Boyhood in Wartime Salford

Message 1 - Salford Central Mission

Posted on: 01 November 2005 by coljac

When war broke out we lived in oldfield brow near dunham .I dont know if my parents had a death wish but we moved from the relative safety of dunham to to salford central mission on trafford road where my dad was caretaker ,this was in 1941 .He was invalided out of the 1st WW so was not fit for callup in WW2
I went to trafford road school starting in standard 1 aged 7 .At nights the mission was opened up so people could shelter in the basement which was the snooker hall. On the roof of the mission was errected a fire watchers hut this was built on stilts and was reached by a set of wooden steps .During the summer nights i would go up to the firewatchers hut and listen to the talk which i found facinating ,there was one old man called chippy [a retired ships carpenter],who told me tails of far away places like Valperisoe /Fiji/etc you can imagine this was heaven to a 7 year old boy .
The minister Rev Howard Partington ,encouraged the Concience Objectors or the non combatent core as they were called to use the mission facilities,this i remember did not go down to well with my dad and most of the other male church members.But in time they were accepted ,many of them were artists and stage performers so as time passed they would give concerts which were of a very good standard.These conchies as my dad called them lived in huts on the docks where they worked loading and unloading ships i believe .
I remember some days when the register was taken at school,some boy would be absent and the teacher would be told [Please miss he's been bombed out ],in some cases they never returned .
The cinemas were open for business,the Empire ,The Boro,the Kings, the Dominion,,my favourite was the Boro where Jack A man in a uniform kept order by dragging misscreants out of the cinema by the scruf of the neck and banning you for a week ,this was particularly hard as we all followed the serial [Flash Gordon ] or [The Mistery Riders].I remember Frank Randle films and Geoge Fomby were always popular Salfod Hippodrome had variety and music hall with Pantomimes at christmass.Tod Slaughter frightened us all with melodamas like [Murder in the Red Barn][The Lodger]Sweeney etc
My sister worked as a shop assistant at Seamour Meads on Eccles New Road ,i remember she would bring our rations home on a Fiday night in a margerine box about 12 inches square,this kept 4 of us going for a week apart from meat from the Butchers, Green groceries, Bread and milk ,we never went short of milk as when i was 8, i had a job working at Frank Johnsons dairy ,Frank was a big red faced man who shouted a lot but he had a heart of gold .I do remember in the winter months it was so cold on the milk round .
The war years and those imediatly after were times when hardship sorrow and deprevation were part of every day life but we survived .