RickyO

About that time three children from our yard were in Lodge Moor Isolation Hospital with diptheria.

As I remember from my time at De La Salle the assembly doors were closed and the Head Prefect stood outside stopping all latecomers from entering. At the conclusion of assembly Br. Peter was first out and gave the strap to all boys waiting outside. There was no chance you could enter if you were late. If you were lucky and able to dodge the prefect you could sneek around the school and hide then reappear when classes started.

Mr Magoo due to my keen eyesight

Went to the Palace many times for shows including pantos. I remember the orchestra conductor was called Jack Chard. I once saw Harry Seecombe on TV and when talking about some of the theatres he had performed in he mentioned the Palace Attercliffe.

Remember them well as Recketts blue bags. My mother used them on the white things in the wash and as stated in an earlier post she dabbed them on stings and bites. As a kid I always wondered how anything blue could keep a shirt white particularily as I would go around with blue spots on my arms and legs and they didn't get any whiter.

In the 40's and 50's I think Melias was a small shop on Attercliffe Common with the back door being on Goulder Place. Next door was the butchers shop Wards and there was a bike shop nearby. Gallons was a general store further up closer to Carltonville Road next door to Schultz the pork butchers.

The only colliery I can think of is Tinsley Park Colliery which I think closed in the forties but it was not in Brightside but closer to Darnall.

We had a budgie called Joey and he was a great talker. His cage door was left open and he used to perch high on the mantlepiece. I remember once we had visitors and when mom put the salad on the table joey flew down and had a bath in it with lettuce leaves going everywhere. We had a saladless dinner that night.

Lived in Dapto for 18 years and often used to go to Shellharbour beach.

My father worked at Tinsley Park colliery which closed I think in the 40's or 50's. In fact he was buried by a roof fall in the early forties but was rescued and survived the ordeal. He died in 1991.

Yes he only won one full England cap which doesn't reflect on his football ability as there were some great inside forwards around in his time who were regularily selected, such as Raich Carter, Wilf Mannion and Len Shackleton just to name three.

I remember the fish and chip shop owned by Mrs Bell during the 40's. From memory it was between Milford and Carbrook Sts on Attercliffe Common. We used to get or fish and chips there or from Matthews fish and chip shop on the corner of Cartonville Rd and Attercliffe Common opposite Janson Street. Mrs Bell was a friendly blonde woman who always had a word or two for her customers. Whether this shop later became Lants I don't know.

We lived in Goulder Place Atterciffe and I remember Mrs White who lived opposite us pegging rugs. My mother bought a couple of them, either during the war or just after.

I remember eating the cockles and whelks from the fish market when I was a kid. They were served on very small plates and tasted great with a dash of vinegar.

I remember the dairy in Broughton Lane in the 40's as a kid. It had a big window in the front where you could watch the milk bottlles being filled by a machine. If it didn't quite fill one we used to point to it and yell cuckoo and the operator used to laugh an take it from the conveyor belt. Why we called these partly unfilled bottles cuckoos I don't know.