Posted: Fri 25 May, 2007 2:06 pm
Hello all,As a kid in the late 70's early 80's we used to laike on the old railway embankment near Tommy Wass's. It ran from the bridge on Dewsbury Road adjacent to the Parkwood estate into Middleton Woods where it disappeared. There were 2 steel bridges, one by the Parkwoods and one under the Ring Road (the one that still exists in part). I always wondered where it went to and when it shut. When they filled it in interestingly they used rubble from the old Rex Cinema and masses of concrete from.....yes, Leek Street Flats.I remember it being tretcherous. Now it has been grassed over and turned into gardens.I remember my auntie living in Leek St and the flat was always quite damp. I went to a few schoolboy parties there and I wasn't impressed. My dad can't remember the Pioneer, he only remembers the Sun, Brassmoulders and Anchor.I also remember in the late 80's going to Jack Lane institute to do Weight Lifting. We used to turn up early to watch the lasses doing gymnastics.I thought it was a great place, surrounded by rubble though it was.
& its long!I lived in The Leek Street flats practically from birth in 1973 to 1981 when we left. Our first flat was in 'Leek chase', the second(...a downstairs flat! Luxury!) in 'Rylstone Lawn'.Even though as a kid you were careful which weirdo you spoke to, 'the flats' were a great place to live, grey & ugly, but also full of other kids (and the odd angry dog)!There were plenty of grassy play areas, big enouh to get lost in...or was i just smaller..?!I remember the metal play park, with its basic, but loved slide & bars, all brightly painted, & brilliant against the grey stone-dashed backdrop.I seem to remember power cuts being an issue back then.(by the by)We finally moved in 1981, I think not very long after our flat was utterly flooded,the cause: The flat above us has somehow left a tap running in a sink with a blocked plug hole. The flat was wrecked, along with some of our stuff.I dont think very many families were still there much after that time.BTw, with ref to a post two before mine,I can vouch for the similarity between the flats & factory/office blocks on Domestic Street, Holbeck, my Mother used to work in a sewing factory in there, & as a small kid I found the similarity disconcerting!Its like a tiny microcosm of the flats!