I was now newly wed and expecting a baby. Frank's mum said I could live with them at their new council house in Buttershaw. That was when my troubles began! I was never made welcome in that house, and when I walked in you could cut the atmosphere with a knife! I worked for a while, but I had to give up because I had a haemorrhage and it was thought that I might lose the baby. I was accused by Frank's family of taking tablets to bring on an abortion, which was a load of utter rubbish! It seems they had been going through my things while I was out, and had found some aspirins which our Bill had bought in Germany before coming home on leave! It just goes to show the evil minds of some people!
I had to go into hospital for a month. They discovered that the cause of the trouble was a polypus in the uterus. The growing baby was pressing down on it, causing it to bleed. They took it away, and I was fine after that. I couldn't go back to work, and I was sick all the time carrying the baby. At Frank's mum's it was all backbiting and falling out, and I was extremely unhappy. I had no-one to turn to, only my dad, and Daisy. I must say that they turned up trumps for me! Daisy helped me get all my baby things together. She bought me a lovely white shawl and a blue suit to bring him home from the hospital after he was born. (I called him Jim, after my dad!)
When I look back, I realise now, that my marriage could so easily have broken up. I had been shoved out of Frank's mum's six weeks before the baby was due. I was thrown out bodily, and called a 'slut' and all the horrible names they could think of! I walked two miles to Frank's works at Low Moor. I didn't have any money. Frank took an hour off from work to take me to my dad's. I stayed there until I had the baby, and dad went with me to the hospital when I started in labour.
While I was in the hospital our Betty got married to Ken. They came to see me and brought me flowers and some wedding cake. At least someone thought about me! Betty was my stepsister, but she was a lovely girl. I am sorry to say that she died in her late forties - from cancer. She left one son at home (her daughter had married). When I was discharged from the hospital Dad and Daisy came to bring me home in a taxi. I knew though, that I couldn't stay with dad all the time, and I would have to make my marriage work for the sake of my little boy.
Frank asked me to go back to his mother's again, for a time, and I will never forget for as long as I live the reception I got when I went back there! They didn't even look at the baby! I stayed for a while, but it became impossible for me to live with them. It was OK for Frank, he was out at work all day, and was unaware of the shabby treatment I was getting at the hands of his family. It was too much. One day I simply packed my things, and went back home.
I set about looking for a room - a flat - anything! I finally found an attic flat on Ryan Street, near Manchester Road. It was twentyfive shillings a week rent. The council said that if we lived there for six months we could have a council house. It was a poor place, but I didn't care - it was ours. I shall never forget that attic flat.... we had to carry our slops down two flights of stairs, through the front door, then around the back to the outside toilets! I always did this onerous chore first thing in the morning, I felt so ashamed! (If Frank could get out of it - he would!) The landlady didn't seem to mind children at all. We were at the top of the house, so it didn't matter much. They don't know they are born today, they have things so easy!
Time passed, and my little boy was growing fast. We were now friendly with Frank's mum again, mainly because we no longer had to live there! She offered to mind little Jim so I could go to work. I got a job at Feather's Mill on Canal Road. It was a bit far for me, but it was a nice place to work. I was ring spinning, and we had some decent runs on. I managed to save some money towards a three piece suite and some chairs. They were second hand, but at least it was a start. I had plenty of pots and pans and cutlery, and I left them with dad for the time being. Frank settled down in our bedsit when he knew he would be getting a house in six months time. We would bring our Jim home for the weekends and go to see him two or three times during the week. Now that he was a toddler they all took to him! He made sure of that! He was never one to be ignored, he was such a lovable little lad!
On the exact day that the six months were up we were offered a house! It was a prefab, and, believe it or not, it was at Buttershaw, not ten minutes walk from Frank's mum's! (5, Birdforth Grove). I handed in my notice at Feather's and got a job at Bottomley's Mill, Buttershaw. I am not being big headed, but a good spinner could get a job at most mills in those days. Work was plentiful in the textile trade, and Bradford was known all over the world for its good cloth. (Now we are flooded out with rubbish from Italy and Japan!) Anyway, I went to Bottomleys, and went to see the manager, Mr. Long, who set me on in the spinning department right away. I liked Bottomley's ..... It was like Bailey's ... a home from home! I settled in on the very first day that I started there.
There was only one setback, working at Buttershaw. After I had been there about two weeks I collected my pay on the Friday and asked out early in order to go to Bradford to buy some paint and wallpaper. I had left my purse in my shopping bag on the windowsill down the gate where I worked. When I decided to get out my bus fare before putting my coat on, I discovered to my horror that the purse had gone, along with five pounds I had saved! I was sickened. Everywhere and everyone in the room was searched without avail! I am sure some of them thought that I was pulling a fast one, because I was new there. Neither the money nore the purse were ever found, and that week I was flat broke as a result. They never collected a penny for me! So thereafter I followed a policy of not contributing towards any kind of 'collection', and I stuck to it all the time I worked in the mill.
Sometime later the overlooker himself got sacked for stealing! It was obvious where my money had gone! The police went to his home and found hundreds of light bulbs and a whole spinning frame in his cellar! It's funny now I think back..... that same overlooker was bothering with a woman in our room. She was expecting by him, and I distinctly remember how she nagged him all that week for money to buy a new pram with. I reckon my wage packet bought it for her! (I do believe he ended up in prison, so he got his just desserts!)
I worked full time in the ring spinning for a few weeks, but I quickly realised that my son was starting to grow away from us. So I decided to go on the evening shift, in my old job, fly spinning. Grandma promptly fell out with me again because I took our Jim away from them! You would have thought he wasn't ours! At first they hadn't wanted him - now it was the opposite way, they wanted him all the time! By now grandma positively doted on him. He was the first grandchild, and in Grandma's eyes he was the only one! Later there were cousins, Stanley, Susan and Michael, but she doted on our Jim right up to her death. Anyhow, like it or lump it, I decided that from now on I would be at home with my son until he started school. In the end, Grandma finally came round, and we sort of compromised. I would take our Jim up on my way to work in the evening, and he would stay with her for a couple of hours till his daddy picked him up on his way home from work. It worked very well, and I was to work for a number of years at Bottomley's Mill.
I had a good friend in the neighbouring prefab called Gladys Quinn. She had a little girl called Barbara. She would come round and play with our Jim. Her mum always made lovely dresses and rabbit wool boleros. Barbara useed to look lovely! We would all go to the Cosy Cinema in Wibsey, and get fish and chips on the way home.
Around this time we got our Dinky, a lovely big stripey tabby cat. He was a superb 'mouser'. Gladys had two she cats called Smokey and Bubbles. It was grand to see them look after one another's kittens! They would all be cuddled up in one basket. Gladys really loved those cats and spoiled them rotten! She also had goldfish and a budgerigar.... one morning she heard something 'plop' on the floor beside her bed and looked down to see a goldfish wriggling on the carpet! One of the cats had brought it in to her! She picked it up in a panic, rushed back into the living room and popped it back into the fishbowl! (It was fine thereafter, apart from the teeth marks on its scales!) The bird cages also, were frequently knocked over by the marauding cats, but they survived it all! There was never a dull moment in Gladys' house! We were all good neighbours 'on the prefabs'. There was Mary and Jack Brayshay on the other side of us, with their three children, and Minnie and Richard opposite. They had no family. It was very sad later, because Minnie died and left Richard on his own. He never married again. I see him now sometimes, and still have a natter with him about those days 'on the prefabs'.
I must mention the Helstrips. They had two obsessions in life - big dogs and big cars! They had a big alsatian which was tethered up at the back of the prefab on a long rope. I didn't know this, when I went round one day to take some books for Irene (Mrs. Helstrip). I knocked on the door and then I spotted the dog coming round! I flew down the path, but I wasn't quick enough! The bugger bit me on the back of the leg and tore my skirt! I had a bruise on my leg the size of a saucer, but I was lucky - the skin hadn't been broken. The following day my friend Gladys came round. The dog had bitten Barbara, in exactly the same place! Two days later the rentman came dashing in, nursing his leg ... you've guessed it - the same place as Barbara and I! He was by no means amused, and he reported the incident to the police, who came up to interview us. In the end we had to go to court to testify. It was very upsetting, because we were all friends. Irene was ordered to keep the dog under control, and was fined two pounds!
It wasn't so long after this episode that Irene came across to ask me to look after a puppy. The alsatian had died having them, and this one was the only survivor. It needed feeding every four hours with a bottle, and Irene had to work during the day. It was a cross bred pup, but it grew into a big fine guard dog. Ronnie, Irene's husband was a Park Ranger at the time, and he took the dog all over with him. The next animal they got was a monkey, but they left before we got to know that!! The kids thought it was great, having lots of animals. One day though, Gladys' cats were taken very ill, and the vet said it was cat 'flu. I tried to keep our Dinky away from them, but it was no use. He went down with it, and we couldn't save him. The vet said that tom cats can't fight it as well as the females. When they are ill they tend to give up the ghost! We were all heartbroken over it, but that's the way things go sometimes.
We got a little grey persian kitten soon after that, from auntie Annie. (Annie was now married again, and living in Calverley, on a farm.) The kitten was a little beauty, and we loved it, but one day - it vanished! We searched everywhere for that kitten, but we never found it. Some months later I was in the fish shop on Beacon Road and overheard some highly relevant conversation! It seemed that the daughter of the proprietor of the fish shop was a schoolteacher at the primary school near to where we lived. She had seen the kitten roaming out of our gate and had taken it home for her mum! In other words, she found it before it was even lost! I was most annoyed! Still, I thought, we could hardly take the cat back now it was fully grown.
About a month after we lost the cat our Jim came home with a half grown labrador dog! He said it was called 'Nelda' and a family on Reevy Crescent had given her to him.! She was a very nice dog, and I said he could keep her. I should have known better! The very next day the dog's owners were round, asking for her back! The kids were all heartbroken! Well I couldn't really do anything but give the dog back. Our Jim was upset, but he had only had the dog for a day. The only way to pacify him it seemed, would be to get another puppy. The same week dad saw an advert in the paper. 'Boxer pups for sale - five pounds each.' I was on Manningham Lane, at a pub calleed the 'Trafalgar'. (I don't think it's there now.) Anyway, our Jim and I went down on the 'bus. We walked along Manningham Lane and finally found the place. The puppies were in a wire enclosure at the back of the pub. We picked the only bitch. (She was brown and white, all the others were brindled.) So it was that our Sheba came into our lives and brought us fifteen years of love and joy! When we got her home we put her in the kitchen, in a basket, but she wouldn't have that! She howled most of the night, and finally ended up in bed with us! She was just like a little baby, and our Jim really loved her.
Just before this time we had also acquired a stray cat. He was a big ginger tom, and we called him 'Ginger'. He fought every cat in the neighbourhood, and was never away from the vet's. He cost me a small fortune in vet's fees! He developed cauliflower ears as a result of constantly 'scrapping'. His ears would fill with fluid, and he would have to go to the vet's to have them drained. Getting him to the vet's was a major operation in itself, he would spit, fight and scratch, and I would finish up with as many battle scars as he had. The dog, however, was as gentle as the cat was vicious!
It was while we were living in the prefabs that our Jim gashed his leg. On this particular day he didn't come home from school so we went to find him. Everyone had gone home and I was worried to death! One of the cleaners said that our Jim was at the hospital, and had been there since lunchtime. I didn't know what to do ... I was just about to ring the hospital when a car rolleed up and our Jim and a teacher got out. Our Jim, it transpired, had had eleven stitches in his leg! It had happened just after lunchtime, and they had been at the hospital all afternoon. The kids had been making 'grass traps' on the school fields by twisting and tying stalks of long grass and docks together. Our Jim, it seems, had tripped over one and had fallen onto the jagged base of a smashed milk bottle lying in the grass! Luckily it had gashed his knee - it could have been worse. The gaping wound had bled heavily, and our Jim had hobbled up to the staffroom, where the wound was bandaged and it was decided that Mr. Stirk should take him to hospital. Our Jim had sat there at St. Luke's I heard, and had not cried at all, as he watched them stitch his knee up. He was seven years old.
Not too long after this, my dad got an old bike and decided he was going to teach our Jim to ride it! He took boy and bike onto Duncombe Road, Girlington, and set him off riding on the cobbles. He fell off umpteen times before he got the hang of it. (It's strange, but years later, when our Jim embarked on his first driving lesson, guess where his instructor took him? Duncombe Road, Girlington!)
Dad (now grandad), was very good with our Jim. He would make him a lovely bonfire at Blythe Avenue on Guy Fawkes Night. He loved the fireworks more than his grandson did! Our Bill would come home on leave and would bring loads of bangers home with him! I would make pies and peas, and we would have a high old time! (Frank never came to these gatherings, he didn't like plot night!)
I was now working on the evening shift at Bottomley's (1950's). I was back in my old job of fly spinning. I always liked it, because it was the first kind of spinning I ever learned. At first there were only two of us on this job. Just me and Lucy, a girl from Low Moor who quickly became a good friend. In those days the mills had day trips once a year to the seaside. There was always two good meals laid on, and everyone had a real good time! (None of the vandalism there is today ... We would have a drink or two, yes, but we didn't go smashing up all and sundry!)
I was feeling much happier now. I had Jim all day in the school holidays, and I could see him growing into a fine, sturdy boy. I could work with an easy mind, knowing that his dad would be at home in the evenings. Frank's family were much friendlier, and Frank's mum still doted on our Jim. Annie, (Frank's sister who was living on the farm at Calverley) now had a little girl, Susan. Some years later she had another child, Michael. Frank's brother George was now back at home with grandma. His wife, Lucy, had run off with his best friend! He packed everything and came home to his mum. He did grandma a favour really, because he brought a lot of furniture with him. Grandma had not had much chance to get anything together, when they had lived in the small flat. A three bedroomed house like the one at 15 Boltby Lane would take some filling.
Frank had another sister, Sadie. She had worked at Bailey's with Annie and myself. She had (as I have said) married and settled down in Staffordshire. She had a boy, Stanley, just a year younger than our Jim. I think it was because the other grandchildren did not live close at hand that our Jim was spoiled so much by his 'granny'.
We had happy days in those prefabs. We were only a few minutes walk from Wibsey Park and it was only about a half hour's walk to 'Judy Woods'. We would go to Wibsey Park quite often with living so near. I would take our Jim, Barbara from next door, and another little girl, also called Barbara. (Wright). I told this little girl repeatedly not to go too near the park lake, but she would still run at the edge of the lake. Needless to say, on one occasion she misjudged it and fell in! What a to do we had fishing her out! Her mum was out at work, so I had to bathe her and dry out all her clothes! Luckily for her, the water wasn't too deep! I always think about little Barbara when I go into the park now, with my little Jack Russell terrier. Many years after this incident, I was on a 'bus bound for York and this big, buxom nurse sat by me. I didn't know her, but she seemed to know me. It was Barbara! We recalled the incident and laughed about it. She had grown up into a fine young woman! Time and tide waits for no man it would seem!
Our Jim loved Judy Woods, and Shelf Woods. (He never dreamed that one day he would work in those woods for two years). He would go exploring down there with schoolmates, and would often wander rather further afield than he should have done! He would be in hot water if he came home late! It was an idyllic time, the closing years of the 1950's. One Christmas we bought our Jim a record player I recall, so he could play Tommy Steele and Lonnie Donegan records. Elvis was shaking his 'pelvis', and suddenly we seemed to be surrounded by surly youth. They were building a big secondary school across the way from our prefabs, and when it opened, the schoolkids would pass up our snicket, throwing their rubbish in the garden! Everyone seemed cocky and confident. Our standard of living was getting better, wages were rising and more consumer goods were becoming available. Jobs were plentiful, and we all seemed to be looking forward towards a period of great prosperity, a 'boom' time. We never looked back, for (unlike today), all the good things seemed to lie in the future. As the 1950's drew to a close, we knew that the better times had arrived. We also began to notice that traditional standards and values were beginning to be questioned. Of course we never realised then that this was only the thin end of the wedge!!