Forum

David Wood’s Story comes to an end in Christmas 2011 with children and choirs walking through the streets from the Methodist Chapel in 1950s Goldenhill.

David’s story goes like this,

Every year on the first Sunday in June the Methodist chapel in Andrew Street celebrated it’s anniversary. This meant that the choir and children walked the streets of the village in the morning of that day. The choir stopped every so often and sang and the people came out to listen and donate money for the chapel. Several weeks before this the children attended the Sunday school rooms at least one evening per week and practised the songs and hymns that were to be sung on the Anniversary Sunday. The climax to all this was that a stage was built in the chapel and the children worked their way through their repertoire both in the afternoon and evening on the Anniversary Sunday.

Can you imagine that on this particular Sunday your day started with a walk through the streets dressed up in all your new best clothes, went home had your Sunday lunch, went to chapel and sang your heart out, went home had your tea, went back to the chapel, sang your socks off and went home about 8-00 o’clock having done a 12 hour day. Still, it didn’t do us any harm, at least we got a new set of clothes out of it. The Sunday school teachers were Jack Rhead, Fred Halfpenny, Ray Bailey, Derek Mack and Russell Bromley.

I attended Sunday school, morning and afternoon until I was about 14, until then I had never even kicked a football on a Sunday as I was always dressed up in my best clothes, my dad wouldn’t allow it, Sunday was supposed to be a day of rest. In the 1950s the Sunday school teachers used to stage pantomimes or concerts, there were also dances held in the school rooms in Andrew Street.

If you want to see some of the names of the people who have been mentioned in this series of articles all the way back to 1834, have a look at these web sites and see how many you can recognise.

http://www.wishful-thinking.org.uk/genuki/STS/Tunstall/MIs.html

http://www.wishful-thinking.org.uk/genuki/STS/Goldenhill/MIs.html

I hope that whoever reads this article will enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. I also hope that it conjures up many happy memories of a village that withstood the test of time.

My memory bank is now feels totally exhausted, but I know that as soon as I sign this off, something else will pop into my head.

If you think that your memories or opinions differ from mine, please feel free to get in touch.

I thank my old English teachers for their perseverance in trying to make me understand that spelling and grammar are important and also to Microsoft for Spellcheck, for that little bit of extra help. Any the mistakes are mine and mine alone.

Thank you for your time and your patience.

David Wood.

I would personally like to thank David for his excellent recollection of yesteryear Goldenhill, please do write some more articles for us, the Home Page would not be the same without you.

Tom Simpson, Secretary, Sandyford & Goldenhill Residents Association (S.A.G.E.)