Smoking chimney pots, grey roof tiles
Paving stones stretching out for miles
Hopscotch numbers a game of tick
Knock some doors play a trick
Two up two down, back to back
Swing in the yard and a vegetable patch
Aggie’s oatcakes, saving stamps
I suppose I am a Bradeley girl in the truest sense, born in 1964 in the parlour of my parents’ home, 52 Unwin street, I was the third daughter of Lillian and Samuel Rigby. My family remained in this house until they were demolished; I was born and married from this same address.
My first memories of childhood are of living with my mother, father and sister,
and an old man. The old man was a Mr Bream and, as I learned in later life, my
family was lodging with him. The house was, I think, 42 Unwin Street, Bradeley,
and my sisters tells me that my favourite pastime in those early years was
throwing the old man’s stick into the street for him to fetch. At this time I would
be four years old. Some time after this, my mother got tenancy of a house in South
Street, Bradeley- number 15,next to my Gran who lived at number 13,with her
son, my Uncle Bill.