I was born in 1951 and lived in a back-to-back house on Aberdeen Walk. We were at the end of the street nearest Whingate. The shop next door but two was a bakery owned by Mr & Mrs Pearson. I have fond memories of long buns filled with jam and cream. The adjacent shop was a newsagents run by Mr & Mrs Garner. When I was about 5 or 6 I would often join Mrs Garner on her early morning paper round which took us up Hill Top Road. Several residents of the care home there received a daily paper, and I can remember being given juice and biscuits at around 7am which felt very special. Mrs Garner loved to walk along Hill End Road and on sunny days we often sang “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” at full volume when we were out of earshot of any houses!

My grandfather seemed very old to me as he was retired. Every day he would go from his house on Thornton Grove up to Charlie Cake Park and join the other “old men” to play dominoes in the wooden hut. Sometimes I would join him after school. I can recall the heat from an ancient pot-bellied stove which always seemed to be surrounded by spent matches from the pipes smoked by the occupants. In his retirement grandad had a part-time job driving children to the school for children with additional needs in Stanningley. He really enjoyed this and I can remember being taken to a fundraising event which was opened by Harry Corbett and Sooty.