Woodbridge Place, Queenswood Drive, etc.

bluebell · Post by **bluebell** » Wed 17 Dec, 2008 12:42 am

In my time (c1950-53) of using the crossing we had to wait for a complete gate across the road to open.

bluebell · Post by **bluebell** » Mon 03 May, 2010 2:42 pm

Location: Central ScotlandJoined on: 08-Nov-2008 00:37:23Posted: 30 posts # Posted on: 02-May-2010 16:25:34. Edit | Quote FROM "FAIRBAIRNS" THREAD ON "OLD BUILDINGS"http://www.flickr.com/photos/sneachda/4571128236/My father worked there 1945-54 after moving down from their foundry (?) in our home town of Dundee. He was a wages clerk who was picked to get involved in "time and study" which was becoming a big thing then.Here is link to photograph of staff dance there in 1947.I would be 2 years old then.Later, I remember attending outings at Roundhay Park and the kids' Christmas parties.My mum's best friend, Peg, was the wife of the late John Smith who worked there. She is 103 years old. Mum is only 91.We first lived in digs in Chapeltown. We had a Jewish doctor (Dr Samuel) and I can still prove it! We got a new prefab in Queenswood Drive in spring 1947. Then nice semi detached 2-storey house, firstly numbered 116 Queenswood Drive. A look at Google suggests 116 is not its number now as about 6 houses have been squeezed in after we left in 1954. Is that possible?Couple of other pics of Leeds on my Flickr site. Some of you may have seen one before.Loved my childhood in Leeds. Sadly, we had to move away after Dad died in 1954 aged 39. Top TrojanUser Location: Joined on: 22-Dec-2007 20:24:37Posted: 1727 posts # Posted on: 02-May-2010 18:28:49. Quote More herehttp://www.secretleeds.com/forum/Messages.aspx ... 1Industria Omnia Vincit Top stutterdogUser Location: farsley. leedsJoined on: 15-Jun-2009 21:16:41Posted: 341 posts # Posted on: 02-May-2010 19:55:38. Quote bluebell wrote: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sneachda/4571128236/My father worked there 1945-54 after moving down from their foundry (?) in our home town of Dundee. He was a wages clerk who was picked to get involved in "time and study" which was becoming a big thing then.Here is link to photograph of staff dance there in 1947.I would be 2 years old then.Later, I remember attending outings at Roundhay Park and the kids' Christmas parties.My mum's best friend, Peg, was the wife of the late John Smith who worked there. She is 103 years old. Mum is only 91.We first lived in digs in Clapeltown then got a new prefab in Queenswood Drive in spring 1947. Then nice semi detached 2-storey house, firstly numbered 116 Queenswood Drive. A look at Google suggests 116 is not its number now as about 6 houses have been squeezed in after we left in 1954. Is that possible?Couple of other pics of Leeds on my Flickr site. Some of you may have seen one before.Loved my childhood in Leeds. Sadly, we had to move away after Dad died in 1954 aged 39.I suppose the photo you put up is of the white collar workers at FLCB? My mother worked there during WW2 and was an overhead crane driver!I dont suppose there are any of the shop floor workers,my Mum may have been on that, if there was one. ex-Armley lad Top bluebellUser Location: Central ScotlandJoined on: 08-Nov-2008 00:37:23Posted: 30 posts # Posted on: 02-May-2010 20:28:00. Edit | Quote That is the only photograph I have.I did have a loan of bound volumes of the company magazine from way back then and there must still be plenty of them around in people's attics! Loads of photos and interesting text in them.PS - My father was a "white collar" worker but he grew up with his two younger brothers and a sister, mother and father in a 2-roomed tenement in Dundee. He was a top scholar who could have gone to university but had to go out to work at 16 for the family's financial reasons. His mother worked in a jute mill (from 14-years of age) and his father was a shipyard worker, but the order book was empty a lot of the time even when the UK was a shipbuilding nation. The women in Dundee were often the family bread-winners and are still renowned for giving the town the label of "matriarchal"!I have always been proud of my lowly roots - who wants to be able to say "my family and I have worked from the top downwards"! Top TrojanUser Location: Joined on: 22-Dec-2007 20:24:37Posted: 1727 posts # Posted on: 02-May-2010 20:50:58. Quote bluebell wrote: His mother worked in a jute mill (from 14-years of age) The women in Dundee were often the family bread-winners and are still renowned for giving the town the label of "matriarchal"! Jam, jute and journalism that's Dundee isn't it? Industria Omnia Vincit Top bluebellUser Location: Central ScotlandJoined on: 08-Nov-2008 00:37:23Posted: 30 posts # Posted on: 02-May-2010 21:29:07. Edit | Quote Jute has completely gone, like many traditional heavy industries in all of the UK. One mill remains as museum.Jam (Keillers) IIRC was taken over by Asian company many years ago - dont know how big it is.Journalism (DC Thompson Dandy/Beano, etc.) still there but you only hear about it on the Scottish news if its the anniversary of the creation of Desperate Dan or similar! (Bronze statue of DD in the city centre!) NCR almost goneValentines cards gone decades agoVeedor RooteTimex. All had their day and faded.One bright spot is Ninewells Hospital/University is centre of world excellence in medical research including into cancer.A top Dundonian for you Leeds guys is Peter Lorimer. He came from 2 streets away and as a schoolboy I can still remember reading about "local 15-year old boy signs for Leeds United"!How good must he be? I thought at the time. Pretty good, it would seem! Top TrojanUser Location: Joined on: 22-Dec-2007 20:24:37Posted: 1727 posts # Posted on: 02-May-2010 21:51:01. Quote bluebell wrote: Jute has completely gone, like many traditional heavy industries in all of the UK. One mill remains as museum.Jam (Keillers) IIRC was taken over by Asian company many years ago - dont know how big it is.Journalism (DC Thompson Dandy/Beano, etc.) still there but you only hear about it on the Scottish news if its the anniversary of the creation of Desperate Dan or similar! (Bronze statue of DD in the city centre!) NCR almost goneValentines cards gone decades agoVeedor RooteTimex. All had their day and faded.One bright spot is Ninewells Hospital/University is centre of world excellence in medical research including into cancer.A top Dundonian for you Leeds guys is Peter Lorimer. He came from 2 streets away and as a schoolboy I can still remember reading about "local 15-year old boy signs for Leeds United"!How good must he be? I thought at the time. Pretty good, it would seem! He still has a noticeable Scottish twang, although I'd have thought after nearly fifty years in Leeds he'd be an adopted Loiner by now.In the seventies half the Leeds team were Scots internationals. Indeed the Scottish team for the 1974 World Cup contained, Bremner, Lorimer, Jordan, McQueen and Harvey (I think Eddie Gray was injured at the time or he'd probably have played too)Industria Omnia Vincit Top bluebellUser Location: Central ScotlandJoined on: 08-Nov-2008 00:37:23Posted: 30 posts # Posted on: 02-May-2010 21:54:03. Edit | Quote I bet Lorimer was glad he was on the same side as Norman Hunter! Top BLAKEYUser Location: HEADINGLEY, LEEDSJoined on: 24-Mar-2008 09:12:09Posted: 1088 posts # Posted on: 03-May-2010 09:14:28. Quote bluebell wrote: We got a new prefab in Queenswood Drive in spring 1947. Then nice semi detached 2-storey house, firstly numbered 116 Queenswood Drive. A look at Google suggests 116 is not its number now as about 6 houses have been squeezed in after we left in 1954. Is that possible?Sorry to hear of how you came to leave Headingley, bluebell. I have lived in Queenswood Drive for nearly twenty years and didn't know, or have any reason to know, about extra houses being "squeezed in." I drove past 116 last night and nothing shows without previous knowledge - would you like me to make enquiries from folks have lived here for a long time ??There's nothing like keeping the past alive - it makes us relieved to reflect that any bad times have gone, and happy to relive all the joyful and fascinating experiences of our own and other folks' earlier days. Top bluebellUser Location: Central ScotlandJoined on: 08-Nov-2008 00:37:23Posted: 30 posts # Posted on: 03-May-2010 10:40:32. Edit | Quote Very kind of you Blakey.Hold it a while, though, I will try and post up what I mean by the google imagery. Top bluebellUser Location: Central ScotlandJoined on: 08-Nov-2008 00:37:23Posted: 30 posts # Posted on: 03-May-2010 13:35:19. Edit | Quote

bluebell · Post by **bluebell** » Mon 03 May, 2010 2:45 pm

Blakey, here is link to map with annotations.Copy it quick as Google/Flickr may not like use of G's satellite imagery.Please do not go to any trouble on my account for this as I am certain I am correct about numbers. I have rechecked address on letters/documents sent to 116 at that time.The Roystons were the best friends and neighbours we had, particularly at the time of my father's death. I may put up a copy of Harry Royston's obit I have from YEP many years ago.He was an ordinary bobby at that time but rose to the top.PS Feel free to show old photos of QD to anyone. PPS The bus stop into town just opposite Woodbridge Cres. was there even in 1954!

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Wed 05 May, 2010 10:50 pm

bluebell wrote: Blakey, here is link to map with annotations.Copy it quick as Google/Flickr may not like use of G's satellite imagery.Please do not go to any trouble on my account for this as I am certain I am correct about numbers. I have rechecked address on letters/documents sent to 116 at that time.. PPS The bus stop into town just opposite Woodbridge Cres. was there even in 1954! This is most intersting indeed bluebell - I've been discussing it with a few folks who are also baffled. We feel, open to correction of course, that 116 will always have been that number and not have been altered. Where the "extra" house go in an eastwards grass triangle off the main road, the numbers seem normally consecutive from 96 (city side) to 114 (after the triangle) so I feel that its always been like that.Incidentally, yes, the bus route in the prefab days was the 75 from Infirmary Street to Beckett Park.

bluebell · Post by **bluebell** » Wed 05 May, 2010 10:57 pm

Hi again, Blakey.My feeling is that the grass triangles area and houses look odd, in that I do not recall that layout. They could have been squeezed in after 1954?I am certain about "our 116" being up (NW) from the bus stop and Woodbridge Crescent.

bluebell · Post by **bluebell** » Sun 23 Sep, 2012 7:14 pm

We had a few days in Harrogate last week (September 2012) and I visited my childhood haunts of 1947-55 in Queenswood Drive, Kirkstall and Beckett Park. Will try and make time to post photos and text.Regards all.

Si · Post by Si » Mon 24 Sep, 2012 9:42 am

Welcome back, Bluebell.

bluebell · Post by **bluebell** » Mon 24 Sep, 2012 4:29 pm

Exceptional experience last week revisiting highways and byways I last trod in 1955 as a 9-year old boy.Just to resummarise:We were Dundee family. Dundee and Leeds had Fairbairns engineering. My father offered job in 1946 in Leeds.Firstly we lived in digs in Chapeltown in Hillcrest View 1946-April 1947.April 1947 Leeds City Council gave us new prefab (building held up due worst winter in living memory). 123 Queenswood Drive (opposite where Dutton Arms was built - and now being demolished!)About 1953 the magnanimous City Council gave us a just completed semi-detached 2-storey villa at 116 Queenswood Drive. (Now renumbered - I can confirm - as extra houses were later squeezed in.)October 1954 my father died suddenly at the age of 39 - he was on his way to work at Fairbairns as usual.Probably early 1955 mother and I were relocated to new flat in Woodbridge Gardens, shortly afterwards returning to Dundee. What has amazed me is the immense amount of detail I can remember of my relatively short time in Leeds between the ages of about 2 and 9. Clearly, these are very important years in one's learning and development. Some text with the photos may be of interest to those who know the area and, perhaps love it, as do I still, 57 years later, despite a few blots on the landscape! Firstly, see these amazing photos from 1950.http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?reso ... SPLAY=FULL They are of the Queenswood Drive/Woodbridge Crescent junction where the letter box was installed (see photos earlier in thread.)