Former Huddersfield gymnast Brian Hayhurst – who was landlord of the Angel in Paddock for many years – came cross this old photo of himself in The Cowlersley Gang and reveals they were anything but angelic until he discovered the sport that was to change his life.
The picture shows some of our mates who were part of The Cowlersley Gang.
It was taken in our South Avenue garden in the early 1950s and I would be about 11. We made up all of our fun and games during those austere times – mostly in the streets or nearby hills but we were always mischievous and occasionally in real trouble.
Around this time Winston Churchill was Prime Minister, a one shilling prescription charge was introduced and food rationing was about to end. Two of the BBC black and white programmes were The Flowerpot Men and Andy Pandy for those kids lucky enough to have a TV set which worked!
Our family – mum, dad, sister Dixie and brother Harry – had moved from a squalid back-to-back hovel into this three bed stone end terrace on a council estate affectionately called The Blocks – and it had an inside toilet! No more scrubs in a shared tin bath in front of a smoky coal fire. Everything seemed to be in black and white as virtually everyone worked hard to make ends meet for little or no luxuries.
Most of the gang searched for some alternative activities to tin can squat, hide and seek beneath the gas lights, making go-karts out of old prams or trying and get a caddying job at the Crosland Hill Golf Club for six pence per three hour struggle with a hefty golf bag. There was the Criterion Physical Culture Club in Lockwood and a boxing club above a Whiteley Street WMC along with the YMCA in Milnsbridge.
An extended mischief night where we wreaked havoc on local neighbours and apple stealing from orchards were just a prelude to some quite serious bother we got into.
Bonfire night was a major annual event for us as we searched for ‘chumps’ and stayed up late protecting our bonfire from being set alight by neighbouring groups. With my mother working at the nearby Standard Fireworks we became very popular prior to November 5 when she received a huge supply of much desired ‘squibs’ despite most of them being misshaped or unlabelled.
One gang member was seriously injured after he set fire to one of the nearby Standard Fireworks huts. Jack Barrow fell from a tree swing and smashed lots of bones. We began stealing from a fruit and veg wagon which came around each Friday evening. Some of us broke into a mill and caused much damage to bobbins of cotton and I threw tacks into the street, puncturing two car tyres for which I was given a severe warning from the police and, of course, our parents.
The petty crime had to stop and, thankfully, I found a sport which took me and others off the streets.
It was a dark, cold September night as, on my rusty bike, I hurtled past Harold Wilson’s old school, New Street Juniors, which I had left a month before and headed for the place all my mates were talking about – Crow Lane Civic Youth Club. The warmth of the cloakroom made my chapped, welly-clad legs turn purple and my white hands tingle.
I was met by an elderly gentleman, Mr Grace, the much respected youth leader who asked me for my 3d weekly subs.
Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought I would have his job some 16 years later.
These subs would have depleted my paper round money and left me little or nothing for chips later. After agreeing to pay the next day I entered the hall where ex- Para Stan Booth was putting a group of older lads through their paces who were creating human pyramids and vaulting over boxes onto coconut mats.
This was my introduction to gymnastics along with hundreds of other young boys and girls in this tiny school hall where we were encouraged to excel and stay out of trouble.
I would like to meet up with any of the lads in the photograph, also Peter Radcliffe and any of the Whitwam family.
If you are still around please leave any contact details with Andy Hirst, who will pass it on to me.
Email andrew.hirst@examiner.co.uk or phone 01484 437761.
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