Going out
We remember Granelli's window with a hatch you could get ice cream from. It only opened in the summer. You thought you were in the money if you could sit in Granelli's one night and have hot Vimto for a penny. And there was a Muffin Man who used to come round with a bike and a big basket.
Cinemas
The Victory Cinema in Varley Street was the penny crush. There was one on Palmerston Street, the Palmy we called it, and another, the Tower, on Mill Street. Some of the lads got in the Palmy for two jam jars on a Saturday morning. The Butler cinema was on Butler Street. We used to shout, "Put a penny in the gas!" when the picture broke down.
Street entertainers
There'd be a man with a horse pulling a roundabout, and you could have a ride. They'd play the spoons or the bones. How they made money we don't know, because nobody had any money.
Doctors
As soon as your mam saved sixpence, you might be ill and she'd have to pay the doctor. There must have been a man who collected money for the doctor because Ada can remember shouting at the door, to her mam, "Oh it's the doctor's man."
Playing out
We used to sit on the edgings. We'd play alleys and you'd have a 'dobber', a favourite alley that you could win with. You'd play buttons, bouncing a ball and seeing how many you could pick up. Sometimes you'd cut the buttons off your jersey or your cardigan. We used to play games like leapfrog or we'd swing around the lamp post with a rope. We used to have little concerts in the street and may queens at somebody's back door. If your mam had a lace curtain, you were lucky, you could be the queen. You'd go up and down the street and knock on everybody's door. You sang a May queen song. They'd find you a copper and you'd have a party in someone's back yard.
We used to have a May queen at school. There'd be dancing round the maypole for everyone in the school.
Joan, Ada, Edith, Mavis
Going out