Lads part of cafe crowd in 1960s
THESE two photographs come from the family archives of Guardian reader Peter Horsfield.
The first picture was taken at the former Hare Park Cafe and shows his friends Charlie Wakeley and Arthur Downes around 1960.
Peter, who grew up in Hightown, said the cafe was a popular haunt for young folk in those days.
"We all lived in Windy Bank and these lads were part of a crowd which would go into the cafe," he recalled.
"The cafe had been a needlework shop where they sold wool, and then Ann and Dick Tolson bought it and the shop next door which was a washerette, which doubled the size and they converted it into a cafe.
"Coffee bars were really popular from around 1957, and while the Hare Park Cafe was popular for a while, it shut around 1962.
"Cleckheaton had a few coffee bars of its own, the Brazilia and the Silver Lady, but by about 1965 there were practically none left.
"I don't know how they survived for so long, because all the customers got were cups of coffee and a few biscuits!
"Hare Park Cafe was full of young people. There was a really popular youth club at St Barnabas church - in those days people would go to the youth club until they were 21! So between the cafe and the youth club there was quite a lot going on for young people.
"The cafe had an old-style jukebox, it was 3d for one record, 6d for two and five records for a 'bob'. I seem to remember there were four records on and they never changed them - they were probably the Everley Brothers, Cliff and Elvis, typical early 60s music.
"When the cafe closed, we'd go a bit further afield to dances at the town halls, Ben Riley's in Dewsbury and the Gaiety in Batley.
"They were interesting times. It was the era of rock and roll, and the authorities tried to surpress it, but it just ended up with fights breaking out. So they decided rather than surpress it they'd provide proper venues and so the town hall dances became very popular."
Peter's second photograph shows him and some of his mates swiming in Wadsworth's - Waddies - Mill dam in Cleckheaton in 1958.
On the picture with him are Brian Mellor, David Briggs, George Minute and Alan Gormley.
"We'd often go swimming in the dam - you wouldn't do it today!" he said.
"It was a warm water dam because the water went round the boiler to cool the boiler down and was then discharged back.
"We had good fun and I remember seeing frogs in it."
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Cleckheaton
Sunday 12 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 3 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North west
