Carveup

My father was Cyril Stanley. He worked at the Wicker after finishing at John Bedfords. He did a f years at Ecclesfield part time after retiring. I used to call in at the office coming from school or work and remember Mr Pratt, Herbert, and a couple of others who I am sure I will recall in time. I used to think they were Laurel and Hardy because of their stature. I remember Dad talking about Muriel. I officially retired in 2009 following a lifetime in the Steel industry. I could write a book about the absolute pillows who ruined our industry!

Lived in the village for 22 years. There were mines in DelphWood on Hilltop at top of Cockshutts Lane. There were also mines up Cockshutts Lane entry of one of them in the back yard of the row of houses 57 to 63. All the fields backing on to all the houses up the lane are undermined which means it has never been suitable for building. I remember steam rollers going up Cockshutts lane when road surfacing. What a noisy rattling beast. We had fresh warm milk delivered by farmer Joe Wood of Onesacre in his pony and trap. He ploughed with two shires, lead horse Prince who was mad. The Blackwell family owned the forge on Forge lane, and the forge/rolling mill just past the road end. Half way between the cottage on the bend and Hang man,there was a derelict house hit by a bomb during the war. On the left just before the Hang man there is a raised bit of land now covered with trees. This was the village tip in the early 20 century. My father when he was a child, could remember a man with a horse and cart taking rubbish to tip there, Circa 1913. Probably be a few gems buried in that lot! Several of my aunts and uncles From both father and mothers families are buried in common graves in the Church yard having succomed to the childhood diseases so prevalent in the late 19 th/early 20 th centuries. I get back to sing at the Blue ball when I can and look wistfully at the fields we played in?