The contractors came to wreck
And to pillage,
Men with hard hats have demolished
My village.
Men who were swinging great big sledge hammers,
Big yellow’ dozers with hydraulic rammers.
Pushing and pulling and groaning
With strain,
Why do they cause so many
This pain.
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.