Even in the 1950's, Heswall had a reputation for affluence, but by no means everyone was, or is today, well-off.

I was born in 1950 and I was brought up in a household that had little money. Our house on School Hill was a tiny cottage of 'two-up, two-down' terrace which was built round about the 1870s. Six of us slept in the front bedroom - that was mum, dad and us four children - whilst Grandad, out of respect for his advancing years, used the back bedroom as his individual bed-sit.

There was no hot water system in the house, so the cooking and the boiling of the kettle had to be done on the very basic range in the kitchen. If we wanted to go to the toilet, we had to go out of the back kitchen door and down the yard to a brick built affair under a sandstone slab roof.

Grandad came to Heswall from Hapsford near Ince in about 1890 to work as a ganger on the Heswall section of the Hooton to West Kirby railway line. He met a Heswall girl, Isabella Smith, and after their marriage they rented the cottage I live in now. Sadly, my Grandma died in 1917 only a week after giving birth to my dad. Dad was the last of 12 children, but at least 4 of them died at an early age.

Many local residents will remember my dad, Thomas Pover. He was a friendly character who was always seen wearing his trilby hat and taking Meg, his beautiful sringer spaniel, for his walks. Dad spoke with an attractive Cheshire 'burr' or accent, and he was commonly known as 'Jotter'. This came about because, as a child, he had a stutter and found certain words difficult to pronounce. The Johnsons, who ran the sweet shop on West Grove, gave him this nickname when he struggled to pronounce their name correctly! Dad unfortunately left school unable to master reading and writing and he went into service at Gayton Hall as a gardener at the age of 12. Gardening was his main occupation until he bought the cottage on School Hill in 1958 after grandad died. During the 2nd World War, dad sent home his army pay from Burma in order to buy the property, but when he came home in 1945/6, he was horrified to discover that granddad had spent it, mainly on betting on the horses!
      My Mum & Dad
Dad became the caretaker at St.Peter's School in the 1950s (on School Hill until 1960 then in the present building). He was also the gardener for the rectory and for a number of 'society' people around Heswall. 'Jotter' had a lovely way with him and he was always popular with the ladies, but he was a strict father to his children and would strike out at us if we were late getting home, or if we 'stepped out of line'!

We kept animals on the land at the back of the house which included hens for the eggs, rabbits and ferrets. We also raised at least one gundog and dad used to train them himself to retrieve and hunt. Like dad and our granddad, we could all shoot and our brother became a 'crack-shot' with any type of gun, following in the family tradition!

Saturday was the shooting day and what was 'bagged' was often exchanged at the local butchers shop in the village for stew or mutton in the week. Saturday night was also bath night! The tin bath was filled with hot water in front of the fire and we were each bathed in turn. An old army coat draped across a clothes horse acted as a cover for our modesty, but more often than not, when the front and back doors of the house were opened simultaneously, a strong draught blew the coat down! The front and back doors were often opened at the same time to take the hunting dogs through the house to be washed, dried off and fed before being returned to their kennels in the yard for the night.

Privacy was not an option when the dogs had to be seen to, so we were often left shivering in the bath water and feeling bedraggled whilst the dogs enjoyed their quick rub down!

Mother would sometimes take us to a local jumble sale where we could buy woollies which we could take home and pains-takingly unravel before re-knitting them into warm socks. Dolly and Minnie's shop, which was where no.8 School Hill is now, was our nearest general shop where we could purchase bread and 'pop'. Dad's favourites were dandelion and burdock and cream soda (when it was green) and we children used to squabble over the empty bottle so we could reclaim the 1p deposit and buy sweets. The Co-op was at the top of School Inn, opposite the Dee View Inn car park. Mr.Dixon ran the bacon counter and Mr.Busby was the manager. Opposite the Dee View was a newsagents shop run by a Mr & Mrs Giblin, if I remember rightly. In the basement of this building was the tailor, Mr McKenzie. Round the corner, past the Dee View and up The Mount, was a baby shop run by Nora Stubbs (auntie Nora). It also sold school wear and mum used to buy our underwear and uniform and other things for school. Nora and her nephew David became close friends of our family.

Sundays were 'best clothes days' and like many children, we were sent to St.Peter's Church in the village. I have a photograph of the Sunday School class of 1955 which included our teacher Wyn Ashworth (now Wyn Andrews). She used to live in Wellwood Cottage which was situated on the land now occupied by Theshers the wine store. Chapman's the butchers shop, the fruit shop and the fish stall were entered through one common door. Further along the row of shops was the cobblers, the post office and Cole's the chandlers.

The common ground opposite our row of six cottages was converted into Dawstone Park and during the 1950s and 1960s it was kept in immaculate order. The main gardener was a character called George Dale, I remember, and the park was also carefully supervised by an appointed park keeper who locked the gates after dark.

The 'top park', which is now where Heswall Hall, the bowling green and the library are situated, used to have several tennis courts. This park was also locked at night too. At the top end of the park is the Jug and Bottle restaurant. This building was once the council offices and down by the gateway leading onto Rocky Lane, there used to be a beautiful fish pond.

Holidays for the Pover family, before dad purchased his car (a Morris Minor), consisted of a day trip on the steam train from the station in Lower Heswall to West Kirby and back, once a year! I was nearly always sick with excitement as I anticipated travelling on the steam train to visit a café for refreshments!

One of the phrases my mother used to say to us was: 'You don't know you are born!'. I vowed I would never repeat that phrase, but I do frequently - to my 4 children and 13 grandchildren!

Ann Gartside (neé Pover) July 2009