I arrived from a convent (St. Vincent De Paul nuns) in London aged 3yrs
old at my maternal grans house in Longsight (Scarsdale Road) on Good
Friday 1951.. Her husband died in 1941, but she wasn’t alone in the
house she lived with her mother, a few grandchildren and a few children
sent to her from the local church.
I went to St.Joseph’s primary school on Plymouth Grove, but the entrance
was on Daisy Bank Road. Miss McPhillips was the Headmistress - I never
went the bigger school called Stafford House because at 9 years old I
was reclaimed by my mother (because I was now old enough to do shopping
and she needed a skivvy to clean her house). So I had to go to school in
Stockport (St. Marys on Roman Road, Dodge Hill) then onto a brand new
school called St Anne’s on Denby Lane. After school I always ran away
from that home and when I couldn’t find a three penny bit for bus fare -
I walked every single mile back to my grans house… sometimes it was
turned 6pm when I got there - but when my mother came home from work to
find me gone she would get a lift from her boy friend and drag me right
back Those were bad days and memories in Stockport, but oh how lovely it
was being brought up in Longsight - I loved going to the Convent on
Laindon Road as they had a mass there in the little chapel, I also loved
going to St. Joseph’s church on Plymouth Grove, where I had my first
Communion and Confirmation - I remember Father Brennan - When I was 20 I
even went back and got married there..
Anyone remember “Gerard’s” ice cream van coming round on a Sunday
afternoon? It use to stop on the corner right opposite my grans house in
Scarsdale Road. I use to wait in the doorway (making sure it didn’t
close) and then watch gran come back with just one small cornet in her
hand….. No it wasn’t all for me or her… the ice cream man always added
an extra cone - so gran would scoop some of the ice cream into it and
then we had one each I always had the one with the red stuff on
Trudy Anne Clarke, Manchester, Born 1947
July 2021
Source: Facebook Group "We Grew Up in Manchester"
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