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David’s story this time starts with 1950s & 60s haircuts in Goldenhill, how times have changed. David also reminds us of the emergency services when the vehicles had bells ringing, how we forget the good old days.

Anyway, David’s story starts by saying, I used to have my haircut at Bill Eardley’s, for the little boys he placed a piece of wood across the arms of the chair to raise you up to a working height. You knew you were growing at last when you just sat in the chair and didn’t need the wood to lift you up. When my dad was poorly Bill used to nip across the road in his lunch break to give him a shave and a haircut, that was definitely good village life.

One of the most confusing things to happen in my childhood was to go to the pictures on a summer evening and come out into broad daylight. It was a real anti-climax because you usually went in at dusk and came out in the dark. So the problem was, did you go home and go to bed or did you play out for a while, mum usually decided.

In those days we had the main film and a lesser film, usually called the B movie and don’t forget the Pathe news. That was exciting, was it not, to be able to see news reels in black and white which were about three months old, but this was before television so actually it was quite good. The B movies were usually Hopalong Cassidy or some other old cowboy short films.

Who could ever forget, Laurel and Hardy, Abbot and Costello, The Bowery Boys, Old Mother Riley, Roy Rogers, The Durango Kid, Tex Ritter, Gene Autrey, The Marx Brothers, The Three Stooges, George Formby. I know that our Super Cinema didn’t open on Saturday mornings for the Chum’s Club, but we had some fantastic times at The Ritz and Barber’s Palace in Tunstall.

Lane’s chip shop next door to the Lord Nelson was the one we used the most, Friday night was pudding night and they had to be ordered by Thursday at the latest, with chips or new potatoes, what a decision to have to make. If you took a week’s supply of Sentinels you would get a free bag of chips. Buckley’s butchers specialised in Savoury Ducks, I don’t know what was in them but they had never been near a duck, that’s for sure.

As young boys we were taught to stop and remove our caps if a funeral went past in the High Street. The earliest police cars were the panda cars, pale blue Ford Anglias or Morris Minors, with a little blue dome light stuck on the top. The ambulances had bells not sirens.

What an interesting article it was this time David, I can’t wait until next time. So until then keep reading David’s other stories on the local memories tab at the top of the page.