Duston Memories
This page contains personal testimonies sent in by visitors to this website. What are your memories of village life? Send information to mail@duston.org.uk.
Memories of the Late 40s and Early 50s
by Cedric Foster
I was brought up at 10 Kerrfield Estate, the last Council house on the Main Road.
Food rationing & schooling
In 1949 I attended the C of E Primary/Junior School opposite the Parish Church in Duston, and remember vividly receiving food parcels from Australia or South Africa that contained tinned fruit, which I had not seen before as rationing was still in effect.
I remember going into Faulkner's the Bakers in Main Road and buying a ring of stale buns for either a half penny or a farthing. The sweet shop opposite the school took coupons and I remember buying liquorice wood sticks which were the ‘in thing' at the time, but made our teeth go black temporarily.
Because of the baby boom after the War the CE School was bursting at the seams, and as a temporary measure about 30 of us were housed in the Institute building in Peveril Road.
On Saturday mornings the Institute Building was converted into a children's cinema, and it seemed like every child in the village would queue up to see films such as Laurel and Hardy, The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Adventures, Mickey Mouse, News-Reels, etc.
Boys’ Brigade in the 1950s
In about 1951 I joined the Life Boy section of the 11th Northampton Boys Brigade, at the Congregational Church which is now known by a different name. My brother Allan who was my role model was in the company section. The captain was Henry Harrison Senior, known as 'the Colonel' because of his white handlebar moustache and seniority. Arthur Harrison was his son, and Henry junior, known as Sam, was the third member or the Harrison family serving at the same time. Sam is today the captain of the company and in his early 70s.
When I was eleven I went up to the company section where I was to remain until my 19th Birthday, going through the ranks to warrant officer.
Duston Secondary Modern School
In 1955/6 I was one of the first entrants to the newly opened Duston Secondary Modern School in Berrywood Road. I went into the first year and went through all four years before leaving at the age of 15.
Butcher’s boy
During 1956/1959 years I was the butcher`s boy for Ted Sewell at the newly opened Limehurst Square shops. I have happy memories of the job, delivering meat all round the village and Kings Heath, all on my old butcher’s bike, a heavy duty vehicle with a basket on the front for the orders. I remember going up Duston Hill (from New Duston to Old Duston ) and had to get off the saddle to get more momentum to climb the hill. My head was down and was puffing with exertion when I suddenly crashed into a parked car and I was propelled over the handle bars; the meat orders in their individual wrappings went everywhere.
One of my varied duties at the butchers shop was to walk over the fields behind the shop (now built-up housing) to visit an old creepy barn, where Ted had his chickens, to collect the eggs. This I did at least twice a week without incident. I collected the eggs in a large wicker basket, which could hold several dozen. One day however, when the weather was on the turn, I decided to hurry back, and on route my foot went into a hole in the field and the eggs went everywhere, producing a Duston omelette.
Rose hips
In the early fifties the government or some agency offered money for rosehips, for the purpose of making rosehip syrup I believe. These were found in abundance at the then open land at the end of Eastfield Road, where a pub, car park and old peoples’ bungalows now stand (Limehurst Close).
Recreation & play
As a boy I spent a lot of time playing football in Errrington Park playing for the local boys brigade. This park was also used at weekends for the Duston Devils Cycle racers, and there were cinder tracks to the right of the park quite close to the entrance.
Another part of my boyhood was playing cowboys and indians in the orchard which was behind houses in Main Road Duston, approached by a long cinder track almost opposite Westfield Road. My old friend Roger Street lived in a bungalow at around number 100 Main Road, so his back garden backed onto the orchard. Sadly, Roger`s father died quite young and his mother later married a gentleman by the name of Mr Jenks. I wonder where Roger is today?
New housing estate
Another memory of the late 1940s/early 1950s was the building of the council estate which linked Kerrfield Estate with Eastfield Estate, by developing the land known as Castle Avenue, Hardlands,Castle Bush, Limehurst Road and Dulce Avenue. As children we spent hours building our own imaginary homes from the piles of LBC bricks that were unloaded by hand and stacked neatly along the newly built roads. Health and safely was not considered in those days.
St Crispins
I remember watching and playing cricket on the St Crispin’s grounds - the lovely green was overlooked by St Crispin’s clock - my father said he once knocked the big hand off the clock whilst hitting a six. I must say he was a leg puller but people believed him...
Duston Memories
by Bill Vigor
My memory started when I was discharged from the
Northampton General Hospital after a rather nasty illness, peritonitis.
Being an evacuee from London and living in billeted accommodation, it was
felt that I should have a quiet recovery period, and to this end I was sent
to a large house in, I think, Peveril Way.
Now age has wearied me and the brain objects when I push it to open files
that are more than fifty years old, so any mistakes must be forgiven. I
recall a lady, the Matron I believe, and she was so very kind and mothered
me, giving much more leeway to my faults than some of the others. Her name
escapes me as do most other details but suffice it to say my time spent
in your village left me with very fond feelings.
There were probably twenty children, both boys and girls, staying in that
lovely house, so maybe it was a council run home for kids and I just happened
to be one of them.
There, not much of a story, but I felt it had to be told.