love. My dad never had a different meal to what we had even whatever time he came home from work, he would still have the same as us. We were lucky if we saw our dad twice a week as he worked long hours. We were in bed when he came home from work and he had gone to work by the time we all got up. I can honestly say hand on my heart my mum and dad never ever claimed social security. We were never on free meals at school. My mum taught me how to bake and my dad taught me how to knit. He could knit and croucher. My mum taught me all my cooking skills. My mums dad, taught my mum how to cook. He used to be a chef in the Army when he was younger and that was his trade. Neither my mum or I could go into catering because there wasn’t a lot of money in it in them days. I worked in a cafe in Leeds City Centre next to the train station. There wasn’t a lot of cause for home made baking. My mum baked everything. She made her own bread, all her own sweet stuff, pies, her own pastry the lot. Now you just go to the shop and say lets have a packet of biscuits. When I first started at Labrershetter my boss Terry put a sign up saying homemade baking available. I started doing the cakes and the scones. I used to start getting orders for birthday cakes. He was getting the money for it but I was doing all the baking. I preferred working at Labrershetter because I enjoyed producing food myself rather than going to a shop and saying Ill have a bit of that cake because I don’t know who’s made it. I’m like my mum that way. My mum never weighed any ingredients it was just by eye. The only time she ever weighed anything was one Christmas she made some Christmas cakes and they all sank and she said never again and never did.
We had a Street Party. My mum did all the bacon and everything. We had a big Street Party for when Princess Diana and Charles got married. We used to have all the street parties in front of the houses on East Dean Drive where I live. We had bonfires at the bottom of the street on the big grass. I had a dog called our Lady she was an Alsatian but the gentleman we got her off of when she was a puppy, because we got the best of the litter he put an elastic band around her neck at it ate all her skin and everything. We had her around 25 years. My brother had white rabbits and I put the buck and the doe together. I was a naughty girl when I was little!!
I’ve been in trouble for jumping in the woods. Kids don’t know their born nowadays. We used to play rounder’s in the street and some of our parents would play with us. It was none of this “I’m on the computer so I’m not playing out”.
Growing up I went to Our Lady of Good Counsel Primary School, until I was 11 and then I went to Mount St Mary’s until I was 16. Afterwards I got a Saturday job in the market on Annie’s Sweet Stall at the Old Seacroft Centre. I also worked at the launderette at the back of the Centre, opposite the library. I loved working there as I met so many people and I still see them now.
When I was little there were no houses on North Parkway. There were four blocks of maisonettes and garages. We played in the woods at the top of the street. We played in the back field. We never went far unless we told our mother. I felt safe. When we were kids my mum used to go to the shops and leave all the doors open. You could in them days. We never heard of child molesters. Compared to what it is now it was brilliant. We used to sledge down Ramshead hill, when it was snowing, where the Digital Lounge is now. We used to go down the hill on gas boards and milk crates. We didn’t have sledges or anything like that.
Before the old Seacroft Centre was built, it was a farm where Queensview is now apart from the Village green. I always remember when cricket season started they were cricket matches on there. The Springfield Nursing home that is there now used to be The Grange School. That was a listed building. It was a primary school.
We all went to Foxwood (High School) which is now the David Young Academy. I think Seacroft has changed for the worse. The Seacroft Centre was better than it is now. There was more of a variety of shops back then. There was wallpaper shops, furniture shops. It was crownpoint wallpapers at the top of the Seacroft centre. Then there was the cobblers in the corner and then there was Misses Brown where you could buy your baby clothes and cottons and needles and every. The wool shop was downstairs, Mrs Woolly. It was fantastic. It was scruffy and old but it was brilliant. There was a cafe there where you could go. We called it the mucky caff. And that was at the bottom right in the corner next to the furniture and carpet shop. Opposite was Woolworths, Man for all Seasons was next to that and then there was the ramp coming upstairs. Opposite Man for all Seasons you had Thrift Super Stores. You came round and there was the Gas Board, Jewellers and The Wimpy Bar, then you had the Market then you had Dewhirst Butchers then you had Mr Patel’s who sold Womens clothes then the Curtain Shop - Wiltechs Bras. Then there was Mr Patel’s big DIY Shop which sold everything you could think of. Then you had Mikes Fruit and Veg, Malcolms the Bakery, Harvey Smiths the Butchers, Weigh and Save, Mrs Woolly and at the very bottom I think it was either Rumbelows or Radio rental – television place. Up there you could get everything you wanted, now you can’t. It was a proper town centre.
I remember the Queen opening it. I was stood on the Coal Road with the school, waving our flags. She went on the band stand in the Seacroft Centre. She called to a house on Kentmere for a visit. I think the lady was Vera. In Seacroft you take us as you find us. It’s as simple as that, but it was royalty and you had to behave. We all had to be in our Sunday best and everything. Just waving a flag for a car to drive passed us.
On York we used to go to Shaftsbury Picture House (York Road). Where the Gipton Fire Station is. There was the Odeon in town. Shaftsbury was the nearest picture house. We were not allowed in town without our parents. We could go with my oldest brother and sisters to the Shaftsburys but not into town. Up here there was a bowling alley. That used to be where Queensview is. There was a youth club at the side of the library. It was demolished. There is a lot of loss. The youth club was great. We enjoyed it. The lads would play football, the girls used to bake or make plaster of Paris figurines and make cups of tea etc. There was never any trouble when I was a kid. You never heard of any violence like you do nowadays like stabbings and what have you. We had the Fair on the Green every year. We had galas. The cricketers used to organise all the events. They used to have their own Gala. When there were cricket matches on you wasn’t allowed on the grass because they used to mow and line it all. It was brilliant. I wish the kids nowadays could see what we had. They would be so shocked. Now it’s all computers etc. When we were kids we had set time scales so when we played out we’d have to be in for our tea at a certain time. We would get a picnic for our dinner, off on our bike to Thorner, or Chippys Quarry. We used to bring loads of frogs home. Mum would make us get rid of them. We had some good fun when we were kids. When I was older I used to go drinking in the Pathfinder. The Sovereign Pub was inside the Seacroft Centre. We went to the Cricketers Arms and down on the Duftons you had the Wilsons Arms. And the Melbourne, but if you weren’t in their gang you were sort of shunned. We were not allowed to drink until we were 18. There is only The Cricketers Pub left now. It used to serve meals and everything in there. It used to be known as The Cricketers Restaurant. Then it went to the Cricketers Arms and it isn’t the same. The Pathfinder was like coming from home to home. You could walk up to the Seacroft Centre in the Summer and just pop into the pub for half a lager. There was a beer garden and the kids could play outside but they are destroyed. There is a big difference between when I was growing up and how it is now. If my mum was still alive today she would have been in this property for 69 years. When my mum moved in here the houses over the road wasn’t built yet on North Parkway because the bus terminus used to be down where Our Lady of Good Council Church is. You could get a tram at the Windmill (Seacroft windmill). Its used to be called Windmill Farm. There was no hotel there. The tram took you Austhorpe road way to Crossgates and into Leeds. The only way you could get to Crossgates was by tram up at the top on the Ring Road. They stopped in the early 50’s because that’s when they started doing North Parkway and the buses came up then. The Town Centre wasn’t built until the 60’s. There was no bus station until the Seacroft Centre was built.
There was no bus to take you to the coast when I was a kid. We always got took by our parents. There was one and it only ran in the school holidays. It ran from the East Coast starting at Filey. It was quicker to go by your own transport. When I was six I used to travel in, a what we called, a Bessy. It was my dad’s work van. He worked at Reddings Concrete and I fell out of it one time because I was being nosy, I fell out of the Jeep door. My mum never even knew until she got the bill for the ambulance. My dad was too scared to tell her.
You had to pay in them days. I was fine, just a graze. We were never allowed in the van after that. Now in the street we have a carpark but when we were kids, my dad, and we called them Aunty and Uncles because we were taught that. We called our neighbour either aunty or uncle.
When I was about 3 when my dad stopped working for Robbies he used to drive the old otty wagons. You couldn’t even see my dad behind the wheel that’s how big there were. He worked for the Robinsons and worked with the Irish. It was brilliant. We didn’t have the best of everything when we were growing up but what we had was the love. My dad never had a different meal to what we had even whatever time he came home from work, he would still have the same as us. We were lucky if we saw our dad twice a week as he worked long hours. We were in bed when he came home from work and he had gone to work by the time we all got up. I can honestly say hand on my heart my mum and dad never ever claimed social security. We were never on free meals at school. My mum taught me how to bake and my dad taught me how to knit. He could knit and croucher. My mum taught me all my cooking skills. My mums dad, taught my mum how to cook. He used to be a chef in the Army when he was younger and that was his trade. Neither my mum or I could go into catering because there wasn’t a lot of money in it in them days. I worked in a cafe in Leeds City Centre next to the train station. There wasn’t a lot of cause for home made baking. My mum baked everything. She made her own bread, all her own sweet stuff, pies, her own pastry the lot. Now you just go to the shop and say lets have a packet of biscuits. When I first started at Labrershetter my boss Terry put a sign up saying homemade baking available. I started doing the cakes and the scones. I used to start getting orders for birthday cakes. He was getting the money for it but I was doing all the baking. I preferred working at Labrershetter because I enjoyed producing food myself rather than going to a shop and saying Ill have a bit of that cake because I don’t know who’s made it. I’m like my mum that way. My mum never weighed any ingredients it was just by eye. The only time she ever weighed anything was one Christmas she made some Christmas cakes and they all sank and she said never again and never did.
We had a Street Party. My mum did all the bacon and everything. We had a big Street Party for when Princess Diana and Charles got married. We used to have all the street parties in front of the houses on East Dean Drive where I live. We had bonfires at the bottom of the street on the big grass. I had a dog called our Lady she was an Alsatian but the gentleman we got her off of when she was a puppy, because we got the best of the litter he put an elastic band around her neck at it ate all her skin and everything. We had her around 25 years. My brother had white rabbits and I put the buck and the doe together. I was a naughty girl when I was little!!
I’ve been in trouble for jumping in the woods. Kids don’t know their born nowadays. We used to play rounder’s in the street and some of our parents would play with us. It was none of this “I’m on the computer so I’m not playing out”.