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'My dad was born at 87 Henry Street, Ashted in 1903, the youngest of 6 children. My Gran, Maria Wood brought up a little family whom my granddad picked up from a shop doorway. They were huddled together for warmth with nowhere to go. There were two boys and a girl with their dad who was in the jewellery business. They had hitch hiked all the way from far Europe where the 1914 war was. It was past midnight when granddad came along Coleshill Street with his pals. They had been for a pint and between them, they took them all to 87 Henry Street and my dear old gran took them in and kept them for years.
She kept the two boys, one of whom became a priest. His name was Howard Goldstein whom I only saw once. The other boy grew up and stayed with gran until he moved. The girl was brought up by gran's sister, Polly Brown who kept a home-made rock shop which was in Henage Street.
My gran changed her religion to Roman Catholic and my brother and I used to go and wait for her outside Holbrooks on a Sunday. St Vincent's Church was then a little place between the houses opposite Holbrooks. My mum and dad got married there and my brother and I were christened there. The Co-op took it over later and the other new St. Vincents was opened at Vauxhall.
Sadly, I never saw my granddad because he died before my brother and I were born. He was a builder by trade and built a lot of the houses around the area. He also liked to 'booze.' He had a bet on with some cronies in the Old Nelson pub that was on Lister Street near the gas works. The bet was could he eat a whole leg of lamb all to himself for a £5 bet and he ate it and he was bad. My gran used to make ginger beer in bottles, 1 1/2d per bottle and they were kept down the cellar.
My mum used to go and do a days housework for gran every week and I sometimes went with her. On one occasion, I was sitting at the table with some crayons and paper and gran was quietly reading a book in her armchair when all of a sudden, we heard a lot of explosions down the cellar and of course it was the casks blowing out of the ginger beer bottles. What a laugh we had but what a mess. The cellar had been put to a good use to years previously. Granddad had white washed the cellar walls and made a few cages for my dad who was only a boy to keep a few little pets, anything from a mouse to a rabbit. He used to charge a 1/2p for his pals to come to see.'
H. Banning |
