Vera recalls her early life growing up in Bective Street

Resource Type: Audio | Posted on 16th September 2011 by Liam Physick

Vera tells of how she grew up in Bective Street. Describing herself as a “pensioner teenager”, she recalls the prefabs on Spofforth Road, and discusses her education

Interviewee: Vera

Interviewee Gender: Female

Interview Transcript

Ian: Where, where did you grow up?

Vera: I grew up in Bective Street.

Ian: In where, sorry?

Vera: (slowly and clearly) Bective Street.

Ian: Bective Street, and where, where was that in relation to the station?

Vera: On the corner of, well, that was down Spekeland Road.

Ian: Right, OK. What was, and what, when were you born?

Vera: (in a mischievous voice) Oh, the year, do you want to give me age here?

Ian: Yeah, go on, you don’t mind, do you?

Vera: No, cos it’s me birthday on Monday . . .

Ian: Go on.

Vera: . . . and I was born in 1940.

Ian: Wow! That’s amazing! So, so, you’re getting on a bit, so you’re seventy . . .

Vera: . . . one on Monday.

Ian: One, 71 on Monday.

Vera: Yeah, I’m the most . . . I’m a pensioner teenager.

Ian: You are very young at heart, aren’t you? (Vera giggles) So just tell me what it was like, growing up on, on Bective Street, how, what do you remember?

Vera: I can remember, obviously, playing, they let me play out with the, a young girl, a bit younger than meself, in the, you know, say about, late 40s, early 50s, til she was want to go further afield and then I couldn’t go with her! (laughs) Well, I used to play around Bective. Tell you what I do, do you know Spofforth Road?

Ian: Yeah.

Vera: Well, I can remember the, up Spofforth Road, there were, they built prefabs . . .

Ian: Yeah.

Vera: . . . on the left from Spekeland Road, you know what I mean, and we used to, used to go up there, me and me friend who I played with at the time, and get buckets of sand to play, and play with in the sand and take it in our back yard!

Ian: When they were building the maisonettes, yeah?

Vera: Oh, no, they weren’t maisonettes, they were prefabs . . .

Ian: Prefabs, sorry, yeah, right. Which school did you go to?

Vera: Well, as far as I’m concerned I, I started school when, after the War, in 1945, but I went to Webster Road for 18 months, but, obviously because I was born with me sight problem . . .

Ian: Yeah.

Vera: . . . I didn’t do much there but they pointed us into the direction to, it was at that time there was three classes for partly-sighted children, one was in Christian Street, at St. Anne’s, Christian Street in, in the town near, next door to the . . . what do you, oh, what do they call that . . . the Union Place, it’s still there, they think, the Union Place, there used to be a school there, an ordinary school but there was just one class for partly-sighted children . . .

Ian: Right.

Vera: . . . and I was there til 1952.

Ian: Right. Did you enjoy it?

Vera: Well, yeah, because that’s, that’s when I really started being taught what you’ve got to be taught in school . . .

Ian: Yeah.

Vera: . . . as far as they could do, I mean, there wasn’t available today then what there is now.

Ian: Yeah, and so when you left school, what happened then, Vera, what did you do then?

Vera: Well, as I say, from there, they put, they made a school in Norris Green, I went there til I was 16 and left school . . .

Ian: Yeah.

Vera: . . . when I was 16 . . .

Ian: Yeah.

Vera: . . . in 1956.

Ian: Yeah.

Tagged under: spekeland road, webster road, webster road school, spofforth road, bective street, norris green, christian street, spofforth road prefabs, union place, st. anne's school

Categorised under: Change & Communities

Share this page:

Comments

Remember my personal information?

Notify me of follow-up comments?