An Englishman's Tales Of A Small Yorkshire Village

Most of the details of village life

came from my own personal
experiences. When, at the beginning of the war, my

parents moved
to a suburb of Leeds, called Lower Wortley it had just

been incorporated
into the boundaries of the city but still retained a lot

of the air of a village
about it.


We, my family and I, lived in a small leaky sandstone

cottage, one of
seven, halfway up a hill. Right behind us there was a

smallholding, where
the farmer raised chickens, ducks and pigs. On the

opposite side of the
road we lived on, there was a row of rather grand four

story houses, at the
head of rather long equally grand gardens. The owners

of which looked
with distain upon their neighbors across the way.


At the top of the hill was another group of houses set in

a circle with a
Methodist Chapel in their midst and the whole area was

referred to as
the Bull Ring.


At the bottom of the hill was the main road into Leeds.

Here was the
Tram terminus, (Public Transport) with a switch over

line to facilitate
change over to the inbound line. It was a seriously bleak

time, when
Britain was on the defensive, and looked as though it

was about to be
invaded by the Germans at any time.


So we sang songs to cheer ourselves up. Therell be

blue birds over
the white cliffs of Dover. Therell always be an

England, and England
shall be free. And silly songs like Im going to hang out

the washing on
the Siegfried Line. (A line of fortifications on the

German border)


So when I wrote Little Miracles, and compiled An

Englishmans tales
of a small Yorkshire village, to go with it and I

incorporated many of my
experiences from this time.


I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.