31-1-09: Another beautiful story from long ago -  actually just 50 years ago! This story clearly demonstrates that in the 1950's our streets were safe and children could be children, even without X-Box, computers, Nintendo and mobile phones. It surely raises the question: "Have we gone too far with our 'political correctness'?" Thank you 'Missus', for telling us how it used to be! A Steel Bridge and The Penny Arcade. By "Missus" As a little girl living in England in the early 1950s, I remember walking across a long bridge to the sands. It was a long walk. The bridge was made of metal and we referred to it as The Steelworks Bridge. I recall it was narrow, just for pedestrians; there were holes in its floor. My siblings and I would walk this shortcut to the sands; the long way round would have taken ages although from memory the shortcut was still a good distance to walk. We weren't always accompanied by an adult; I suppose it was thought there was safety in numbers as usually there would be four or maybe five of us counting our friends. We weren't in our teens, so quite young by today's standards to be sent off for the afternoon this distance without an adult. We'd sometimes be given a few pence to spend in the Penny Arcade which was a further walk up the Esplanade. There were all sorts of things in there to spend your money on; ice cream, fairy floss, as well as merry-go-rounds to ride on - not the large ones you see in Fair-Grounds but still big enough to enjoy a ride on them or the Dodgem cars. There was the machine in a glass container which worked like a miniature crane, hovering over prizes which were nearly always just out of reach and if we were really daring a look into the silent movie machine called What the Butler Saw. This activity was considered very daring. As we turned the handle and looked through the periscope, we saw a lady in various stages of undress until all she was wearing were bloomers and a camisole (or vest, as we thought!). The jerky movements of the lady as she made her way to drape herself provocatively on the couch, undressed as she was, caused great hilarity to the viewer who giggled so much the other kids would push and jostle for a turn to look. We felt naughty; guilty even, when watching this silent miniature movie, not in the least knowing why - just certain that our parents wouldn't approve - ah! The innocence of the young! No adult stopped us from putting our money in the machines or stopped us looking into them - no Viewer Classification back then! We visited the sands many times; sometimes to spend time and money in the arcade and other times to play on the sands - rarely did we go into the water; it was too cold; that delight was kept for the hot days of summer, which weren't many. The cold weather didn't spoil our enjoyment at the seaside whether with parents or just us kids; the time flew by and when on our own we would have to keep track of the time by checking the clock on the promenade or asking an adult, as we always had strict instructions to be back by a certain times and if we weren't, our trips there were curtailed for awhile. Remember at this time, I was the eldest child of the group at 10 or 11years old and the bravest thing we kids did was to walk across The Steelworks Bridge. Long and narrow and made of steel with holes in the floor and see-through mesh up the sides it was high up off the ground, and what if it collapsed - down we would crash, probably terribly injured, perhaps even killed; Oh yes - we were really brave! Part of the bridge crossed the rail tracks that led north/south; the main transport route to carry steel and timber to the docks and the ship building area and some timber to the coal mines for use in the underground tunnels. Three generations of my family worked in the steelworks or the timber yards, my father as a young man worked for awhile in the timber yard as a labourer as well as other labouring jobs, before going to college to train as a school teacher. It was filthy, manual work but that was all before I was born and it was in total disinterest to the industry and the history of all this that we kids would get down on our hands and knees on the soot covered bridge, peering through the holes in the metal pathway suspended way above the lines and the trains carting the goods to their destination; waiting to see if the swirling smoke from the funnel would reach us or get blown away with the speed of the train. I have been told The Steelworks Bridge as we knew it doesn't exist any more, the full bridge is demolished, but the council came to a compromise over right of way and a part still exists. - Progress - the demolition of the stuff of our memories! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to: HOME                Back to: Short Stories