On this page I will tell you a bit about myself. I am male, born Birch Hill Hospital in the Wardle area of Rochdale in the 1960's.(Not the 1860's as my kids believe!) I lived in the lovely area of Kirkholt, namely Raneley Grove which was a cul-de-sac and as I remember it, not a bad place to live at that time. My first school was Hilltop Primary School which I don't really remember much about and cannot remember any of the teachers names. The school has now shut down and can be seen as a derelict building to your left as you enter the M62 motorway at junction 20 towards Yorkshire. My second school was Queensway Secondary. The headmaster was called Mr Casson and it was a great school. I somehow made the school football team, run by Mr Grocock and my Grandad would come across from his nearby house to shout encouragement whenever we were playing. Much as I now do for my son! My third school was Thornham Middle School run by Mr Dagnall. Another good school with teachers such as Mr Collinge, Mr Short, Mr Ashworth, Mrs Bamford and our PE teacher Mr Starkey. He also coached Rochdale Hornets and so we had plenty of Rugby league chucked at us during his lessons. Thornham has now closed as a school and is more familiar as 'Waterloo Road', a successful drama series, ironically enough, about a school in Rochdale. My fourth and final school (yes, we had to go to 4 different schools) was Balderstone Community School. This, at the time had about 1300 pupils and was massive. The cane, slipper and other punishments were readily given out here. I can't remember who the head was but his deputy was an ex SS officer called Mr McClelland, who gave me the cane on a few occasions, once just for eating a meat and potato pie whilst walking through school! Unbelievable!! Some of the teachers I can remember were Mr Cooke, Geography who I believe is now a copper. (At least he'll be able to find his way around!) Mr Birchenough, who taught History and caught us out drinking at the age of sixteen and actually got a round in. (Top bloke!) Mrs Brett, English who we christened Grandma due to her grandmotherly ways. Mrs Taylor, English, smaller than most of her class but a good teacher. Mr Eckersley, Art. Less said about him the better! Mr Kay, Maths, a good teacher and strict disciplinarian who provided me with a 'truancy' card, for nipping off school to watch a football match. The shame of it!! I made the athletics and cross country teams at this school, and our home cross country track was Hollingworth Lake, which in them days felt a lot further than two and a half miles. We also played a lot of Rugby Union at that school and inevitably ended up playing the T-block 'nutters.' If you went there, you'll know all about them! We moved to the Kingsway area of Rochdale in 1976, whilst I was still at 'Balderstone', so that increased my walking to school distance.distance. Myself and my mates used to play football on Firgrove, which was just a 10 minute walk from our house, although usually I'd cycle it along the canal bank. We played there most evenings and weekends and wouldn't have dreamed of the mindless vandalism that goes on now, with lots of kid's. Sixteen and I left school and got a job. Evenings were now mostly spent in the pub, especially the Fox Inn on Milnrow Road, although we also ventured into any other pub's were we could get served at that time. Occasionally we'd go to the Stock car racing at the Athletics Ground, although I've got to admit it wasn't my favourite form of entertainment, but it got good crowds. We'd also sneak in and watch Hornets play as it was their stadium, but Rugby league was an aquired taste. Hence the reason for sneaking in without paying! Shame they knocked the ground down and built a Morrisons as it would have been a better location than Spotland for the Football team. Still, thats our council for you. I remember that when Dale were at home in the evening, whilst still at Thornham, we used to all get on one of the special double decker buses from town and go and watch them. I can remember some of the players from that era such as Bob Mountfield and Tony Whelan. I started going to matches before that but can't honestly remember the players names. I would definately have seen them in the old third division, and hopefully that will happen again soon. Division 1, as it is now.
When I got married we moved to Milnrow which is very busy due to its closeness to the motorway, at junction 21. We lived in a house on an estate off Wildhouse Lane, and regularly ate in a pub called the Gallows. We lived here about 5 years during which time my daughter was born and then moved for one year, to an area near the 'Ladybarn' pub. We never liked it around there due to everybody being over 70, so it wasn't really a suitable place for a kid. We then moved to Healey in 1996, our son was born, and we have been here ever since. I usually go out every other Friday into Rochdale, in particular the Regal Moon. Its not too expensive and there is a good choice of drinks, with regular guest beers on tap. Sometimes the service is a bit slow though depending on whose behind the bar. As a family we quite often go out to the Oxford pub which does nice food and is usually not too packed. The Birches is another good local pub, just up the road in Whitworth.
