Some memories of the time that I lived at Ravensworth
No.5 Upton Park….. by Pauline Boynette (nee Moore)
Next door were the Parker boys ,Robin and
David .In 1951 my brother Montague Moore built a canoe with Robin and it was
stored in the Parkers’ builders yard close to the river
My father was Sydney Moore and his father was Joseph Moore who worked
in Dickson’s nurseries as a foreman and later lived at Bridge Farm near the
Frog Inn and farmed the
Our father Sydney Moore did not follow in his footsteps. He was
born in 1897. He attended
In 1929, when they were both 32 years old and according to the
Electoral Register , they were living at Ravensworth 5 Upton
Park. Margaret died of T.B in 1932 . My father ,aged 36yrs, married my mother Ada
Waterhouse from Oakworth ,
Montague started nursery school at Mrs Brocklebanks who lived at Mayfield. No 31
Our Grandfather , Joseph Moore ,
according to the 1901 census, was a foreman at
My father loved his garden at Ravensworth.
There were 2 damson trees , a
At the front of the house were rose beds surrounded by crazy paving . At the left of the drive was the rockery
, behind this rockery were ferns which my father took to Charlie Brickland to decorate his fish shop in
Then there was Dad’s boarder, snowdrops and crocuses at the front,
and behind were tulips, orchids , roses , dahlias and a host of flowers too
numerous to name. At the back of the wood built garage I had a swing and a bar
swing which I spent many an hour on trying to become a trapeze artiste. Behind
the swing were lilies of the valley and raspberry canes. We kept hens during
the war years and two rabbits, they were housed in a
brick shed with a corrugated roof annexed to the kitchen. Blackberries grew on
top of this shed and we loved to use our climbing expertise to retrieve them.
During the WW2 my father dug for victory in an allotted area with
permission from Mr Proctor at the Limes. The area he
cultivated was on the land where No 68 Upton Park is built now.
Ravensworth had a cellar where beds were made up for
us in case of air raids during WW2 . The coke for the
stove was sent down a shute
from the outside grid. In the night it made eerie noises .
My mother made nettle beer and the bottles were put in the cellar as the only
safe place for the corks to blow off in the middle of the night. She also put
the hens eggs in a bucket of isinglass , a preserving
solution.
My father did all the repairs in the home .
He even put in the toilet upstairs on the landing. He connected the immersion
heater in the bathroom , this bathroom was so small
that I think it must have been made out of a linen cupboard. All the bedrooms
had a fire place except the box room. A small , narrow
room which had steps leading down from the landing by the toilet area. It was
the maids bedroom initially , then used as a spare
room. When visitors stayed I would sleep there and they would accommodate my
bedroom. There was an iron bedstead and often apples were stored beneath . By the window was a large brown chest of draws
which contained father’s treasures. There was a set of embroidered cards that
he had sent to his mother from
All the bedrooms had fire places. The only fire place that I
remember being lit was in the first bedroom at the top of the stairs, my
brothers’. The woodwork surrounds caught fire. So the fire brigade was called
as a precaution to safety. My parents bedroom was the
first on the landing and mine at the end. I looked over Nettie
Crosby’s field , the one where we had the bonfires on
Nov. 5th. I went to sleep listening to the sound of trains going
along the track and across the Bache bridge to and from
One evening , during WW2 ,when my parents
were out they had left their bedroom light on. When they returned home the bulb
was missing. . Next day Cec Parker came round to
return the bulb as he had taken it out the previous night ,
having carried a long ladder from his house and then reached in through the
open sash window to remove the bulb. All in the aid of the
WW2 blackout period.
During the WW2 we took in lodgers from Western Command. My brother
had contacted poliomyelitis whilst we were on holiday in the
We often saw the search lights in the night sky and once found a
large piece of shrapnel on the front door steps.
My mother often entertained soldiers from the Dale army camp for
Sunday lunch when we had roast beef and Yorkshire pudding and vegetables. Often followed by an ice cream block which my father brought home
after being to church and the Egerton Arms at the Bache.
Our kitchen had a black Yorkist range
which was black leaded every morning .It incorporated an open fire and an oven
on the left .
Kettles were put on the fire for hot water for tea and a large pan
filled with scraps was boiled for the chicken feed. When we had a broody hen ,father made a chicken coop and run which was put on the
lawn so we could watch the chickens hatch .
My mother baked her own bread . The oven
had no thermometer gage., she just knew by sensing the
heat when she opened the oven door when it was hot enough to bake the bread.
Sometimes we bought a loaf or yeast from the mill ‘through the slot’ The bread cost 4 ½ Pence in 1941. At this time there were
two remaining sails on the mill. Sometimes we walked into the factory and
watched the bread being made, from putting the flour ,water
, yeast with sugar for the dough into the two big containers ,where it was
kneaded by the machine. After it had rested and risen ,
the baker would slice off an armful of dough and hold it against his bare chest
whilst carrying it to the weighing machine where he sliced it up into 2lb
loaves putting each slice into a tin on the conveyor belt which slowly
transported the tins into the oven on a continuous slow moving conveyance.
After the appropriate time in the oven they appeared cooked and a workman who
wore padded gloves would pick up 8 tins at a time and knock the bread out onto
the conveyor which eventually took the cooked loaves through a hole in the wall
where they slid onto an oval wooden slatted belt to be picked up and carried to
the vans for distribution. We children were often lifted onto this last
conveyer with the warm bread and enjoyed the ride.!!
When I was five years old in 1940 ,I was
allowed to follow the boys to Dicksons nurseries . It
was a great play ground for sledging on in the winter and for playing cricket
in the summer. The other play area was via the track alongside the
In Ravensworth kitchen was a row of
bells hanging inside the doorway near to the hall entrance and there were
pulleys in each room to work them. They were made obsolete and taken down when
we no longer had a live in maid.
In through the back door , on the left
was a toilet next to it we kept the coal . Facing the door was a gas boiler
where mother bottled all the fruit and boiled the whites on Monday
,wash day . On the right was an electric washing machine
. Three iron legs held a tub with a posser and
a lid ,above this were the rollers which wrung o the
water from the clothes before they were hung on the washing line on the lawn to
dry. Through the door into the large kitchen which had a black and red tiled
floor with the sink and gas stove on the left and also small window to see into
the hen house. . Then a large bay window looking out onto the
back garden with the hens amongst the gooseberry bushes. There were
inset shelves each side of the fire place , then a
walk in pantry , with food safe, and shelves of crockery and mother’s bottled
fruit and jam.
The hall on the ground floor was my mother’s pride and joy. It was
a beautiful mosaic which she and various maids polished until it shone. Every
visitor was told to step onto the door mat, often with disastrous consequences , as the mat would shoot away from under the
unsuspecting visitor’s feet and they would fall down.. We had not heard of home
safety none slip mats then.
When I was 4 yrs old in 1939 , I went to
watch my mother play tennis on the Millside court
presumably with Mrs Flavelle.
My father attended the Upton Park meetings ,but
there is no mention of him having attended. He was a quiet person so probably
did not make any propositions for his name to be recorded .
He was a taxation officer at the
He attended
He knew Alix and Kay Joseph and they
persuaded him to act as Father Christmas in the village hall for the children‘s
party .which I attended . Later I said to my father ,“Father Christmas’s trousers and shoes were very
like yours.” Then I learnt about the real father Christmas.!
.Another year he acted in the tableau as
I joined the girl guides when I was eleven and Alix
Joseph was the Guide Captain. I was eventually a patrol leader of the swallow patrol . This is where I made friends with Sheila Hooper ,Ann Morris , and Pat Rowland from the Firs. Ann
married and lived in N.Z where I have visited her .Unfortunately she is now
deceased. I continue to write to Pat every Christmas .
I would like to contact Sheila Hooper , who I understand
lives in Mold.
Every year we went camping with the guides and shared a tent .We
acquired many skills , in the cook patrol or wood
patrol or water patrol. We took our duties seriously but we also had lots of
fun.
Upton Park was a quiet haven .Montague and I walked along the tree
lined avenue to
I learnt to ride my bicycle when I was four years old, going round
Upton Park circle with little fear of meeting any traffic. I eventually cycled
to
In 1948 at the convent school I was friends with Bridget Rose who’s father was a Major and they lived at Government house.
Major Rose introduced us to the art of bowling on the well mown lawns in the
extensive and beautiful gardens. Bridget had a beautiful teenage bedroom and
lots of books to read. .The neighbours at Upton Lodge
at that time were General Elliot and his three children .
Two of whom my brother and I became well acquainted ,Judy
and Richard. Judy had a pony called Bimbo and we would go for rides in a cart
around
I left Ravensworth and all those
childhood memories behind when I entered the school of nursing at the
My parents left Ravensworth to live at Strathallen in Kingsmead in
1954.My eldest son Nicholas was born there on