Tickhill and District Local History Society

Growing up in Tickhill

Betty Hill

Occasional Paper No. 10

© Tickhill and District Local History Society 2010

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Acknowledgements and notes Many thanks are due to Mrs Betty Hill for all her work in writing her memories of

growing up in Tickhill and for providing the photographs of herself. Thanks to David

Walters for his comments on a draft of the Paper edited by Hazel Moffat. Steve Payne has kindly taken several photographs and scanned all the illustrations into the text.

Most of the photographs are part of Tickhill and District Local History Society's

digitised collection. Where others have allowed us to copy their photographs, they are

named beside the appropriate photographs.

Some of Mrs Hill's memories about her time at the school run by the Misses Goodwin

have appeared in the Schools' section of the Tickhill and District Local History

Society's website, but are included here for the sake of completeness. Further general

memories recorded by Mrs Hill can be read in the Living Memories section of the

website at <http:/www.tickhillhistorysociety.org.uk>

Mrs Hill refers in several places to our old currency, for example: 1/- (one shilling) =

5p and 1d (one penny) which was one twelfth of a shilling. 20 shillings made one

pound. She also refers to our imperial weights system, for example 1 oz (ounce) was

one sixteenth of 1 lb (pound) where a pound is the equivalent of about half a kilogram.

Cover photograph: Betty aged ten

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Growing up in Tickhill

Introduction

Betty Hill, née Rawson, was born in Tickhill

in 1915 and grew up in the family home in

Westgate with her parents, Ethel and John, her sister Joan and brother Roger. The

Rawsons were a long-established firm of

builders, employing many local people and

building in brick and stone, including

undertaking repairs to St Mary's Church. A permanent reminder of this building work is

in the naming of Rawson Road with its mixture

of council and private houses built by the

Rawsons. Various members of the Rawson family in the 19th and early 20th Centuries also

played leading roles in local life. Mrs Betty Hill

When she reached school-age, Betty went to the small private school run by the Misses

Goodwin on Northgate, then at age eleven she moved to Doncaster High School. In 1936 Betty married Ronald (Ron) Hill who had also grown up in Tickhill. In 2009

Ron's memories of his schooldays in Tickhill were published posthumously in this

Occasional Paper series. It is with great pleasure that Tickhill and District Local

History Society now publishes Betty's own memories providing a different perspective

to Ron's and revealing many aspects of life in Tickhill with great clarity and humour.

After reflecting on her time in primary school, Betty describes leisure time often spent

with her friend Molly Fullwood then outlines job opportunities for local people and

general living conditions in the 1920s. She finally returns to the theme of how spare time was spent with a great deal of live entertainment and sport. Local landmark events

provide a backdrop to some of Betty's memories from the coming of electricity in 1926

and mains water the following year to a terrible explosion at Maltby Colliery in 1923

and the miners' strike three years later. Each section of Betty's memories is illustrated

with photographs.

This photograph shows Betty's family

home at 16 Westgate, built by the

Rawsons for Betty's parents to move

into when they married in 1912. Betty's uncle and other relations lived

next door in the much older property

at 14 Westgate. The family's builder's

yard was nearby at 20 Westgate.

Betty's home had a garden beyond which was a field (the croft)

stretching to Pinfold Lane. It was on

this land bordering Pinfold Lane that a

modern house was built where Betty's sister, Mrs Joan Wilcox, lived.

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Betty Hill's memories

I started school after Easter 1920 at the Misses Goodwin's School, which at that time

was held in the Parish Room. (It had been going for some time but I don't know how

long.) My cousin Edna Jarvis went from 1907-1914. Miss Nellie would have been

about 29 in 1907 and Miss Grace, I think about 5 years younger. They had both been to the National School in Tickhill (the Big School). Latin and Algebra were taught by

Mr Dixon to those intending to be teachers and Mr Greenhough taught Elementary

Science, but French was not taught so Miss Nellie must have been to some after-school

classes for she taught French to 8+ pupils. Miss Grace had been on a short course to

learn to teach small children. Phyllis and Beryl Kirkland followed each other as assistants and helped with the younger ones. Zillah Crossland, the photographer's

daughter, came to play the piano for exercises and singing. We mainly sang hymns

from 'Golden Bells', which was a hymn book the Wesleyan Chapel had finished with.

I well remember being taken on the first day by my brother Roger and given a seat on the platform next to a sweet looking little boy in a sailor suit called Peter. He was even

shyer than I was so we both stayed silent. This changed when Molly started later in the

term and from then on we were inseparable. Often we were called by each other's

names and we answered to either. We started with slates (I still remember the screech the slate pencils made) and copy books. These were double lined with a pot hook or

other curve or a stroke at the beginning of each line. The slates were usually used for

sums.

Miss Nellie was only at school for the first part of both the morning and the afternoon. She was Governess to Barbara Brooksbank [at Sandrock House] in the morning and

Jean Cayley [at Renong, Westgate] in the afternoon. At school she taught the older

children up to 14 or 15 English, Arithmetic, Scripture and French plus Geography and

History. She left work for them to do for the rest of the time. She taught Grammar to a

very high standard: when one boy went to Doncaster Grammar School, Mr Caxton told his parents that he was always pleased to get boys from the Miss Goodwin's School as

they were always thoroughly grounded in Grammar and so were able to pick up Latin

much more easily.

Miss Nellie and her younger sister Miss Grace Goodwin are shown here with their

pupils. They charged modest fees for attendance at their school. A receipt surviving from 1931 in Miss Maud Ashmore's possession shows a charge of £2/2/- for a quarter's tuition for two pupils, Maud and her twin sister Eunice. Small additional charges were

made for books.

5

We always looked forward to 3 pm when Miss Grace settled us down to Sewing,

including the boys, though they occasionally did simple Craft Work, and then read to

us. The books were alternately chosen by her and by anyone who brought a suitable book. I remember being enthralled at 7 years old by 'The Old Oak Staircase', a Cavalier

and Roundhead adventure, and when I was 10 by 'Cranford'. No small children's books

were read. Miss Grace read really well, breaking off occasionally to attend to a sewing

problem. Poetry and Painting were also popular. Again the choice of poems was also

alternate. For our choice the bookshelves contained the works of Tennyson and Longfellow and various small collections. We learned anything from Milton (top class)

to 'The Village Blacksmith'. Painting included producing Christmas Cards for several

weeks before Christmas.

The platform was very much used, partly for extra desks when the school was full, for

Singing and Exercises and usually twice a year for concerts; Mothering Sunday plays

and concerts in aid of Missionary Societies were the most frequent. The best acted was

Mrs. Jarley's Waxworks with Anice Clarke as Mrs. Jarley, Jack Willoughby as her

assistant and my brother enjoying himself whipping up customers. Jack was very tall and could move the living, but very stiff, waxworks about. Most of the rest of us were

rather wooden actors, but we never forgot our lines.

One of the performances given by the pupils of the Misses Goodwin's School

Learning from memory was very well practised. The only homework we had was

learning by heart. We had Spellings to learn by heart several times a week, a summary of the History or Geography we had been doing and at weekends we had from 2 to 12

verses of the Bible to learn according to age. I once got 6d (a fortune) for reciting The

Sermon on the Mount without a mistake and Eileen Kitchen and I tied 1st for finding

most names for God in both the Old and New Testaments. Scripture was an important

part of the day. It started with prayers, then a Bible reading for the older ones and Bible stories for the rest. On Monday Miss Nellie gave a lesson on the Reading and explained

it in a surprisingly undogmatic way. I think we all enjoyed that lesson. There was

Grace at Dinner time and a short prayer at hometime.

Sometimes Miss Grace would take us for a Spring walk. One day the boys saw a ladder

against a stack in Wilsic Lane and climbed up. When told to come down they all did

except Roger who resisted all attempts to get him down. At last Miss Grace sent me up.

No problem; I went up and said 'If you don't come down I shall tell Daddy'. He came.

We were 5 and 7 at the time.

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I think people expected children who went to a Private School to be well-behaved. We

were not always. One day the big ones, mostly boys, but some girls too, put the 7-10

years old in the cellar which was very dark, locked the door and told them of the blood-curdling things that would happen to them. Loud screams alerted Miss Grace

who rushed down, jacket flying behind her, to let them out. The culprits wished they

had never done it, when she had finished with them. Usually for punishment it was

generally a tap on the knuckles or, only for bad behaviour, the cane; mostly for boys

but occasionally for girls. For really persistent talking we were kept in.

Molly, Myra and I were kept in for talking one day. After ten minutes, Miss Grace said

we could go when we had said we were sorry for talking. Myra immediately did as she

was told and went home. Molly and I sat mute. Miss Nellie came back then and she tried to persuade us without success. Eventually they had to let us go as we were due at

a painting class in Doncaster. Once outside we turned to each other and said, 'Wasn't

Myra awful telling a lie like that, we've had a lovely afternoon talking. How can we be

sorry?'. Well they had always taught us to tell the truth and children always think of

their point of view. If Miss Grace had told us to say sorry for being a nuisance to her we would have done .

Punishment at the big school in Mr Dixon's time was generally more severe. My Father and Miss Nellie were in the same class there and he told me that Miss Nellie had to hold

a big pile of slates above her head for saying one word. After a short time she fainted

and of course many of the slates smashed.

The small yard was our playground; for 40 children much too small and

there was always fighting for space

or girls against boys and we little ones

had to look after our selves. Sometimes

we had someone from the big school come for a term because they had been

ill, or like Lenny Longhorn, who came

when he had a leg temporarily in irons.

I don't think they were any safer in our playground. On wet days we were given

'The Children's Newspaper' to read. The small yard behind the Parish Room

In the corner was the bucket lavatory with newspaper squares on a string for toilet

paper. I don't remember anyone washing their hands at the stone sink after a visit. There was no outbreak of an infectious disease while I was at the Parish Room,

although there were two epidemics of Scarlet Fever after we moved, which affected all

three schools and one of Diphtheria which we escaped (both killing diseases in those

days).

There used to be three crossing places. I think they were originally laid down and kept

swept to enable people to avoid the mud and animal droppings. They were made of a

single row of York stone flags. One was in the Market Place almost opposite St. Mary's

Gate, the second was across Sunderland Street from the end of the Infant School lane

and last, there was one crossing Northgate opposite Weardale gates which was just right for The Parish Room. There was no need for any children from any of the schools

to cross the road anywhere else. It was impressed on us to use them.

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I think that most of us were happy at our little school, except perhaps my cousin

Dorothy who was left-handed. In those days children were made to use their right hand

and as often happens this started her stammering badly, an impediment she never got rid of until she was involved in running the pensioners' club.

Miss Nellie was a born teacher. She had no difficulty in controlling her class, mainly by assuming we were all well-mannered and wanted to learn and by treating us almost

as grown-ups. I was appalled to find, at the High School, we had to put our hands up

and ask to leave the room as if we were small children. In Miss Nellie's class we just

said, 'Excuse me' and went.

Miss Grace was a very good story-teller and reader, though we thought she was too

fond of death-bed scenes and when I read Dickens later, I was pleasantly surprised that

he wasn't always describing scenes like the death of Little Nell and Paul Dombey. She was generally patient and persevering with slow readers.

In 1922 the Misses Goodwin's school moved from the Parish Room to a newly built

wooden hut at the side of their home, Chestnut Cottage. I remember when we moved to this wooden building. Everyone carried something. Our group was given books to

carry. I think the older ones carried chairs and tables, but probably help was needed for

the desks. All was in the new school by the end of the day. I think we were sorry to

leave the historic building: every pupil knew its date and the uses it had been put to, but the excitement of the new made us soon forget it.

The hut was heated by one upright paraffin stove squeezed in between the piano and the

table where the 8 year olds sat. It was never knocked over and I never remember feeling cold. We now had separate playgrounds, boys at the front, girls at the back. The single pail closet was in the girls'. As was usual with schools then, it was not thought necessary to supply water to wash hands. In fine weather the girls were sometimes allowed to play in the garden.

Outings were a visit to Roche Abbey. The three mile journey was by flat dray for the children and a carriage for the Misses Goodwin and a few of the oldest

girls. We explored the area, had sandwiches and cakes sitting at trestle tables outside, wished at the wishing well, played organised games, and went home

very satisfied with our treat. One year we were taken to Doncaster to see 'The Ten Commandments' at the cinema. It began as expected with a spectacular rendering of Moses leading the Israelites out of

Egypt and receiving the Ten Command- ments, but after that it switched to modern times to show the commandments being broken, mainly concentrating on the 7th. Roche Abbey was a popular I don't think our teachers had expected that. destination for trips from Tickhill

Everybody had a prize at the end of the year. It must have been quite a puzzle to find a reason for some children. Most of my work was too badly written and ink-blotched to be worth one, so I always got the Scripture Prize for which we did no written work.

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Much as we enjoyed school, Saturdays were the best time. At 10 years old my birthday present was a bike. My mother got me going and then my cousin Godfrey took over. He took me on long rides and encouraged me to pedal fast down a hill, resulting in my

crashing into a wall at the bottom. Soon afterwards my friend Molly got a bike and we went for miles around. Of course there wasn't much traffic then. We often biked to the pictures at Harworth where the handsome blacksmith had changed his leather apron for a dinner jacket and welcomed every customer at the entrance.

In winter there was always skating on frozen

flooded fields down the Low Grounds and sometimes on the Castle fish pond which was

quite deep. If the frost was very hard, word

came from Lord Scarbrough that the Sandbeck

Hall lake was bearing and that gave us much more space. Sledging took place in the Friary

field or opposite on Friars Hill. The second was

steeper but the first was longer, and I remember

three of the older boys made such a good run

that they landed in the stream (the Denaby Wife Dyke, otherwise known as Paper Mill Dyke,

which runs into the Torne in the 'black lands').

Skating on the Castle fish pond

In our early teens Molly's father (clerk to the Urban District Council, rate collector and gas meter emptier - pennies only at first, then shillings too) decided to become a farmer

and took the tenancy of Moorhouse. The moor here is a marsh and the house itself

stands on a hillock of sandstone like the Castle mound and Sandrock, all outliers of the

extensive Nottinghamshire Bunter sandstone. So now we had more acres and buildings to explore. Highlights were helping to pull a cow out of a ditch and fishing Molly's

young brother and his friend out of a filthy pond.

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After the First World War, jobs for girls were rather limited. Apart from those who went

to Doncaster High School (founded 1911) the main opportunity was domestic service. Some of the brighter girls went nursing or worked in shops (7/- a week for a probationer

living in, 5/- a week for an apprentice dressmaker in a big ladieswear shop, 26/- for a male

shop assistant, less for a woman). Most of the rest went into service at 14 years old,

starting as a 'general' at 4/- or 5/- a week and all meals. Hours were 7 am to 5 or 6 pm with an hour off in the afternoon and every other Sunday afternoon. In my experience

they ate whatever the family ate and plenty of it, but it was hard work. A washerwoman

came for the day, 8 am to 6 pm, for 3/6 a day and all meals, and the copper was filled and

its fire lit for her. She handled heavy wooden wash tubs in the sink and used 'peggy legs'

in a big zinc tub to agitate the clothes, and of course a big wooden-rollered mangle.

When a girl had done about two years as a general, she often left 'to better herself'. That

is she either went to one of the few big houses where there was more company or went to London, getting a place either through Mrs Betteridge's (retired Castle cook) domestic

agency or through the Atkinson-Clarks at the Castle who spent the 'season' in London.

London wages were a good deal higher. One girl I knew was getting 29/- at about 21

years old and of course living in.

When Jane Hanson (later

Mrs Fullwood) went for a

housemaid's job at

Mrs Todd-Naylor's, she was

asked her name. 'Jane' she said. 'Oh, that won't do', said

Mrs Todd-Naylor, 'it's not a

suitable maid's name. Have

you another name?' 'Harriet'

was the reply, 'That will do, will you be Harriet?' Mrs Todd-Naylor in a Saxton's carriage

© Ken Kimberley

A few girls worked on the land and some married women went potato picking and pea-

picking. Bird's Eye didn't come and pick the pea crop by machine! It was hand-picked

onto a pony dray. Mr 'Teddy' Brookfield brought his round door-to-door selling peas by

the peck and half peck (a standard bucket and a half-sized bucket). But most women

didn't work outside the home.

The potato-pickers take a short break

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The biggest employers for men were the pits - Maltby at first and then joined by Harworth when it opened in the 1920s. There were no pit-head baths in those days, so

the miners came home with their clothes, hands and faces covered with coal dust. Most had to wash by the kitchen fire in a galvanised tin bath usually kept in the back yard.

Wives would wash the men's backs which were pitted with coal dust. Getting coal dust

out of the clothes worn in the pit was donkey work - women's hands were chapped and

raw. Most men used their daylight hours outdoors, either gardening or sitting outside,

some of them squatting on the pavement outside their houses. The free coal allowance was 1 ton a month of London Brights (top grade) for officials - including the head wages

clerk which was my father-in-law's job - and rather less for miners. A small charge was

made for delivery. The coal was just dumped in the road, so often it was up to the wives

or older children to get it in.

At that time, if you went up Apy Hill Lane (Apield Lane) on a clear day seven pits could

be seen, so everyone's washing was liable to be soot sprinkled. I think it was about 1922

[28 July 1923] when there were two big explosions at Maltby Pit. I remember hearing

the second while near the church in Tickhill. There was a loud explosion followed by

rumbling. There were many miners killed and many of the rescue party too in the second explosion who were also mostly miners.

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Agriculture still accounted for many workers. Tractors were slow to be introduced and

they were the only new machinery. Traction engines had been about since the

19th Century - there were two in Tickhill - Moores and Taylors and were used for threshing. Horse-drawn ploughs, harrows and reaper-binders were still the norm, and

sheaves had to be stacked by hand and hay-cocks and stacks built. As stacks grew higher

three men were needed. I remember an apprentice bricklayer, pressed into stacking,

laying the sheaves like bricks so that the corn was exposed. Only in the big arable fields

of Lincolnshire and East Anglia was it economic to hire two traction engines to pull the plough or other implement between them across the field. We could see them sometimes

on the way to Skegness.

Building was the same - no electrical tools, and mortar and cement were mixed by hand. I remember when my father got the first concrete mixer. Few jobbing builders had even

a small van - just a hand cart. Nothing was bought ready-made in our firm. Windows

and doors were made to order in the joiner's shop, wood being seasoned in a four-storey

open-sided woodshed. Lime was slaked in a shed kept locked when the water had been

added. We got a petrol driven circular saw when I was about 9 years old.

Photograph © Andrew Clarke

The firm of R H Rawson and Son became Tickhill Builders when Betty's brother opted

not to join the business. Four other tradesmen then became partners. The yard's

private office was in the house at 14 Westgate where employees came on a Friday afternoon to be paid.

Even those who didn't work on farms often kept a few hens and a pig and grew vegetables. My father had a small farm as well as the building business he shared with his

brother, who was also a tithe collector, a job I did (under his supervision) when I left

school. It was not onerous - demands were sent out yearly by post. Amounts ranged

from one penny to several pounds for the two big landowners: the King in his right of the

Duchy of Lancaster and Lord Scarbrough. On hearing that the post of Urban District Surveyor was to become vacant, my father bought a theodolite, etc and a book on

surveying. He applied for and got the job.

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Another little job I was given by my father was rent collecting, I had about 30 houses on my round. Some

built when my grandfather was still running the firm

were well-built with reasonably sized rooms:

kitchen/dining with coal fired range, scullery and parlour, and three bedrooms. These paid about 14/- a

fortnight. Some properties my father was agent for

were cottages in a poor state. The cheapest was 5/- a

fortnight and had only one up and one down. Others

had a scullery and two bedrooms, one of which was open to the stairs. The one-up, one-down had no

garden, neither had my grandfather's houses which I

could never understand.

The east side of Rawson Road where Betty once collected rent

There was spare land where anyone from the houses could have a small allotment but a brick wall enclosed the back yards so the allotments couldn't be seen from the houses.

Several 'yards' such as Clarel Hall Yard in Westgate and Bradley Square in Northgate

were very run down, and a house in Westgate between Bank House and Clarkson's shop

was three steps lower then the pavement although the house was right up to it. It was

frequently flooded and was eventually condemned.

Lighting was by gas or oil lamps. The Gas

House where Mr Hodkin the manager lived

was opposite the Toll Bar cottage in

Sunderland Street and the gasometer was behind the house. I think I was in my early

teens when the electricity came. Eddie

Preece who worked in his father's garage

later took on the job of electrician. One day at our house he was hanging from the flex

and obviously in pain. He then dropped to

the floor and explained that he hadn't been

able to let go. I don't know whether he had

forgotten to switch off the current or didn't know it was necessary. The Gas House, now a private residence

Mains water came I think a year or two earlier. Much more convenient but not nearly so

nice to drink although, as it came from an artesian well sunk in limestone, it was better than most tap water. Before that we had got water from our own well via a hand pump in

the yard. There was another pump in the washhouse which pumped the water to a tank in

the roof and from there to the bathroom taps. We were supposed to give it 30 pumps a

day each.

Although there was a bath in the bathroom, there was no hot water and we children

used the hip bath by the kitchen fire. Luxury - with its high back to keep any draughts off

your back and the fire in front of you, it was a pleasure. Not so when I was banished to the bathroom with a can of hot water ladled from the boiler by the side of the fire which

heated it. One can of hot water poured into a cold bath along with the cold water from

the taps didn't encourage me to linger.

13

News came to Tickhill much more slowly than today. As the election results were expected, little groups stood outside my uncle's house where the office telephone was,

and from time to time someone would go to the door and ask for the latest news. To get it my uncle would ring one of the candidate's agents. Then the crowd would disperse to

spread the news.

My father remembered as a boy of 6 years old the magnificent sunsets following the Krakatoa eruption and that no-one knew the cause for several days, although the news of

the eruption reached London very quickly by cable and presumably scientists realised at

once that the ash was the cause of the sunsets.

Before my time the Post Office on the corner of Market Place and Sunderland Street was run by Mr Lye but when I remember it his daughter Louisa was postmistress

helped by her sister Bertha. Louisa was very strict. No getting away with missing our full

stops in telegrams or having insufficient sealing wax on registered letters. In the latter case you were sold a stick of wax and Miss Louisa lit a candle and watched sternly while

you made a blob big enough to come up to her standard. Bertha was much gentler.

Doris Gleadall, whose mother was Eleanor Kimberley, was the assistant and manned the

switchboard.

The Post Office run for many years by the Lye family

The carriers still ran a regular service from Doncaster and there was one to and from

Retford once a week. Mr George Taylor of Bawtry picked up passengers and parcels on his horse bus running between Bawtry and Masbrough station, Rotherham. When I was

still quite small I was put on his bus outside the house. Going up Limestone Hill he used

to zigzag across the road to make it less steep for the horse. At Masbrough Mr Taylor

took me to a small tobacconist's shop, where there were two or three tables at which drinks were served, and ordered a cup of cocoa for me and told me to wait while he

stabled his horse. That done, he collected me and we went on the train to Sheffield

where my grandfather was waiting for me. I took it all as a matter of course and wasn't

the least bit worried.

14

Most women made their own bread in those days with fresh yeast sold by most grocers and using half and half white and wholemeal flour (usually called grist). The latter was

cheaper than the former, now it's dearer. But Jarvis's employed a baker and did quite a

good trade in bread, buns and fancies. One housewife was so exact in her requirements

that she always sent for 1 oz and 1d worth of yeast.

An early photograph of Jarvis's grocery store

The muffin man came round weekly in his high dogcart, ringing his bell and calling 'Muffins, pikelets and oatcakes'. The last were the big floppy sort which were either

fried in bacon fat for breakfast or heated in the oven and buttered for tea.

Block dates were remarkably cheap. Mr Colbeck used to get a block of pressed dates

measuring, I should say, 1 foot cube. For 2d we got a big chunk cut from the block. I don't remember any tomatoes being sold in any shops. If you had a greenhouse you

could grow your own, otherwise find someone who grew more than they needed and

would sell you some.

I heard no mention of any foreign cuisine. There was of course imported food: Canterbury lamb and butter from New Zealand, Canadian Red cheese and Edam (both

very cheap), Gorgonzola from Italy, Jonathan apples from Canada, and food we couldn't

produce here such as tea, coffee, spices, citrus fruits and bananas. I had my first

grapefruit when I was ten years old, never having heard of them before.

Although food was cheap (Edam 4d a lb, herrings ld-2d according to size, a rabbit 4d,

sugar 2d for 2 lbs, bread 4½ d a 2 lb loaf), wages were low and the dole was much worse.

If a man wasn't eligible for the dole, he could apply for 'parish relief' which wasn't

enough for basic food, never mind rent, and some wouldn't put themselves through the humiliation of applying.

The miners' strike of 1926/7 brought real hardship and a soup kitchen was opened for

the miners' children. Volunteers kept some of the buses running and I remember one bus

which was carrying mainly schoolchildren was stoned in Langold and a girl (a miner's daughter) was cut across her cheek.

15

Spare time was pretty well cared for. There seemed to be dances most weekends, usually

preceded by a whist drive. The Library was always full for these events run by different

organisations to raise funds. Charlie Timpson, the cobbler, and his band played for the dances: foxtrot, waltz, military two-step and occasionally Charleston and tango. Socials

were also quite popular, such as games, singing and music by volunteers. Stanley Lane

was very popular with a rendering in the style of Handel of the single sentence 'Jimmy

Law lend me your saw'. Once a year we had a raconteur, Mr Harrison-Slater from

Derby, who generally recited a Dickens story. His only props were a chair and a small table, but he was as good as a stage full of actors with all the appropriate backgrounds.

One minute he was speaking in the high pitched voice of Little Nell and the next he was

the menacing Quilp. I think the only non-Dickens was 'The Barretts of Wimpole Street'

which was very much appreciated. All these events were also held in the Library.

The main room in the Library was meant by Henry Shaw (who left the money for it) to

be a Library and the committee thought it would be a good idea to have a room above it

to let and so provide the money for the upkeep of the building. However, when my

grandfather drew up plans and costed them, he found it couldn't be done for the money,

so it was decided to use the main room for letting and have the library and reading room in one of the two small rooms at the back. The books, which occupied two shelves of a

cupboard, came out one evening a week. Not quite what Mr Shaw had envisaged, I

think.

The Library with its stage at the end opposite to the front windows. The Parish Magazine for November 1925 noted that Mr Harrison-Slater was appearing

at a meeting of the Literary and Social Society in the Library to give a recital on 'David Copperfield'. Reserved seats cost 2/- (6d for members of the society), unreserved seats

cost 1/-. Mr Harrison-Slater returned in November 1926 for a recital on 'A Tale of Two

Cities', and two years later performed 'Oliver Twist' in the Library. The price of seats

remained the same in each year.

16

The Parish Room was used for smaller gatherings. Afternoon whist drives were held and

the Church Literary Society met there monthly. Talks were not only about literature but included occasional music talks and travel slides. We had play readings, including

'Macbeth' which was attended by someone (brought by his fiancée) who was involved

with London theatres. At the end he said the best performance was the 3rd witch. As this

had been read by the person reading Lady Macbeth, she didn't quite know whether to be

pleased or mortified at having the minor role praised and her main effort ignored.

One talk was given by the vicar's (Mr Booty) wife's brother whose work had taken him all round the world. He was a brilliant speaker and, when he finished after two hours, we

begged him to continue but he said he must go and get his supper but, if we liked, he

would continue the next night. We did like and all turned up and more too to listen for

another 1½ hours. Mrs Booty too was a very good speaker.

Earlier the travelling players headed by the Livesey family came every year and by all

accounts produced plays of a very high standard, both of content and performance. By

my childhood we only had seaside concert parties who came round villages in winter.

The only item I remember was of a chorus swathed in sheets and singing 'Oh my

Egyptian mum, mum, mummy, she used to rub my tum, tum, tummy'. Definitely not up to the Livesey's standards.

Just like the Library, the Parish Room once had a stage. It was situated at the southern end of the room and had a piano on it donated by Miss Alderson. The photograph shows

the Room decorated with produce ready for a Harvest Festival held for the navvies who

built the local railway during 1906-8.

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Sport was well catered for. There was a mixed hockey team before the First

World War, football on a ground in

Lindrick Lane, two tennis courts from the 1930s between Westgate and Pinfold

Lane just below the doctor's (whose house

was called Renong because it was the

name of a Malaysian rubber producer that

Dr Caley had invested in and had done so well that he was able to have the house

built).

The mixed hockey team

I don't know where athletics were practised but there were plenty of entries for the sports organised for the Tickhill Show day and annual sports at Sandbeck. My

grandfather entered the pole vaulting at the latter and was expected to win but was disqualified. He was so cross that he took his pole and cleared the bar with a foot to spare

and landed on the step of the carriage containing Lord Scarbrough (Aldred) and his wife

and after a hasty apology went home. My father won a set of EPNS [silver-plated] fish

knives with ivory handles for coming second at Tilting at the Ring at the show.

But cricket was our famous sport. We had a beautiful ground and Sir Archibald White, who lived at the Castle [1908-11], was Yorkshire cricket captain at a time when Yorkshire had a habit of winning the county championship. One year [14 September

1912] he brought the Yorkshire team here to play Tickhill, including Rhodes, Robinson,

Hurst and Kilner. This was early in the century but it was still talked about. My father, not

a noted bowler, bowled Rhodes out first ball on practice. My mother and aunties

provided the teas.

Sir Archibald White when he captained the Yorkshire XI.

The photograph is taken from A W Pullen's 'History of Yorkshire County Cricket Club 1903-1923'. Philip Scowcroft has described the social aspect of the Yorkshire XI's visit

to Tickhill in 1912: 'Lunch was served at the Scarbrough Arms - at White's expense of

course - and Lady White entertained 250 guests to afternoon tea in a marquee on the

ground ('which was in excellent order') to the strains of the Maltby Main Band. Both

teams then dined at The Millstone Inn…A concert followed and the next day the cricketers were shown round Tickhill Castle…'

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The May Queen ceremony took place in the Market Place with the Queen (chosen by

vote from the top classes at the 'Big School') on the throne under the dome of the Cross

and her attendants ranged on the steps. After the Queen was crowned there was singing and maypole dancing. The fair in October was in the same place. The vicarage side was

closed to traffic and only a narrow passage left on the south side of Sunderland Street.

The fair in the Market Place

Sometimes Bostock & Wombwell’s Menagerie came, also to the Market Place. A lion and a tiger were in cages which only allowed them to take three steps, and so they

walked up and down roaring angrily. We could still hear them in our bedroom in

Westgate and just hoped they wouldn't escape and get us.

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There were Scouts intermittently and Guides run by Cynthia Atkinson-Clark, Queenie (Victoria Alexandra)

Guest and Ruby Atkinson-Clark. At the summer camp in

1927 these guiders were aged 18, 20 and 16, and the

company had been going several years and the first guides had become rangers. Later, Ruby ran Cubs and

Rangers, not Guides. Mrs Mitchell succeeded when

Cynthia got married, then Madge Ling and myself, Katie

Jeacock, Jessie Newborn and finally Delia, the longest

serving by far.

Betty aged 19

There was also a Girls' Friendly Society, but the Temperance Society with its 'Signing the Pledge' and anti-drink songs had gone.

Looked forward to by all ages, was the Show. Held in a large field next to the cricket field,

this was a large agricultural show where the working horse section always attracted a big entry and audience to see the handsome animals with their glossy coats, newly washed

feathering covering their shiny hooves, manes and tails washed, brushed and tied with

coloured wool braid, and shining harness and brasses. A gymkhana followed with

children entering from a wide area. Then there were the flower and vegetable tents, with classes for professionals, amateurs and cottagers. On the cricket field there were

interschool sports and, outside the rails, ice cream carts and stalls. I think it was the best

show for miles around.

A view of the showground before the First World War

But in 1922 a disastrous downpour and resulting flood washed everything out. Farmers helped to rescue cattle from the Castle fields and many houses were flooded, especially in

Market Place and Lindrick. My great-grandmother having a nap by the kitchen fire woke

to see food from the larder floating towards her. My uncle, seeing Miss Barlow-

Massicks in the Friary field in trouble while trying to get her hens in, lived up to his reputation as a ladies' man and carried her back to the house. The rain cleared by 7 pm

and my cousin Edna took me on her shoulders a little way down Water Lane. The stream

and lane were indistinguishable and the high bank opposite was only just clear for her to

walk on.

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Finally, there were frequent air shows round about wherever there was a big enough field, with airmen walking on the wings and picking up handkerchiefs while hanging

from the wing of a low flying plane. We cycled enthusiastically to these events and generally came home with the pilots' autographs. One year a plane landed in the field in

Water Lane near to Lindrick House and took two passengers at a time for a short flight

for 2/6 each. It had an open cockpit and I think was perhaps a Tiger Moth. My uncle took

me up. Later Sir Alan Cobham took a 12-seater plane to Doncaster Town Fields, and my

mother took me and my sister Joan on a rather longer flight. My first flight was at Skegness where Molly and I went in a Puss Moth from near Roman Bank to the beach

and back, flying low enough to wave to mother and Joan. For 5/- a head we were into the

modern technical age.

Flights from Water Lane

One of Sir Alan Cobham's aircraft. The first aircraft flight in England was made by M. Delegrange over Doncaster Race Course on 16 October 1909

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Other publications in the Occasional Papers series

1. Some Highlights of Tickhill’s Musical Past, Philip Scowcroft, 2

nd Edition 2009

2. Tickhill’s Mizendew: A History of Tickhill’s Almshouses, Hazel Moffat, 2007 3. Eastfield Farm 1925-1955, Jessie Newborn, 2007

4. Life in Late Victorian Tickhill based on Extracts from the Parish Magazines, 2008

5. Life in Edwardian Tickhill based on Extracts from the Parish Magazines, 2008

6. Memories of Tickhill Schooldays in the 1920s, Ronald Hill, 2009

7. Around St Mary’s Churchyard: Stories behind selected gravestones, 2009

8. By road and rail: A brief history of Tickhill’s transportation, Philip Scowcroft, 2010

9. Tickhill in the 1960s based on newspaper articles by Jack Burchby, 2010

Website Tickhill and District Local History Society’s website has a selection of local people's

memories of their early days in Tickhill which may be contrasted with Betty Hill's

experiences. The website also has many photographs of Tickhill in the first part of the

20th Century. See: < http://www.tickhillhistorysociety.org.uk>