Growing up in the 1950's

A Malmesbury boy's story – Part 1

Looking back some 50 years its easy to become very nostalgic and remember life when everything seemed much simpler and leisurely than now and, well - ordinary, but ordinary in this context means safe, secure, magical and 'fun'.

I was born in December 1946 (thus qualifying to be called a 'baby boomer') in Kings Wall but shortly afterwards we moved to Bremilham Terrace, which were a row of terrace houses, converted from what was the 'old workhouse'. Unfortunately these were demolished some time ago and replaced by new housing with the name being changed to Bremilham Rise.

For kids, Bremilham Terrace was a marvellous place to grow up in the 1950's. It was perched on a high bank overlooking the Sherston Road and at the end of the front gardens there was a 15 Ft high wall down to street level at one end and a steep grassy bank at the other end.

To get into the terrace from the Sherston Road, there was only one entrance, this being a narrow steep lane with high stonewalls both sides at the rear there was a wall separating the terrace from the school and at the opposite rear side, the entrance was a footpath through the vegetable gardens.

What this meant to us kids was that with only a little imagination the terrace became our castle. As with most groups of kids, we became a 'gang' and we would imagine ourselves repelling invaders from the walls, we would patrol the allotment gardens and at the extreme end of the allotments we built ourselves a hideaway 'den' in what seemed like a mini quarry.

Our rivals were the Corn Gastons Gang and occasionally there were fights in 'no mans land', which happened to be the school playing field between them and us. To this day I carry a scar on my leg from a well-aimed stone (1/4 house brick actually).

Chris reflects on his house brick

When there was nothing else to do, we would sit on the walls and watch the world pass by. Of course there were few cars on the road and I can recall there were lazy Sunday summer days when if we were lucky if we counter 6 cars an hour driving by!!

One of the big challenges for us lads was to climb the sheer walls (no such thing as safety ropes) and an even greater test was to pretend we were paratroopers and jump off the wall.

Looking back it's amazing that we never broke any bones or injured ourselves.

Climbing over the dividing wall between the terrace and the rear of Adye's Garage meant that we could scrump the marvellous Victoria Plums, which never seemed to be picked. Of course our parents chastised us but the resultant plum pies were delicious (sorry Adye's garage).

Thinking of school, in my day there was none of this going to school in a car. Most people did not have the cars or if they did it was used for work. So you walked. For me, this getting to and from school was all part of the days adventure.

After the few initial trips with Mother, when she was happy that I knew the way, I was mostly left on my own or went with my sister. In those days I think it was generally accepted that everyone looked out for everyone else and this applied to kids on the street.

One of the great things about Malmesbury was (and still is I guess) the network of ally-ways where you can virtually get from one end of town to the other without having to walk along roads except for short distances.

Needless to say this is how I got to and from school and these ally-ways also gave you a choice of route. Along the way of course there were also ample opportunities to dawdle and explore all sorts of things. For example, at the top of Holloway, right on the corner, there was a blacksmith. It was always fascinating to stop and watch what was happening.

If the mood took, I would detour to the Market Cross and linger – people watching like the old gents, who always seemed to be sitting there whittling wood.

Another favourite during the spring & summer terms, was to nip down the steps by the mirror on the corner of Gloucester Street and go and look at the mill pond along Burniville, if the weather was nice I would then walk across bridge into the meadow and cut through to the Foxley Road then up Dark Lane and home.

As I have said, Malmesbury ally-ways were a great way of getting around the town. I wonder if they are still used as much?

At the age of 11, I went to Bremilham Secondary Modern and even though it was just across the playing field from home, I always went around the streets to get there for no other reason than being told it was not allowed to climb over the wall.

Part Two