Toftwood Road, Crookes

Image: © Dave Hitchborne Taken: 26 Aug 2008

The road faces westwards – From 2nd September 1967 to 4th January 1974, I lived in a house on the brow of the hill and after a late–shift on a cold windy winter’s night, walking around the corner from getting off a moderately warm bus around 00:30 – this road was like the road to the frozen north. The cold prevailing wind would freeze my face numb before I got anywhere near home. On early morning shifts, walking down the road at 03:40 to catch the staff bus, it was no better. In the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, when I was a young lad, I used to go to work on my bike. Home back then was through the entrance to the right. So after work I would belt off home as fast as I could and then turn left off the main road, then a quick sharp right and hurtle into the yard as fast as I could make it, day after day after day. One day there was a car parked at the entrance and I slammed into it, like an idiot. The bloke in the car just wound down the window and told me to be more careful!

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