Far Cotton Northampton.
The lay out of the area hasnt changed much since i lived there in 1940-1950`s.
There was most of the shops you needed for every day living. Clarks the bakers. freshly baked goods every day, Kings the butchers, meat brought from local resources. Civils the grocery store on the corner of London road and St Leonards road, named after St Leonards monastery.
From Civils grocery store, i remember rationing coupons used my everyone. only a certain amount of grocery could be purchased.
Once a week my mother would collect the meat order for her next door neighbour Mrs Lily Pearl Hulatt . She was an elderly lady and my mother and her both used the same butchers Kings in St Leonards Road.When we came home from school we took the meat order round to next door and in return was given 3d each to spend. this was our pocket money for the week. out father gave us two shilling a week. this had to be put into the bank for when we was older. I was determined to save up for a bicycle . it was to take me until I was 12 years old. I ordered the bike from a brochure from Freestons Garage at Blisworth as they was agents for Rudge company.
Moving on to 2014 and all those years have gone by . I never forgot Nanny Hulatt next door . my mother mrs Clarke had helped her out.Now a distant relation of her husband William Hulatt from Bedfordshire .Sue Hulatt has helped me by taking my dog for a walk as I am unable to do so. From a Mrs Clarke helping a Mrs Hulatt to a Ms Hullatt helping Ms Clarke. After 56 years it seems we have come a full circle.
In the1940`S and 1950`s there wasnt any traffic on the roads.
The only thing you would see was the cart and horse delivering the milk an one delivering the coal.
At weekends the man on a bicycle came round with his stop me and buy one ice cream trolley fixed to the front of his bike.
This meant we could play in the middle of the road with no problem of getting run over.
The street lights were gas lit each evening by a man with a ladder lighting the wick on the lamp.
When the council decided to change to electric , we had a electric light outside of our house.
We was able to tie a skipping rope to it and only needed one other child to swing the rope and we could play a game on skipping.
if we ate cereal for breakfast sometimes in the bottom of the packet would be toys. We wasnt allowed to have them until we had eaten it all. on the back of cereal packets . I think it was kellogs cornflakes , there was a cutout model of ladies in their traditional outfits from all around the world. This was fun to do and to dress them up with other cut out clothes. I remember having a cutout model of Muffin the Mule. This cost nothing but brought many hours of enjoyment. From the cereal packets you could make cardboard handbags. making a handle with a piece of old string.
we visitred the local small library each week to choose books. our mother would read some of the books to us. we enjoyed hearing stories from enid blyton books. most of all the famous five. with all the adventures they got up to in dorset when on holiday. we would try to copy the adventures in our own lives. we were able to do this when we visited our grandfathers farm at weekends and playing in the barn.[see more in my book, Gulliver Travels Again]
I liked to pretend that i was a shop keeper and i went to jumble sales and brough small items and broken necklaces.
I sold the beads from the necklace separately and made some money for my self.
I had an old wooden chest that i kept my toys in the kitchen .
i would drag this out to the from step and use it as my shop counter and call my friends and neighbours over to get them to buy things.
One day i exchanged some beads for a small toy clock. i still have this toy clock today, 60 years on.To entertain our selves we used old golden syrup tin. a grownup punched holes in the side and we tied string the length from our hands to our feet.these were used as stilts.If the weather wasnt good. i would sit all my dolls and teddy bear at the top of the stairs and i would be the teacher. It was good because they only sat there and never spoke unlike a class room of children.I made up my mind i would like to be a teacher at some stage of my life. It was to be, first a sunday school teacher at Blisworth , 34 years later i became a voluntary techer of genealogy. I also worked in schools as classroom assistant and head lunch time supervisor for 10 years.
More homes have been built have been built in Far Cotton, but the place hasnt been spoilt
The Rec is still there with a modern community centre.
Downstairs includes a pharmacy and and medical rooms and sport facilities .
Up stairs is an up to date library.
Rooms are let out for hire, including use for churches, wedding receptions.
The library having been transfered from the corner of Southampton Road with Towcester Road.
In the 1940-1950 , all children seem to end up playing on the Rec.
The boys played football. the girls went on the swings and slide and jazzer.
One of our neighbours was the daughter of an American service man.
We got to know when the USA AIR FORCE were going through Far Cotton on their way to Upper Heyford.
Today Upper Heyford is derelict .
It has been used for the filming of Brad Pitt new film world War Z
If we stood by in the area of old toilets they would stop the USA Army Trucks and hand use sweets and chewing gum.
To day such a thing wouldnt be safe to do.
As it was just after WW11,things was in short supply .
We was pleased to get our sweets and chewing gum.
Rationing started 1940 until 1954
Food and clothing could only be brought in small quanties.
To purchase anything a ration book had to be presented and the tokens used.
Bacon/ ham 1oz a week per person
Cheese 1 1/2oz a week, butter 7oz a week.
Cooking fat 2oz a week.meat 1s[5p] a week.
Tea 2oz a week.chocolate 4 oz a week.
Liquid milk 3 pints a week
No bananas available
We got by as my mothers parents ran a farm and we was given some food from the farm.
My father had an allotment and grew all the vegables for us.
If he wasnt at work or home he was up the allotment. I enjoyed gardening and used to sit on a small seat on the cross bar to have a ride to the allotment which was off Queen Eleanor Road.Far Cotton.
I wanted to plant something in our small back garden.
I saved a plum stone from my grandfathers farm garden and planted it near the shed. It grew into a good size tree. In 1959 we moved away and i was heart broken to leave the plum tree that i had nutured.
Coal for the open fire was expensive. On a Saturday morning we would walk round with my father and his bike, sometimes having a ride on it. We were on our way to the gas offices/ gas works opposite the gas holder where the coke was stored. We packed up the coke in a sack, paid for it and returned home.
![xST.LEONARD'S ROAD [NORTHAMPTON] (123-129 St.Leonards Rd, Far Cotton, Northampton, Northants NN4 8DN) Oct05](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4008/4248270407_5ffdb4e0c8.jpg)
