Written by: Chris Primrose
THE SNOW OF 1947.
In January 1947 I was 5 and had recently started school at Knowle Park Junior Mixed School where I had made friends who have lasted all my life.
The winter had been unremarkable until January when we experienced “The Beast from The East”, a spell of freezing weather which lasted until March.
This was the first time I had experienced snow and was of an age to appreciate it!
World War II had recently stopped and there was still considerable evidence of bomb damage throughout the city. The closest and most exciting, when the snow came, was the bomb crater at Perrett’s Park. Word soon spread that this was providing an excellent toboggan slope and should be investigated.
My best friend, Roger, and I walked through the snow down St. Agnes Avenue to the park, where we saw crowds of children having an amazing time on home-made and improvised sleds.
We rushed home and searched through our disused air-raid shelter where Dad kept all the household rubbish to find anything we could use which was shaped roughly like a toboggan! Hooray! We found an old, rusty, metal clothes horse which resembled a toboggan. Dad helped us by cutting off the splayed legs, fitting some wooden braces and a wooden deck and we were mobile.
Perrett’s Park consisted of a very steep slope with buildings and facilities at the bottom. The bomb crater was partway down! So, the preferred route was down the first part of the slope, into the crater, through the trough of red semi-frozen mud, up the far side of the crater, over the lip and down at speed to the buildings.
Our sled worked so well that we became the team to be part of!
Schoolfriends joined us and we tried riding solo, doubling up (one on top the other), and even triples. We soon became soaked to the skin and had to go home to change our clothes. Mothers were not happy as it was not “good drying weather” and no-one had ever heard of domestic tumble dryers!
Back to the park………..
Now we tried it with four team members at a time then five and by the time we got to six the rusty metal and flimsy wooden braces were showing signs of fatigue.
We were speeding down into the crater with a full complement, me on the bottom, when our chariot gave out and I became “
THE SLED”.
I was soaked and covered in bright red mud. I returned home, triumphant, and was immediately deflated as my mother told me that my tobogganing career was OVER!
I don’t think I ever had such an interesting winter until 1963, but that is another story!
Chris Primrose.