Runcorn Memories: Underneath the arches

By Runcorn And Widnes Weekly News on Jan 5, 10 10:28 AM in 1961-1980

ONE man who looks back with great fondness on life in Runcorn's Dukesfield in the late 1950s and early 60s is Rob Ellison who, as a boy, lived at the bottom of Blantyre Street.

Rob enjoyed reading the piece written by Lew Darlington, which appeared here earlier this month, and kindly sent me his own recollections of life 'under the arches'.

His grandfather lived virtually across the road on Collier Street, just a stone's throw from the White Gates, which led straight into No Man's Land and Castle Rock.

"We played often through the white gates, walking back from football sessions for Runcorn Parish School at Percival Lane," he said.

"My dad worked on the Manchester Ship Canal tug Cornbrook and grandad was a watchman for the Harker tankers.

"As lads we went down to Castle Rock to see the big liners come through and to ask the crew to throw us something. Then we would rush off home with a jar of jam or something else thrown to us by the seamen."

Rob says his wife had never heard the expression 'sixpenny mix' but he has many happy memories of going to Noon's chip shop on Egerton Street. One of the ladies had only one arm but it was fascinating to watch her chopping up potatoes with such dexterity.

The mothers of two of his friends both worked in bakeries, one at Littlemores and the other at the Devonshire bakery in Devonshire Square. A big treat was to have one shilling and threepence to get a meat and potato pie from Littlemores.

One of Rob's abiding memories, when he stayed at his granddad's, was to hear the wind whistling through the railway bridge arches and hearing the big liners scraping against the gantry wall as they went round the Ship Canal bend on their way to Manchester.

Now 'exiled' in Warrington, Rob lives just across the road from the Ship Canal just by Latchford Swing Bridge and the locks.

He said: "The canal has always played a big part in my life."

Rob left Balfour Road Secondary School in 1965 to go to Helsby Grammar School for two years. He then went into the former TSB Bank where he stayed for 35 years.

"I started on £29 a month," he recalls, "and my mates who went on the tugs were on £30 a week."

He tells me he still keeps in touch with some of his old friends.

"We never had a lot, but they were great times and whenever I visit Runcorn I always tour round the sites of the old haunts, including the buildings which once included the Darwell pub, Noon's chippy, Dick Briscoe's butcher's shop in Egerton Street and the Parish School, as well as the Ferry Hut."

Rob goes into Moore village to get his Weekly News and kindly adds that he loves reading the articles on this page.

The picture shows the Ferry Hut, running parallel with Mersey Road, was the venue for a day out for many locals, although the 'shore' close to the Transporter Bridge was little more than an open sewer.