I moved to Darnhill from Salford (Bury New Rd. Strangeways area) in 1963 and that winter was very bad. In Salford, we had no electric, 1 cold tap, no hot water and a private landlord. At school, we used to talk about TV and I was very jealous. There was a running joke: ” have you got a telly?” – “Yes, I’ve got a gas telly!”
At 17 years old, I was working on Kings Street, Manchester when we moved to Darnhill. We moved into a house and it changed our lives. We had a garden, 3 bedrooms and my own bedroom! Surrounded by fields. At night it was very black compared to the city.
There was a lack of transport. I could get from Heywood to Manchester but nowhere else. We had to change schools, but we were treated like aliens. The local people thought the estate was being built for Heywood residents. The students weren’t very nice.
David and Tricia