| From Inner Tubes To Shoemakers! One afternoon my wife, Barbara, and I were sitting in our conservatory talking about when we were children in Bucknall. I remembered one day, I must have been very young, floating about in an old inner tube on a small lake, which my memory told me was at the bottom of Barry Avenue. I couldn't quite remember the scene properly and I certainly couldn't remember Bucknall Park being there at that particular time. I don't know why, but the question of when the park opened had to be answered. Never before had I had any interest whatsoever in such things, and never could I have imagined what was to follow the answer to this single question! I was about to embark, with Barbara's invaluable assistance, upon a great journey back in time, a most enjoyable journey through intrigue, mystery and, at times, utter frustration. We were to learn of long forgotten ancestors, where they came from, what they did and sometimes how they died. All this from an old inner tube and a bit of water......and so to the tale...... I asked my father, Stan, how old I would have been when we left Barry Avenue, where I was born, to go to live in Malthouse Road. About four or five, he said, and yes, the park was there then, not sure how long. This was the start of our journey, I decided to find out exactly when the park opened. I don't know why I needed to know, it was as though something was pushing me into this first step, as though it was meant to be.... As it happens Bucknall Park was opened in July, 1956, so it wasn't there when I was floating about on my inner tube, I didn't think it was. I discovered that the park was on the site of an old sewage works, and that the big building in the centre was the original Sewage Pumping House. I had never known this and it intrigued me somewhat to think that, every day, I had walked past it with my dog, Charlie, thinking it to be just another park building. This was the start of it all, everything seemed different, I had taken the bait and I was eager for more of these revelations. I am grateful to Mervyn Edwards, whose excellent book, "Potters in Parks", informed me that the park was opened with great celebration, a Boy's Band, a tennis exhibition, a bowls competition between local clubs and a party of City Council members to do the opening. Barry Avenue was used as a "Bus and Car Park". I was nine years old at that time and I can honestly say that I can't remember a thing about it, pity, I would have loved to have the memories. As I talked to my father about the park and other matters he mentioned his own father, Alfred, a few times. I was surprised to learn that Alfred had also lived in Barry Avenue when I was a boy. I can't understand why I don't remember, or why I didn't know that he had lived at No. 61, but it's a fact. My father briefly spoke of his mother, Gertrude, who by all accounts was a refined and proud woman who sadly died in 1952, at the age of 61. I learned that Alfred married again in March, 1953, his second wife was Elsie May Wallbanks. I could sense a certain reluctance in my father to speak of these things and I decided that I should not press the matter out of respect for his personal privacy. He also told me that Alfred had brothers named Charlie, who had gone to America; Moses, who had gone to Canada; Ernie, who had lived in Fenton, and one other brother, but he could not recall his name. I had always had the impression that my father had no family, as no-one ever got in touch with us, it seemed that I was wrong. I was to find later that I was hopelessly wrong, but it's not the time to discuss that yet. Alfred also had sisters, Lottie Bates and Lydia, who my father said lived in a caravan on the Common and that he had visited her a few times, years ago. My father mentioned that Gertrude, his mother, had sisters, Ada, Minnie, Sarah, Louise and Hannah, who also lived in Barry Avenue and had taken her own life by cutting her own throat! |