Tales from Manor Road Recreation Ground.

My Dad was the Park Keeper of the place, and his hut was on top of the hill with a good view of most of the park. It was a two roomed hut, one had his fire, chair and table and the other room was for equipment and coal for his fire. It was very basic living quarters but it was his and I was very proud of the fact that it therefore belonged to me, only Frieda was ever allowed inside for any length of time, everyone else stood on the step and peered in. I was very proud of my Dad, in his uniform he still cut quite a dash and he must have been in his late forties / early fifties then. During school holidays I stayed with him while Mam went to work, I opened the park with him and I closed the park with him, that job must have been wonderful for my Mam as both of us were ‘out of the way’ during those long summer days ........ did I ever say that the sun was always shining!!
My Dad talked to everyone and anybody, usually telling them about his army days but they were good stories at first, after about 10 tellings they began to get a bit boring!!!! He was friends with several of the people whose gardens adjoined the park, chatting to them over the fence.
One lady lived in a very large house, the ‘road’ (it was only tarmac from the main road up to her gate then it was just a ‘bridlepath’ as it was called) led into the park at the top of the hill, and opposite her gate was the entrance to the allotments which ran almost the whole length of that side of the park to another road. Her land was massive and was bordered by hawthorn etc hedging, which grew wild and thick. Part of her land met the park and formed a boundary along the park on top of the hill. Her house could sometimes be seen through the hedging but usually only in the wintertime, it was very old and very rambling, falling down in places. Us children knew it as the 'witch’s house' and used to try to work out whether she was still alive or not.
One day my Dad decided to take me to meet with her and I held onto his hand very tightly!!! We opened the gate and walked up this long overgrown driveway (path) to the front door, the porch was falling down, the step was tiled and all the paintwork was brown. Eventually the door opened and I nearly wet myself!
This very old, wizened, little lady in quite bright but old clothes down to the ground stood there. She beamed when she saw it was my Dad, her crinkled face had a mouth that contained about two teeth, and stood to one side to invite him in, ooohh! I hadn’t expected to go in!!! We walked down this long dark tiled hallway full of old things and very dusty into a lovely sunlit room, still full of very old things including photographs, but it looked really homely and was obviously where she spent most of her time. The French windows were open and there were cats everywhere, all shapes, colours and sizes – magic land! Dad introduced me to Miss Davey and then went off to make the tea while she asked me all the usual questions – "how old are you? What school did I go to? Did I like to read books?" You know what it’s like. Then Dad came back with the tray all laid very nicely with china cups and a larger cup for him. Dad placed the tray on the side table by Miss Davey and she proceeded to pour the tea and pass it out to us, then offered us biscuits from a china plate. I felt like royalty. Soon I got bored so Miss Davey asked if I would do a small job for her; she had a rather large ginger tom cat with one eye who was a naughty boy because he hadn’t come home for his lunch – would I go and find him and then let her know where he was. I had to be careful because he didn’t like children so I mustn’t touch him, in fact several cats were like this so while I was looking for him I had to be very careful. Off I went through the French windows and lo and behold! Cats everywhere! Even more kinds and sizes! Some were little kittens! Anyway off I trouped, oh! What joy! All this exploring to do in the ‘witch’ garden and with her permission!! Further round from the French windows was this very old conservatory, falling down and overgrown like the rest of the place. There were fruit trees in an old orchard, a shed full of cobwebs, lots of fruit bushes and all sorts of flowers with the proverbial nettles and blackberries. I looked for a black cat and steered clear of that one, some I stroked, some ran away, some just growled at me but I couldn’t find the large ginger tom with one eye.
Ages later I heard Dad calling and had to find my way back to the house, I told Miss Davey I couldn’t find the cat but she said that was alright, if I liked (if I liked!?!??) I could back another day and try to find him. So quite often Dad and I would go visit Miss Davey, him talking her to death and me looking for cats! My friends didn’t believe me until one day Dad, in front of them, said he was going to see Miss Davey and did I want to come. They all followed at a distance and saw me go in by the gate and walk up to the house, them hanging around the gate watching till I was out of sight!!! Status for a while!! They would not believe that she was just an elderly, very kind, single lady. She was a witch!!!
Years later I found out that Dad used to go to the shop at the end of the road to fetch his cigarettes and would call in to see if she wanted anything. She usually had a list – how did she know he was calling?!! – and so that’s how Dad came to have a cup of tea with ‘the witch’ who turned out to be a very, very, nice lady. I suppose she had been out in her garden one day and Dad, being Dad, started talking to her and they became good friends. She probably never saw many, if any, people so appreciated Dad’s company. I have often wondered what happened to her, her house and land. My playground became Swimming Baths and the rest is a big housing estate now, her house and land, all the park and the allotments have all gone. Progress!