Your growing up years

Stamford Park boating lake ...that takes me back.

My parents divorced in 1978 and it left me quite traumatised. Of course divorce was quite rare then. I tried to hide it from my friends which obviously wasn't easy.

The 70s / early 80s was a fantastic time to grow up though. I'm grateful for that.
 
Loved the 70s and 80s. I was lucky to grow up in a poor housing estate with a gazillion near feral kids. We were incredibly innocent and peaceful. No fights or bullying that I can remember but great imagination and adventures. And school was also wild and wonderful.

Behind it all though was a darkness where fathers were drunk wife beaters and teachers were abusers (mostly physically and mentally but naive rumours of being sexually too).

I loved it.
 
nimrod said:
Were they great, something you look back on with deep fondness, or were they something you don't like to think about much ?
I often think about mine with a glow, I remember the places and the things I did along with the friends I had.
It's was all about Stamford Park and it's boating lake.
I guess I was lucky.

When winds were song and the summers long, when right was right, there was no wrong.
Click to expand...

I can appreciate that. Mine was similar - but Boggart Hole Clough 'n Heaton Park. Crumpsall, Lower Blackley, Harpurhey 'n Moston were brilliant in the fifties 'n sixties! They were places that just buzzed. A shop of every conceivable kind and plenty which got yer nose pressed up against the window! We never had a pile, but made do and mended. A casey, a cricket bat made out of a bit fence, a guider. And I've made up in adult life of not having a bike when I was a kid!
 
My childhood was brilliant , I seem to remember a lot but some people say you cant remember things that young but I can as a very young kiddie of about 4 or 5 sitting on my dads bike crossbar he had a little seat and foot rest on the down tube where I would sit as we cycled around Didsbury and Burnage, he would take me to a boating pool (cant remember where). One day as mum was at work at the cakebox on fog lane I reached up unlocked the door and ran up Merlin ave and along to Parrs wood rd where a man asked my where I was going (I was 4 !) the cakebox to see my mum ! so he picked me up and took me across the road and to the cakebox shop on fog lane , quickly followed by my dad with both my brothers under each arm (2 and 6 months !) who was looking for me lol.
I don't remember much after that as we moved to Margate in kent , the only thing I remember was being left with a neighbour for the day. When my parents picked me up I moan that I was hungry mum said you should have aske for a buttie, I said I did but the neighbour didn't give me one ( I was 5 ), when mum asked the neighbour why she hadn't given me a buttie the neighbour said whats a buttie ..those where the days abck in the mid 60's !.

I was very lucky in having a great childhood long summer holidays 6 weeks at a time in cornwall loved it. I don't remember much from being a teenager . I do get feelings of guilt that I haven't been able to give kids the same happy childhood as me, what with a broken marriage and money not going far. But I hope the kids still have happy memoirs, I must have done something right as my eldest has lived with me since the break up (8yrs now ) and we are up to lots of matches, and my other two are round every weekend :)
 
nimrod said:
Were they great, something you look back on with deep fondness, or were they something you don't like to think about much ?
I often think about mine with a glow, I remember the places and the things I did along with the friends I had.
It's was all about Stamford Park and it's boating lake.
I guess I was lucky.

When winds were song and the summers long, when right was right, there was no wrong.
Click to expand...
Down Dingle Dell in Stamford Park belting around on my pushbike, Ashton Moss playing football/cricket until it was too dark to see, first kiss on what is now the Ikea site which was a disused railway goods yard.

Being a kid was great.
 
Bill the Blue said:
Really sorry to hear that Karen.. I can only form an opinion of you from your posts and I just wanted to come on here before leaving for work to say that you come across as one of life's nice people.

You have time for many on here regarding their personal issues and from what I've read, have given out a lot of help and advise.

What I have picked up being on this site is that you are well loved by many on here which is a credit to you..

The past has gone and although you seem to be falling to bits with broken bones, hospital visits and a cupboard full of medication no doubt, you come across to me as being a caring person..

If that wasn't instilled in you by your parents, it just goes to show the type of person you have grown up to be..! x


Right, off to join the traffic queue..!
Click to expand...
And that gracious post is a breath of fresh air, Bill the Blue.
 
Looking back at my childhood, i am amazed i'm still alive!
I've mentioned a few times how poor we were, so no point going over that as it never bothered me.
My mum was a battered housewife. I hated my step dad when he was drunk. Yet he was completely different sober. I couldn't figure out why my mum wouldn't just leave him.

The positives about my childhood was how much freedom i had. I was born in Withington hospital. Then spent the first five years in Gorton.
I spent my 5-10 year old life mainly in Doncaster. All i can say is wow. It was absolutely brilliant. Having no money meant we had to be inventive.

We would break into anywhere. Disused housing, railways yards. You name it, if it had a wall or tall tree we would climb it. We didn't really steal anything, it was more the adventure.
We did occasionally steal fruit/veg from farmers fields for my mum.
Apart from the normal go kart building from pram wheels, we would also make throwing arrows/catapults. We had access to airguns, and messed with shotgun cartridges.
We used to dig small tunnels underground. Looking back now i get cold sweats just thinking what would have happened if they collapsed!
My friend got run over by a train one day when we were messing at the local coal mine. We used to jump on and off the moving wagons. He lost part of his foot.
I seem to remember a lot of bonfires. Asbestos was normally thrown on to see it explode.

We had a goat and rabbits. Never saw that goat again after that big Christmas dinner???

We used to just hop on a bus and see where it went. Then randomly jump on another.
We also used to get up to stuff with a neighbours daughter. As i say, i've had bad times, but some good ones!
 
Last edited:
No money, no holidays, but always a home cooked meal on the table* every day (mainly potato based recipes, though).

Loved it.







*No plates!
 
nimrod said:
Were they great, something you look back on with deep fondness, or were they something you don't like to think about much ?
I often think about mine with a glow, I remember the places and the things I did along with the friends I had.
It's was all about Stamford Park and it's boating lake.
I guess I was lucky.

When winds were song and the summers long, when right was right, there was no wrong.
Click to expand...

still a work in progress but loved every minute growing up with my brothers and pals...

I was always adventurous and challenging, which I’m proud of myself for today!
 
They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.

But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another's throats.

Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself.

This be the verse by Philip Larkin.

My sister and I were both adopted by grownups who shouldn't have passed whatever tests there were. Very unemotional and cold. My adopted Sister had it worse than me as my dad was a sadistic bully whose sole purpose in life was to drink himself into oblivion and make life as shit as possible for her. He fucked off when I was seventeen and I left home at 18. I didn't see or speak to my sister for years and years but am now happily reconciled with her and we have a good relationship. She continued to be abused by wrong un partners until she had a breakdown from which she has completely rebuilt her life and I am very proud of her.
I have made it my life's work not to be like them. It is difficult though having lacked positive male role models but have done my very best. Think my kids would say I have been a good dad. My grandaughters defo would say I am a completely mental (in a nice way) grandad.
 
karen7 said:
I have very few memories of my childhood now,i know my dad was abusive to my mum and the middle brother and mum had told me he forced her to have me and the midle boy,she wanted only the first born,i can't remember what i remembered before my brain injury but hardly anything now,my brothers tell me it was vile,no love or cuddles,dad died when i was 21 and i don't remember him,my mum died last year not having hugged me or telling me she loved me,we had a fractous relationship
I feel i really missed out although i probably wouldn't remember it anyway
Click to expand...
You certainly don't come over like you describe your parents Karen. Lots of similarities with my own upbringing.
 
For the most part they were pretty fantastic. Aside from things like schoolwork and exams, there weren't many pressures. Wonderful parents, lovely home, chalet in Abersoch plus holidays in sun, City season ticket for my 12th birthday, allowed to go to pretty much any gig I wanted... I was lucky but at least I knew it.
 
nimrod said:
Were they great, something you look back on with deep fondness, or were they something you don't like to think about much ?
I often think about mine with a glow, I remember the places and the things I did along with the friends I had.
It's was all about Stamford Park and it's boating lake.
I guess I was lucky.

When winds were song and the summers long, when right was right, there was no wrong.
Click to expand...
After a trip round Stamford boating lake it was off to the WOODEN SPOON cafe/chippy in A-U-L with my grandad GREAT MEMORIES.
C.T.I.D
 
I was brought up by my mum and gran around Manchester/Oldam when being a single parent was frowned upon, 2 strong women in different ways , I was spoilt and yet felt I missed out on a dad and still do despite the blokes in my limited family largely bring irresponsible at best. My memories are of summer days, playing out, Blackpool,watching city, bury and lancs and a girl at school who made eyes at me and made me feel warm inside! Lucky really.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top