Totley Allotments

I was born in 1920 and brought up at 320 Baslow Road. My father had three allotments and used to make my brother and I work on them. On Easter morning every year he'd take us down to the allotment and we had to dig from one end to the other ready for the potatoes, before we then went home and changed for church.

The water for the allotments came down through the back yard of our house.

My father used to put the contents of our midden on his allotment! My father was an ardent rose and dahlia man, and never went down Totley without a rose in his buttonhole.

I remember the rivalry on the allotments. IT was extremely competitive, even though the main object was to grow vegetables to feed the family, because money was very tight. I started at Totley All Saints School in 1925, and I remember that the school had 10 or 20 small square allotments for use by the pupils. When a boy rose to the ranks of Standard 7, the top class, (and aged about 14), he was given a plot to work.

Johnny Woods, the headteacher, personally supervised us on the allotments, and was very strict. We just grew basic things like radishes, potatoes, peas and cabbages. We could take what we grew home with us. Only boys got to do gardening, the girls did needlework.

Geoff Salt