Woodbridge Place, Queenswood Drive, etc.

[bluebell]

I have got these posts on the prefab and Beckett Park threads, so forgive me for the repeats, but I thought those living in the streets named "Woodbridge ------", etc may be interested in 1947-54 period.“Our prefabs were located on the sw side of Queenswood Drive - probably near those cul de sacs named Woodbridge ......We were in digs firstly in Chapeltown 1946-47 and the prefabs completion was delayed by the appalling winter. We moved in in about April 1947 (according to my mother who is nearly 90).………………………………………….Incidentally, the bus terminus (citybound) was across the road from our prefabs - would it be no 75 service? The prefabs were scorching hot in summers like those of the late 1940s, but were cold in winter.Children did not concern themselves with damp and condensation but I remember how impressed I was when my dad got his best suit out of a bedroom wardrobe and it was bluey-green with mould!I regarded the part of my childhood spent on a post war council estate in Leeds as an idyllic time.”“My mother thinks our prefab address was 123 Queenswood Drive.Here is a picture of my mother (about 29 years old) holding a neighbour's baby which had just been christened (Alan Hind, IIRC). The picture was taken in the garden of our neighbour's prefab.My mum who is now in her 90th year, reckons this must be about1948. She says she was proudly wearing the post-war "new look", but typically for the times, she had inherited it from her brother-in-law's blonde "girlfriend" ("they were always blonde...!") of the moment!Interestingly, the embossed street sign to the left of my mother says "Woodbridge Cross" if enlarged and mirrored.I reckon from maps this is now called Woodbridge Close.Our prefab was on the southeast corner of the Queenswood Drive/Woodbridge Cross junction and our neighbour (and new baby and its brother) lived across Woodbridge Cross on the NW corner.Straight across from our prefab, the ground was still vacant with small trees and hawthorn bushes. I believe after we left Leeds in 1954 a pub was built there. "Google satellite" shows a largeish building with a car park. As I said in an earlier post, a bus terminus for into town was located across the road from us and just down the Drive. The two-storey semi-detached houses across the road (looking northeast) were being built at the time and we in the prefabs moved a few hundred metres northwest up Queenswood Drive to live in them. I was only nine when I left Leeds, but those houses were of great quality, I would say.Beyond the new houses can be seen mature trees, almost certainly within the Beckett Park estate. The fences had gaps in them and everyone walked freely in there. For us kids, it was paradise - and a refuge. Especially if the watchman on the building site found us playing among the bricks, cement, lime and other dangerous building paraphenalia and we had to run like hell!”        

[Si]

Here's an undated plan of the area from Leodis (if it loads up!!!)

[bluebell]

Thanks for that, Si.Difficult to see entirely what's going on there, but I wonder if it is a map of say late 1947 into 1950.Our prefab became available in April 1947, we think, and we moved up to the new house between 1950 and 1952 (have to grill my mum a bit more!).The map shows houses had been built over at that circular street called Foxcroft something, but there are none of the hordes that appeared further up Queenswood Drive, Queenswood Road and in Woodbridge Crescent area.    

[Si]

Hi Bluebell,Yes, there are loads more houses now. The Headingley-end ones still have their copper-covered porch roofs amazingly, and all the houses still owned by the council were recently re-roofed. On a 1906 map I have, the whole area is fields. The now closed Dutton's Arms is in the fan-shaped piece of land below the "lollipop" shaped street. Next to it (right) is a garage, and a parade of shops occupies the next vacant plot. The houses further down Queenswood Drive, towards Headingley, are "Gunner's Row." They were built to house returning soldiers of the Royal Artillery, I believe. The centre block has an RA plaque with a canon on it, and the two blocks either side have a bronze sign each reading "Gunner's Row." I don't know if you remember them? I pass this way twice a day, to and from work.

[bluebell]

Queenswood Drive/Woodbridge Crescent JunctionHere is a picture taken a few months ago in 2008.A chap on an aviation website I visit was kind enough to take it for me when I said I had lived there over 50 years ago and remember seeing an Avro Vulcan - probably on test - flying up the road towards Yeadon.We moved from our prefab further down Queenswood Drive into a brand new semi-detached house across and out of sight to the right (even numbers) in the early 1950s. The next image will be one taken in that era at the very same spot.The pillar box and even the two manhole/inspection covers in the tarmac have survived the passage of over half a century.I am the skinny kid facing the camera. My two best pals - brother and sister (Johnny & Jeannie) are the others.    

[Brandy]

ive stuck em together for you.

[Si]

Brandy wrote: ive stuck em together for you. There's something quite magical about seeing then and now pictures like this. It really brings the past to life.

[BigHonk]

Si wrote: Brandy wrote: ive stuck em together for you. There's something quite magical about seeing then and now pictures like this. It really brings the past to life. Great to see these, I lived near most of my life and went to Becketts Park School. Photos are very rare. Do you remember the level crossing over the railway to Kirkstall ?

[bluebell]

BigHonk asked:-"Do you remember the level crossing over the railway to Kirkstall ?"Sure do remember it. Had to cross it to go to St Stephen's Primary School before Beckets Park primary opened.We used to put pennies on the railway to see them bent, but usually we were too skint and put stones on the line to watch them turn into sand. Very naughty, I know!We loved the railway and one of the few times I have been warned off by a policeman in my life was when we were about seven and were standing on the line throwing stones up at conker trees near that stone bridge up at Woodbridge Place (?).My best pal was the son of a policeman who later became the top man in Leeds. I often think of those times.    

[BLAKEY]

I believe that the crossing was replaced by a subway, after two elderly ladies were killed by a train.    Can anyone please confirm this ??