Webheath in the 1950's

I remember, as a Webheath boy in the 1950's, Ernie Cater's demolition yard. This lay behind what is now 1-3 Heathfield Court (opposite where Middle Piece Drive meets Heathfield Rd).

Caters were involved, amongst other things, in buildings demolition and the yard was where re-usable materials were stored. This was a great source of material for us kids when it came to building 'trolleys', rabbit hutches and so on. If you were very lucky you might even find an old pram there which you could buy for a few pennies and would provide the wheels and axles for a trolley.

 Scraps of timber were hauled home to Dad's shed and the first job was then to remove any nails. These nails were, where possible, straightened out for re-use (no money in those days to squander on new nails). The timber was then sawn to length, usually with a rusty old saw as we were not allowed access to good tools, and then nailed back together to make the trolley. The axle was usually secured in place with nails bent over to form a staple. The finished job was then

the source of endless days of fun racing full tilt down Botters Hill until the dozens of crashes finally rendered the thing beyond repair. Lookouts were stationed at the top and bottom of the hill to watch and listen for approaching cars before each death-defying descent.

 These trolleys also had a revenue earning potential as family and neighbours 'hired' us to move small loads. It was quite a regular trip for me to go via Musketts Way to the Gas Works in Windsor Road to bring back sacks of coke for burning in grates. I also collected sacks full of leaf mould from Pitcher Oak wood which I sold to Mr Snellgrove of the Rose & Crown for use on his pride and joy gardens at the back of the pub.

 I hope some of this will take people back to the days when kids lived mostly outdoors, regularly collected cuts and bruises, had no money to waste and were still were as happy as pigs in s**t.

 

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