RETRO: Street play and schooldays in Doncaster..
The first is a snapshot of children, including a young Jim Northmore (top right), in the Welfare Road area of Woodlands in 1940.
This is where Jim grew up, and he remembers the photograph being taken on a Sunday, after he returned from a visit to see family. He is second from right on the front row.
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Hide AdHe said: “We all used to play out on the street in those days...football, or tig, anything we could think of. But Third Avenue was a cul-de-sac and there wasn’t the traffic about then. Everyone played out until we were shouted in.”
Jim, who is a volunteer for the Alzheimers Society, added: “We have an Alzheimers Cafe every month in Woodlands and I was there recently. I couldn’t believe how much the place had changed.”
The bottom photograph is of the Football 1st Eleven at the Percy Jackson Grammar School, Adwick-le-Street in 1944.
Jack Firth, pictured bottom right, was a very talented local footballer and in Jim’s opinion, “should have played for England”. it was the late Mr Firth’s widow, Angela, who gave Jim the photograph.
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Hide AdTo get in the grammar school Jim recalls having to sit a County Minor Scholarship. Later, to obtain his ‘School Certificate’ it was necessary to achieve passes in English Language and five other subjects.
A school reunion in 2007 attracted many former pupils, said Jim, but few from his year.
The final photograph here shows Jim (far right) with friends on a trip to Cleethorpes, following dismissal from National Service in 1950.
q If you have photographs to share with readers, bring them along to our next public drop-in on February 2 from 1-5pm in Cast Theatre cafe. Or email [email protected] address.